Comments about ‘Bill would require all Utah schools K-12 to recite pledge daily’

Is that with the Masonic right hand over the heart,
or
the the original Bellamy salute as it was orginally intended?

Way to go legislature! This will fix all the problems in education.

This comes from Wikipedia:

"The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (18551931), who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (18501898)... As a socialist, he had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided against it."

I see many who post here frequently state their opposition to President Obama or his policies as "socialist". I'm no supporter of many of President Obama's policies, but if we're not supposed to like socialism, why should we support a pledge written by an actual socialist? There are certainly other ways to teach our children respect for the flag, patriotism, and gratitude for our freedoms. To me, a required pledge of allegiance to a free Republic is a contradiction in terms. It seems like requiring pledges of devotion would be more characteristic of authoritarian states, so I don't understand why so many Republicans support it. I understand the battle over the words "under God" but I think we need to look at the pledge in broader terms, and really question if we need it to be patriotic and grateful for our freedoms.

When Senator Osmond toured the districts looking at individual schools and their needs, was this the issue he found most important?

It seems like if they force it daily, it will be a repetitive "job" and possibly lose some of its meaning. I would rather see them require all students to watch Red Skelton's performance explaining the pledge each year so they could maybe internalize it rather than just being an exercise.

The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled decades ago in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) that requiring student to cite the pledge of allegiance was unconstitutional and at this point even with the conservative court I don't see the Court changing its position. This is only going to be another lawsuit costing hundreds of thousands of dollars of state taxpayer money that we can ill-afford to spend.

I do pledge allegience daily but prefer to do it the same way I pray IN PRIVATE. This requirement makes it a political show and a mockery of a very personal ideal.

What's next, throw the little tykes who refuse to recite the pledge into prison as felons?

Whatever happened to the Republican values of Freedom and Liberty and Free Speech?

So by requiring that children say the Pledge daily, we will somehow be ensuring their allegiance to our nation?

Isn't that similar to politicians trying to fool us into believing they are patriots because they have a flag on their lapel?

Most schools already incorporate the Pledge into their daily routines.

What should be the legislators' most important goal would be to provide for our students lawmakers who are really worthy of respect.

Sounds a bit like big government to me.

We lived in a small town in northern Eureka where saying the Pledge each morning was customary. I did it all the time I was growing up. I believe it to be a very good thing. However, I also agree with one poster who said that our children are just learning this by rote, and really do not understand the purpose for it. It's just something else for them to memorize. I love Red Skelton's rendition of the Pledge, and his explanation of its meaning. Even though it is "old", I think showing this to students, particularly middle school and high school, and even some older elementary students, would serve a good purpose in helping to make the Pledge have a deeper meaning. I have a son deployed to Afghanistan, and in 2003 another son was in Iraq. The Pledge means a great deal to our family. I'm not sure it should be something that is legislated, however. That removes freedom of choice.

Sheesh... who'd have imagined I'd be the lone voice supporting this? I, for one, think it's important to have them recite the pledge. I used to do it every day when school started, and even though it was repetitious, it taught me the importance of respecting and pledging allegiance to the American flag. Too often I see the flag of Mexico or other nations prominently displayed in our country and that saddens me. My mom came from Sweden, but I know that she never thought of flying the Swedish flag in place of the American flag. She always flew them together and the Swedish flag was always underneath the American flag as is right. This shows respect for where one came from, but shows due respect for where one is living.

I kind of assumed this already was the case... apparently not. Nevertheless, to me not a big deal so long as my kids can skip the words "under God" without fear of reprocussions.

What has changed in 30 years, I remember reciting the pledge daily in class and weekly in front of the school. It was expected of us I enjoyed it, it was something I looked forward to I didnt know why at the time but I do now :}

Well, we did this in California public school in the 50's. It was great. We didn't know what it all meant...then "under God" was added and screwed us all up. Oh well. Now that the leg has fixed this problem...how about doing something positive for the public school system before you turn it over to money making charter folk?

Reading the comments on this board really surprised me of all the negativity in the simple act of showing respect to the Flag of the US by pledging allegiance. In my school years we did it every day and I grew up knowing those words. Sometimes they would mean more to me then at other times but they were always in my heart and brain. I love this country (no it is not perfect- but then neither and I). I see nothing wrong with saying the pledge of allegiance and teaching our kids to respect the flag. I also like the Red Skeleton show of it and think it would be good to have an assemble on Flag Day and watch this show. It has a lot of good stuff in it.

This is absolutely a good bill. We need to require anyone to recite the pledge daily on school!

I am a little scared right now I never thought I would see the day I would agree with sen. Stephenson on something. Saying the pledge daily in schools maybe alright if we create an environment where those that choose not to join are not punished and/or ridiculed for that choice. Forcing someone to say the pledge of allegiance renders that flag and what it stands for meaningless.

I remember growing up saying the Pledge daily - and then a local radio station was doing a thing where they would go to a school and have kids volunteer to say the Pledge to be aired over the radio over the course of the next month.

Amazing how many of us kids who said the Pledge daily were saying it by rote as a group exercise and were unable to say it by ourselves - most of us had no idea what the words were.

If we are going to have someone explain what the Pledge means, I vote we have Francis Bellamy do it - since he is the one who wrote it and, therefore, the one most likely to understand what he meant by what he said.

""It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution... with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people...
"The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands'. ...And what does that last thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?
"Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity'. No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all...""

Also, I object to Red Skeleton's forced religious interpretation of it. "Under God" was not included in the original Pledge and "One Nation" has nothing to do with God implicit or explicit. People who believe in God are more than welcome to do so, but school children do not need to be taught that a belief in God is necessary to patriotism.

@ tabuno: I agree - kids need to be able to opt out of saying the Pledge, or portions thereof, without repercussions or ridicule. The proposed legislation does not change that part of current Utah law and would allow kids to not participate with a written request from the parent(s) or legal guardian(s).

All the Jehova Witness kids will walk out of the classroom.

I do think all should be required to stand for the pledge being recited. But I don't think all need to say the pledge.