We Don't Need No Thought Control

In Arlington, Massachusetts, an inbound freshman noticed that there were no American flags anywhere, and nobody recited the Pledge of Allegiance.  So he got active; working with his fellow students, there's now a flag in every classroom.  But the school board balked at that whole Pledge of Allegiance thing:  The Arlington, Mass., school committee has rejected the 17-year-old's request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, because some educators are concerned that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite it, according to a report in the Arlington Patch.

Note to the board:  if your "teachers" aren't willing to recite it, keep them away from my kids.

Comments

[ZZMike]

Wasn't Massachusetts one of the early states that helped found the country?

I'll go off and see if there were any famous Massachusettsians from back then, or if maybe there were any memorable battles.

[ZZMike]

This just in: The school put out a Press Release:

http://arlington.k12.ma.us/news/Press_Release_Regarding_Pledge_of_Allegiance.pdf

"... recent misleading reports ...
... an incoming high school senior regarding his campaign to formally require recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance throughout the district....
... "Reports circulating in the media that the
Pledge of Allegiance is not recited in the Arlington Public Schools are inaccurate. Students are welcomed, but not mandated, to join in the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance....
... Principal Charles Skidmore has informed the School Committee that with the coming school year he will place a flag in a prominent location in the main lobby, where he will lead the Pledge personally before the commencement of school each day."

Their main pushback claim is

"... last week [the student] unexpectedly and explicitly demanded that the School Committee enforce a state statute that was ruled constitutionally invalid by the Supreme Judicial Court in 1977.
This statute threatens teachers with monetary penalties for failure to recite the pledge or to force the students in their charge to do likewise."

Here's a followup from the source for the story:

http://arlington.patch.com/articles/pledge-of-allegience-debate-shines-national-spotlight-on-arlington
July 1

There's some reaction:

http://arlington.patch.com/articles/arlington-police-probe-threatening-emails

"... several threatening emails sent to School Committee members ..."

[Max]

Interesting to see the about-face; that's really fast turnaround for any governmental agency.

"Since the vote, Arlington High School principal Charles Skidmore said that he will lead a daily recitation of the pledge in the lobby of the school on school mornings and that eventually he will move it to the classrooms "... After all students and teachers have had a chance to talk about appropriate behavior for those who do and don't participate in the pledge. I want the Pledge Of Allegiance to be meaningful to our students," he said in an Email sent to high school parents last night."