Taking a Stand: Daily pledges should not be mandatory

According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), students enrolled in public school must recite daily pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas flags followed by a minute of silence to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001. Students may only be exempt from participating in pledges if their parent or guardian writes a note to the school.

While the issue of daily pledges has long been a point of controversy and dispute among citizens, school boards, and the government, daily pledges of allegiance should not be mandatory.

Before the issue of constitutionality is addressed, we must first recognize how daily pledges affect students. From the ages of five and six, students are taught to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and the Texas Pledge of Allegiance. By the time students reach high school graduation, they have been reciting these pledges every school day for 12 years. State law requires that a school year should have between 175 and 180 instructional days. This means that on average, Texas students recite the pledges 2,130 times over the course of their educational career.

When we examine these numbers, it should come as no surprise that many students don’t actively participate in pledges. Students are required to stand and place their hand over their hearts, but many don’t even bother saying the words. Whether students are mumbling, mouthing the words, or staying silent altogether, they are not engaged. When recited daily over the course of a dozen years, the actual meaning of the pledge is lost as students become bored.

Mandatory pledges contradict first amendment rights such as freedom of speech and religion explicitly outlined in the Constitution. Students should have the right to express or not express certain opinions in a school environment. Additionally, the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance violates religious freedoms. While this two-word phrase may seem harmless or even patriotic, it can be offensive to students who come from different religious backgrounds.

While those supporting daily pledges argue that they are required under Texas law, they are not required under federal law, and schools in some states such as Oklahoma and Wyoming have the option to abstain from daily pledges. Additionally, Texas is one of only six states that require students to recite the state pledge. Supporters also claim that it is disrespectful not to participate in daily pledges; however, students are not being respectful by going through the motions of pledging without being aware of its meaning and significance.

An alternative to daily pledges would be optional weekly pledges, occurring either at the beginning or end of the school week. Students would likely be more inclined to engage in the pledges if they occurred once a week and they did not feel pressured to recite them.

Sources:

https://tea.texas.gov

https://undergod.procon.org