Mandatory Pledge Of Allegiance

America is often referred to as the “melting pot” because it was built on many different nationalities. For centuries it has been common place that school students stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance before beginning classes. In the past, the courts have been challenged to rule whether students are required to recite, stand during the pledge, or can remain quietly seated. This has become a monumental task for the courts to rule in favor or against these actions due to the various beliefs and traditions of the school population. Due to the controversy, students in schools should not be required to recite or stand during the Pledge of Allegiance because the act itself denies students the right to exercise their First Amendment rights to

Civic responsibility not only includes learning civic duties but also acting upon those duties. Once again the courts were challenged to intervene and in response to Lane v. Owens (Bennett 2004) the court systems agreed with the plaintiffs who challenged that “The Mandatory Pledge law cannot be defended as advancing legitimate curricular objectives because it promotes no educational goals.” This means that the repetitive recitation of the pledge does not teach students what the words really mean to be able to apply the words to become responsible citizens who engage in civic activities. (Bennett 2004) Furthermore, it has been proposed by Kahne and Middaaugh (2006) that in order to teach students civic responsibility that there needs to be a strong educational plan established in areas of history and government that create situations where students have to interact and discuss civic responsibilities since statistics indicate a decline in citizenship

Although it has been customary for many years for students to stand and recite the pledge, times are changing and individuals are fighting for their freedom to abstain from the customary ceremony. When challenged, the courts have even agreed that it should be at the discretion of the student to participate. Therefore, students should not be required to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because students have the right to invoke their First Amendment rights, the recitation of the pledge has no educational meaning that teaches citizen responsibility, and one could infer that the Pledge of Allegiance creates unity instead of individuality. Perhaps the clear cut answer to stand or not to stand will be answered in the