Regardless of gender, race, or religion, American citizens are united under the nation’s alma mater: The Pledge of Allegiance.
For the past 16 years of my life, I have been advised to place my hand over my heart and vow support to my country through the pledge. It’s fair to say that I am not alone in this act. Since elementary school, my classmates and I began the school day by reciting the famous words known and loved by most individuals, but not all.
Without judgment, I have noticed that fewer students at LFHS have been reciting the pledge, and while doing so, are promoting disunion. A mix of vague mutters, indistinct whispers, and utter silence has stolen the place of what was once pride in saying the pledge.
It sparked the question – Why?
I cannot easily answer that question.
The climate of LFHS likely plays the biggest factor in the decreased amount of pledge-saying participants. When majority of a classroom is quiet during the pledge, it influences others. I don’t think students are opting out of the pledge for personal reasons, but more to avoid being the “odd one out.”
The pledge allows for the celebration of unity in our country. When saying the pledge, especially in school, there is a reinforced sense of community shared from student to student. Its become so common to emphasize differences between students. By prioritizing our similarities, we can generate more unity.
The greatest gain in reciting the pledge is the daily reminder to not take American freedoms for granted. With generations of military service in my family’s blood, including my grandfather, father, and brother, I am regularly kept aware of this freedom. The daily recitation of the pledge in schools allows people to easily recognize and, more importantly, have a genuine appreciation for their birthrights.
In addition, saying the pledge has been a law in Illinois since 2002, but with respect to the fact that some students don’t align themselves with particular lines in the Pledge of Allegiance, I don’t think anyone should be forced into saying saying it.
Saying the pledge has become an American culture and I hope that more students can understand the importance of participating in the tradition.
Jason Kowalski • Feb 20, 2025 at 4:36 pm
Much like Lainey O’Neil, your column is written from the mistaken view that the pledge is a symbol of unity or history. “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “My Country Tis of Thee”, or even Neil Diamond’s “America” would work better as a force of ‘unity’ or ‘respecting sacrifice’.
The pledge is an oath of allegiance to a piece of cloth, an absurd proposition.
The pledge is not a commitment to upholding the Constitution or the principles of liberty and democracy, but an oath of loyalty to whichever jackbooted thugs and corrupt politicians happen to wear thirteen stripes and fifty stars on their uniform patches or lapel pins.
The usage of the phrase “under God” not only spits in the face of our commitment to religious freedom and state neutrality, but literally divides “One nation indivisible”.
Finally, the claim of “With liberty and justice for all” is, in the context of the past decades of reality, false. Between overt racial discrimination, federal hit squads murdering non-violent alleged offenders, prison slavery, kangaroo courts, and other measures meant to leave us oppressed and defenseless, America has abandoned that goal long ago.