Incorporating for the Pledge of Allegiance in Public School - Essay Example

Persuasive Essay (Incorporating-For the pledge of allegiance in Public School) Introduction In the after-effects of September 11, people are yearningfor social customs and services, and are keen and desirous to convey a deeper sense of national affinity and association. Yet this new wave of orchestrated patriotism is aimed at closing down debate and dissent through the imposition of a prescribed allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy of Rome, N.Y., and was first published on Sept. 8, 1892, in a Boston magazine called The Youth's Companion. Originally, it was stated like this: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Mr. Bellamy, the magazine's circulation director, brought together those words to be recited by children in celebration of Columbus Day. The pledge was reprinted and sent out to schools across the country, and more than 12 million students joined in that year. Very shortly after that, Mr. Bellamy's composed words became an everyday service in the nation's classrooms. The words "my Flag" were replaced by the phrase "the Flag of the United States of America", in June 1923, at the National Flag Conference in Washington. In 1924 the oath's wording was changed slightly (the original "my flag" became "the flag of the United States of America"). Officially recognized by the government in 1942, the pledge became compulsory in some public schools, but the following year the Supreme Court ruled that recitation could not be required of any individual. It continues, however, to be mandatory or recommended in a majority of the states and is a daily fixture in most American classrooms. The final alteration to the pledge occurred in 1954 when, by a joint order of Congress, the words "under God" were inserted. The change is usually ascribed to a cold-war attempt at differentiating the United States from officially atheistic Communist countries. The addition caused little stir when it was enacted, but in 2002 opposition to it resulted in a federal appeals court ruling that the words are unconstitutional because they violate the First Amendment's prohibition against government endorsement of religion. An appeal of the controversial decision is pending. (W. Baer, 1992) Thesis Statement An allegiance to one's country eventually leads to active civic and political involvement and engagement. Body of the Essay Services, forms and customs of patriotism were first employed in the United States between the Civil War and World War I. At the end of the bloodiest civil war of the 19th century, the combatants left the battlefields for political, economic, and cultural arenas, where the struggle to make a nation continued with renewed intensity. In fact, many of the patriotic denotations and rituals that we now take for granted or think of as timeless were created during this period and emerged not from a harmonious, national consensus, but out of fiercely contested debates, even over the wording of the Pledge. Confronted by the dilemma that Americans are made, not born, educators and organizations, such as the Grand Army of the Republic, Women's Relief Corps, and Daughters of the American Republic, campaigned to transform schools, in George Balch's words, into a "mighty engine for the inculcation of patriotism." The point is not to downplay the value of civic knowledge or the promise of America's democratic commitments to equality and justice; rather, it is to help students use their love of country as a motivation to critically assess what is needed to make it better. Public Schools do not intend to turn students into critics of the United States, such that they do not portray any appreciation for its virtues. At the same time, these schools are not failing to assist the students in recognizing the role critique can play as a way to help make society better. An allegiance to one's country eventually leads to active involvement. This is also evident from the survey in a number of public schools. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents who say they love their country sustain the importance of civic and political involvement, while only thirty percent who do not acknowledge that they love their country sustain the importance of civic and political involvement. This result would seem to support the hypothesis that a sense of patriotic devoir stimulate citizens to be more active. The pledge is our nation's most explicit patriotic exercise, and the practice has long been integrated into the school day. Unfortunately, reciting the pledge is inadequate. The issue is not that saying the pledge is a denotative deed. Symbols have a place in society. The problem is that denotations can complement, but not substitute for, entity and actuality. On 22 June 1942, Congress codified the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. On 14 June 1954, Congress amended the pledge to add "under God" between "one nation" and the phrase "indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." On 8 March 2000, Newdow filed his own suit in federal district court, claiming that the class's recitation of the pledge violates the First Amendment's establishment clause. Although he acknowledged that his daughter was not required to participate in the pledge, he alleged that the violation was in compelling her to "watch and listen as her state- employed teacher in her state-run school leads her classmates in a ritual proclaiming that . . . our's [sic] is 'one nation under God.'" He sought declaratory and injunctive relief, not money damages. The named defendants included not only the school district and its officials but also the President of the United States and Congress. Rejecting the majority's application of "the litany of tests and concepts which have floated to the surface from time to time" as being mere "legal world abstractions and ruminations," one of the three judges in the Ninth Circuit regarded the disputed two words in the pledge as "de minimis," or merely "ceremonial deism." Pointing to the phrase on our legal tender, "In God We Trust," and similar references in "our album of patriotic songs," such as "God Bless America" and the third stanza of the "Star Spangled Banner," he espoused judicial use of judicious "good sense." Obviously antipathetic to "Newdow's feel-good concept," he pointed to the larger perspective of "the wonder we must feel at the good fortune of our country." In his view, the balance is clear between "the febrile nerves of a few" and "the healthy glow conferred upon many citizens when the forbidden verses or phrases, are uttered, read, or seen." There has been witnessed farther and larger alterations in American global doctrines, the domestic economy and politics of government, and national security and criminal justice. Throughout the flush years of a buoyant dot-com economy, being an American meant little more than the freedom to consume or visit Disneyland. However since the September 11 attacks, a resurgent patriotism is immortal and nowhere is it more on exhibit than in our schools. To deprive students of an education that allows them to see themselves as part of this land and its history and culture would be a crying shame. Just as students must learn to value themselves as individuals, to value their families, and to value their community, so too should they learn to value the nation of which they are citizens. To love one's country does not require one to ignore its faults. To love one's country does not require one to dismiss the virtues of other countries. Indeed, those who are patriotic about their own country tend to respect those who live elsewhere and also love their respective countries. Love of country may mean love of place, love of the landscape and the people, love of what is familiar. The American creedal affirmation involves the pure classic conception that no man must aspire to be anything more than a citizen, and that no man shall endure to be anything less. To be a citizen means to be on a par with everyone else, so far as public, civil life is concerned. There are and there must be no civilly initiated and supported special privileges. Citizenship is a platform upon which each and all men can stand and claim equal treatment, evenhanded justice -- according to each his due. Citizenship is also a springboard from which one can affirm his rights as a citizen, the rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The pledge of allegiance summarizes this twofold aspect of the American credo in the phrase "with liberty and justice for all." The phrase in the pledge is, of course, more an affirmation than a description. Actual conditions of American life have continually fallen short of this ideal. Citizenship was denied to millions of black men until 1863, and its full rights have been effectively denied to most of their descendants since "emancipation." But the affirmation of the ideal has served both as a constant spur to the disadvantaged and disenfranchised to seize their rights, and as a constant goad to citizens to help others to gain those rights. The founding fathers rooted their affirmations concerning equality and liberty in nature and nature's God. Hence all men were created equal and all were endowed with inalienable rights. Not only has this sense of inclusiveness made for an enlargement of the ranks of citizens in the United States but it has also inclined Americans toward the mission of claiming equality and liberty for all men. The "blessings of liberty" were to be secured not only "to ourselves and our Posterity," as indicated in the Preamble to the Constitution, but to all the world. "Ask not what America will do for you," said John F. Kennedy in an evangelical appeal to all men, "but what together we can do for the freedom of man." (J.F.Kennedy; 1961) Participation in common activities, which include common learning, common problem solving, etc., has been the most important work of the schools for educators. Some turned to more obvious devices for making good citizens and achieving a redemptive community. Curricular and extra-curricular practices which have been seen as directly promoting patriotism and good citizenship received the attention of both educators and legislators. Laws requiring the teaching of American history, state history, civics, government, and social studies have been passed in abundance. The pledge of allegiance to the flag and other patriotic exercises came into common practice, often reinforced by legal sanction. Thus the religious function shaded into the patriotic and the achievement of a broad objective of moral goodness into the nurturing of good citizens. Conclusion To quote James Conant; "The greater the proportion of our youth who fail to attend our public schools and who receive their education elsewhere, the greater the threat to our democratic unity". (James Bryant Conant, 1952) This quotation clearly and very truly states that the combined and unified lesson-takings in public schools by the young minds is very mandatory for the development and uproot of a democratic nation. The pledge of allegiance consists of the words that certainly lead to the sense of unity and equality, all of which elements are essential in leading towards active civic and political engagement. It is important to show respect and devotion towards the estate one is living in, irrespective of the citizenship. The pledge of allegiance is about giving the same esteem to the United States of America. References Newdow v. U.S. Congress, 292 F.3d 597 (9th Cir. 2002) The Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You speech by John F. Kennedy http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/John_F_Kennedy/5.htm Accessed September 12, 2006. James Bryant Conant, 1952 "Education and Liberty; The Role of the Schools in a Modern Democracy", p. 81. Cecilia O'Leary, Tony Platt "Pledging Allegiance: The Revival of Prescriptive Patriotism." Journal Title: Social Justice. Volume: 28. Issue: 3. Publication Year: 2001. Page Number: 41+. See J. W. Baer, The Pledge of Allegiance: A Centennial History, 1892-1992 (1992). 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