Do you remember reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance” in school? Some students might have done this, and others may not have. The practice has fallen out of favor in the last 20 years. Many people who did recite the pledge remember doing so fondly. Others of us remember it as drudgery, another piece of boredom in the school day.
Students in Virginia may soon get to experience the pledge for themselves. On Friday, Jan. 26, the Virginia State Senate moved closer to requiring the pledge to be recited every day in every school in the state. Ordinarily, the Emerald editorial board wouldn’t speak out about a local issue across the country, but the forcing of this ritual seems like an interesting educational question.
What leads the Virginia Senate to think that making children engage in mindless recitals will increase their patriotism? That goal would be better accomplished with some actual curriculum; many students today had very little real civics education in grade school.
This case is interesting because the cause is being promoted specifically to nurture patriotism. The pledge’s main supporter, State Sen. Warren E. Barry, an ex-Marine, was quoted in the Washington Post on Tuesday discussing Virginia’s students. “What I’d really like to do is have them all go to Marine Corps boot camp for 10 weeks,” he said.
Wait one minute. Won’t mandatory rituals make the patriotism hollow? Actually, that was exactly the finding of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1943, when it decided that no American could be forced to recite the pledge or to stand during the ritual. Patriotism is truly served, the court found, when it is genuine and voluntary. And a genuine love of country was certainly the intent behind the Pledge of Allegiance.
For the unfamiliar, here’s a short history lesson. The pledge was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and a Christian Socialist. Bellamy was chairman of a committee organizing American schools’ celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day, and he proposed flying the American flag over every school and teaching civics and patriotism to every student.
The original pledge read: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Dr. John W. Baer, an author and historian, writes that Bellamy’s purpose was to celebrate our freedom, guaranteed to us by our country. Bellamy himself explained the idea in his notes from 1892, as quoted by Dr. Baer: “The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the ‘republic for which it stands.’”
Note that the author of the pledge did not say the reason for pledging allegiance is because a teacher requires it. The pledge was amended in 1924 to change “my Flag” to “the Flag of the United States of America,” and in 1954 to add “under God.” Bellamy protested the first change, and Dr. Baer writes that Bellamy’s granddaughter said he would have resented the second change.
The Virginia Senate’s bill allows students with a religious or philosophical objection to forgo saying the pledge. That reduces the sting of the religious language. And as long as students are allowed to sit out if they object, we don’t have a huge problem with requiring the pledge. It just seems like another government mandate on schools that has nothing to do with actual learning. Virginia currently requires a moment of silence every school morning, and the state is working on a bill requiring the motto, “In God We Trust,” to be posted prominently in every school. On the flip side, the state only requires one year of civics classes during the entirety of a child’s 12 years of schooling.
Requiring the Pledge of Allegiance every day accomplishes nothing. Teaching children the sentiment behind the pledge and the operation of our country to ensure freedom would do a lot more to inspire patriotism and duty to one’s country. Perhaps Virginia and every other state should work to require civics education instead of empty rhetoric.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to [email protected].