Group Fighting to Ban Pledge of Allegiance in Schools

The Pledge of Allegiance has no educational value, an activist group insists, and thus has no place being recited in schools. As such, Brookline PAX is pushing a resolution that would ban the pledge in Brookline schools, the Boston Globe reports. Technically, reciting the pledge is voluntary, but the group’s co-chair says students are put in an “uncomfortable situation” and pressured to participate. The group argues that banning the pledge would end bullying of students who choose not to participate.

“What does it say about being a citizen in a democracy?” the co-chair continues, noting the complexity of the issues involved in the pledge, such as justice, liberty, and religion. “Are you supposed to just say something like this or are you supposed to think about it?” According to the Boston Herald, the group calls the pledge “a loyalty oath, reminiscent of McCarthyism or some horrific totalitarian regimes.” The paper got reactions from locals, including this from a Korean War veteran to the group’s co-chair: “Tell him he’s full of [expletive]." (More Pledge of Allegiance stories.)