School threatens 4th grader after she refuses pledge of allegiance

I'm surprised...that they still allow a pledge of allegiance in public schools anymore.

IT MEANINGLESS IN ANY CASE
AND DOES NOT PROVE ONES TRUE INTENTIONS.

LOOK AT OBAMA !

Samantha who,Sorento?

Phennommennonn Your the bestest!

Just a link about the civil flag.
[link to www.uscivilflags.org]

pentagon didnt even know theres 2 flags? then again they couldnt tell what was a real terror attack from an exercise

i dunno, all i can tell you is sorento's pizza sucks

great link thanks

Interesting.
I never knew that about the flags...

Perhaps domestic US dissenters and government opposition should begin to adopt and display the civil flag from now on.

related -



[link to www.rethinkingschools.org]

"Stand Up! It's the Law!"
An elementary teacher asks her students what the Pledge of Allegiance means to them, and strives to protect the rights of those who choose to sit out The Pledge.
By Kate Lyman

My seven-year-old grandson is the only one who remains seated while his classmates recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Ever since he could talk, Caetano has been proud of his Brazilian heritage. When people would stumble over the pronunciation of his name, he'd say, "It's Caetano, Cae-ta-no. After a famous Brazilian singer."

Sitting out the Pledge was a difficult decision for Caetano, one he lost sleep over. Despite peer pressure ("You have to stand up. It's the law!" other children told him) he has stuck with his decision.

But what of other children who - whether for family, religious or political beliefs - do not equate being a good citizen with saying the Pledge? Will they also be allowed to stand by their beliefs?

Under a new Wisconsin law, all public schools are to offer the Pledge or the national anthem every day. Although students are not to be "compelled" to do so, reality is far more complicated.

In my school, on Friday, Sept. 28, teachers were told to send a note home about the new state law. The daily routine was to begin the following Monday.

That Monday, a fourth-grader recited the Pledge over the school intercom. I watched the reactions of my students, who are in a combined second- and third-grade classroom. About half my students mumbled some of the words. Several had their hands on their hearts. Two Hmong girls merely smiled. One boy, Jeremy, was sitting cross-legged, head down, with the hood of his sweatshirt over his face. Ceci was the only one standing up. She was also saluting and after the pledge was over, she broke into a vibrato rendition of "God Bless America."

WHAT DOES THE PLEDGE MEAN?
Watching my students, I wondered what the Pledge meant to them. Did they understand the words (even the fourth-grader had said, "one nation, invisible")? Could they understand why some might choose not to say the Pledge? How could I protect the rights of those who don't want to take part, while at the same time not let my beliefs interfere with students who want to participate?

I decided to approach these questions by holding a class discussion. I first asked my students what they thought the Pledge meant. Most echoed the thoughts of adults. They said it was a way to remember the people who had died in the Sept. 11 attack. They said it was about "respecting other people, respecting the world, world peace, and not fighting." It was clear that the meaning they interpreted had little to do with the actual words.

I decided to move on to the next part of my lesson plan: defining the words used in the Pledge.


Ceci said that "Pledge" means "that I stand up for the flag" and "for the Army." She added that it means to "be proud of yourself." Jeremy said it meant "you gave loyalty to the flag."

Ceci, meanwhile, defined "liberty" as, "All the people in the world are very special and should get the same things and be treated the same." Justice was similarly defined as, "We're going to give liberty to everyone in the whole entire world."

None of the students understood the word "indivisible." They thought they were supposed to say "invisible," or "invincible." I tried to clear up the confusion, but I couldn't shake the feeling that overall, my students had little idea of what they were saying when they recited the Pledge.

Then I asked the class why they thought some people might choose to not participate in the Pledge. The answers that followed were insightful, I thought, for seven- and eight-year-olds. Some of their comments:

"They might not like the U.S." said Keema.

"They don't think it's true that one nation is under God," offered Jeremy. "There's more nations under God."

"Maybe they don't believe in God," said Tyesha.

"They might be from a different country," suggested Kelly, "And be forced to move here."

"Or maybe the countries they're from don't do this. They're not used to it," added Emily.

I asked if people might disagree with the "liberty and justice for all" part.

"It's not true that people are treated the same," Ceci said.

"It's not true that we have justice for all," Jeremy noted. "How can we say that when we're bombing right now? The people in Afghanistan aren't getting liberty or justice. They're just getting bombed!"

"Now, my friend, Stephen, across the hall, he don't believe in saying it. He says it's white people's crap," Ceci said. "Now I'm not saying I agree or nothing," she added quickly, "That's what he says. My family says the Pledge."

I asked the class to think about what Stephen might have meant, even if he used words deemed inappropriate in school. Ceci responded, "Some people can't afford the money. They say your family can't get a job."

"Some people don't want Black people to do what they want to do," Tamarra said. "They treated them like slaves. That's not equal when white people treat Black people different."


I told the students there would be a school board meeting that night to discuss different opinions about the Pledge (I teach in Madison where for a brief while the school board required only an instrumental version of the Star Spangled Banner; after public protest, it reverted to a policy that instructs each principal how to implement the state law through a daily recital of the Pledge of Allegiance or the singing of the National Anthem.)

One of the more insightful comments came from Ashle, who said: "We should just take a minute of silence to think about that crash stuff."

Ceci reflected what many in the Madison community seemed to be thinking and said, "People who don't like it can go out of the room. They can go in the closet and shut the door."

Overall, I felt that our meeting was successful. Above all, students had been able to express their opinions about what the Pledge meant to them, and had analyzed why the Pledge might not mean the same thing to everyone.

Now, a full month after the daily Pledge was required, more children feel the peer pressure and join in. Jeremy, however, remains adamant in not saying the Pledge, and I have told him I support his right to do as he believes.

As I write, the sunlight streams through my classroom "flag," a stained-glass rainbow sign. In the hallway, students' peace posters decorate the lockers and doorways. I find such symbols of acceptance of diversity and world peace far more appealing than those of national pride. But these are strange times.

I feel for Jeremy and Caetano and all the other students who choose to not join in the Pledge. I hope the cheers and jeers of patriotic fervor will not silence their rights.

Kate Lyman teaches a combined second- and third-grade classroom in Madison, WI. The names of the students have been changed.

i didnt either - my boys just told me that they did. (smh)

thrash her traitorous lil butt !
.

oh yea, run her up the flag pole by her underooos.

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lol they have sex by 6 grade too, but willingly .. of course people hate america. big deal. hwever foreigners still prefer america .why ?

dunno if this is a foreign school but its revolting
[link to www.facebook.com]

Public schools suck. I could rant for hrs about how messed up they are.

But you know that since your kids started a new home program this fall, right?

i respect the pledge But i do not have dual citizen loyalities however like most foreigners here in america who hate our country and do not want any part of the Heritage of this land., of course they feel no loyality at all to this country .nor any respect toward this country.. we of course know who they are .And they came from a place, that they could not wait to leave behind .. maybe if we are all lucky they go back to thier mother country. and stay .

I am so proud that at least one of our youth will take a stand for what is right. That little girl needs to be sooo rewarded for her actions. That will promote other children to side with her because they too will see that it is right.
I wish that I had the resources to get her something. I would buy her a piece of land I guess. She earned her piece of the US.

At least give it a good licking

she sure is a cutie pie!

you are a pedophile! Sick bastard! Go kill yourself!

That school has absolutely no ground. Which flag isn't even part of the equation, EVERY AMERICAN HAS THE RIGHT TO OPT OUT OF A FORCED PLEDGE. A forced pledge isn't a pledge if it's forced...

[link to www.foxnews.com]


The courts have consistently ruled that students have the right not to recite the pledge in public schools. But now some First Amendment advocates are taking it one step further, arguing that the law compels educators to inform kids at the beginning of school that the decision is entirely up to them.

They're advocating a "Miranda warning" for the Pledge -- an administrative notice to students that they have the right to remain silent.

“The Pledge of Allegiance creates a constitutional problem. You have to tell students they can opt out,” the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told FOX News.

Excuse me but you don't sing the pledge of allegiance, you say it. You sing the national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner

yep right here [link to www.connectionsacademy.com]

Last Edited by Phennommennonn on 09/18/2009 10:48 AM

you got the wit and intelligence of a hard shell turd i just expunged outta my ass in your honor.

ever wonder why'?

This has been happening all along before our eyes. Separation of church & state is one. Banning the pledge, or not standing for it is another. They've done this to create division so when we go commie no one will notice or complain. We let this happen. We are teaching kids not to be loyal to our country. It's that simple.

the pledge was written by a socialist

You are a idiot. Its not even the correct flag. Remember you are pledging jurisdiction to thier corporate flag at a early age and everyone falls for it. CitizenSHIP equals admeralty law.

Tell this child and everyone else who will listen about the discoveries and writings of Dr. Rex Curry.

[link to www.rexcurry.net]

and

[link to rexcurry.blogspot.com]

.

thx for the contribution here ^5. interesting read.

if thats not the one the kids referring to can you post it here for reference?