Wednesday, June 17, 2009
reciting the pledge of allegiance
Reciting the pledge of allegiance has encouraged Americans to become zombies. We recite the pledge without really meaning it or necessarily understanding everything that the pledge includes. As children we are taught to say it every single morning in school without having the slightest idea what it might mean. If we are willing to just submit to any sort of pledge or oath or promise that we are "supposed" to, we may as well be zombies. We are mindless. There are a few ways that I think this could be fixed. I think that we should wait until we are fully educated about the country, its origins, and how we got where we are before reciting the pledge. Without knowing these things it is meaningless. So that means that either children will be educated about these topics sooner or that children will not be taught to say the pledge of allegiance until they are at the age that you are already taught about all of those things in school.
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Looking at my own experience as an American who attended American public schools all my life, I have to disagree with this. One point I can make is that no one is forced to say the pledge- you could choose not to recite if you feel it makes you a zombie..Also, it is true that I probably didn't realize exactly what the pledge of allegiance meant when I first started saying it, but when you're young, you don't understand a lot of things. Instead, you understand the idea, the meaning. When kids stand up to say the pledge of allegiance, they understand that it is a sign of respect to their country. When you're young, that's really all you need to know. The in depth details of exactly where the pledge of allegiance came from will come later in a child's education in due time. It would be difficult to establish an "accountable age" for being able to recite the pledge without "being a zombie"...I'm pretty sure that I started learning social studies in first grade, though I couldn't tell you specifics because elementary school teaches just the basics of everything. You have to take small steps in the beginning. I can understand your point because often kids don't think about the pledge when they are saying it, but this is only because they've thought about it a million times before. This doesn't mean that they don't understand its patriotic meaning or symbolic importance.
ReplyDeleteweren't you supposed to come up with a unique solution of your own..? not criticize mine. just sayin' :)
ReplyDeletesorry =) I wasn't trying to just criticize. My solution to keeping children from just mindlessly reciting would be to teach them what the pledge means from an early age, like you said, but I believe that most schools in america do this, at least that's what my impression is. I don't know exactly when they do. I think that teachers can only go so far with giving a child information on the pledge. Patriotism is an individual choice. If a kid wants to keep himself from being a mindless zombie, he's best off making sure he doesn't become one by either remembering the meaning behind the words or just not saying them at all.
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