I think that’s probably what our local, small town Midwestern primary school thinks of me now, after I sent my son’s summer school kindergarten teacher an email asking that she not require him to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I’m posting a slightly edited version of the letter below the fold–both because I thought some of you might find this culture-war “dispatch from the front lines” interesting in its own right, and because the excerpts I quoted, from the 1943 SCOTUS decision that guaranteed all students the right to abstain from the pledge, are in my view among the most stirring, inspiring–and, yes, patriotic–words I’ve ever read, anywhere.
::flip::
Dear Mrs. —–,
First off, thanks again for not only being such a kind and caring protector of our son, but also, it strikes me, an excellent teacher (I’m really struck by how much he has learned already about numbers, letters, nature, etc., even in “fun” summer school).
[…]
Now, one more thing that [my son] talked to me about just now, and I hope you’ll take this in the friendly spirit I intend in sharing it. There aren’t many kids, I know, especially in the “heartland”, who think twice about reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I myself was always against it, though, at least once I attained a certain age. It appears that [my son] is more precocious than I was in this respect, because we have never told him anything about the Pledge yet he characterised it as a “prayer” (I agree, more or less) and said he didn’t want to say it but was told he had to. In fact, though, there was a Supreme Court case in 1943 (right in the middle of World War II!) that decided it was an unconstitutional violation of a student’s civil liberties to require him or her to recite the Pledge.I would bet 99% of teachers and school officials across the country are not aware of this right, because it is (sadly, in my opinion) one that is hardly ever exercised. But it is the law of the land, and I am proud of my son for coming to the conclusion on his own that he doesn’t want to say it and want to support his right not to. (I would honestly not want to be one of those parents who trains their small children to carry on their political agenda without comprehending it.)
Again, I hope you understand that I have the greatest respect for you–in fact, I went down to the office the other day to put in a request that [my son] be assigned to your regular kindergarten class this fall.
[…]
Below is a link to the Supreme Court decision, and the concluding excerpt of Justice Jackson’s majority decision. I hope you’ll get a chance to read it, for I believe it is one of the most stirringly beautiful statements about freedom and civil liberties one could ever have a chance to read. It is not an anti-patriotic decision, but an incredibly patriotic one, honouring the priceless freedoms contained in our Bill of Rights.
[…]WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION v. BARNETTE
Struggles to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country have been waged by many good as well as by evil men. Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon but at other times and places the ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime, and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an ever-increasing severity. [319 U.S. 624, 641] As governmental pressure toward unity becomes greater, so strife becomes more bitter as to whose unity it shall be. Probably no deeper division of our people could proceed from any provocation than from finding it necessary to choose what doctrine and whose program public educational officials shall compel youth to unite in embracing. Ultimate futility of such attempts to compel coherence is the lesson of every such effort from the Roman drive to stamp out Christianity as a disturber of its pagan unity, the Inquisition, as a means to religious and dynastic unity, the Siberian exiles as a means to Russian unity, down to the fast failing efforts of our present totalitarian enemies. Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.It seems trite but necessary to say that the First Amendment to our Constitution was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings. There is no mysticism in the American concept of the State or of the nature or origin of its authority. We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.
The case is made difficult not because the principles of its decision are obscure but because the flag involved is our own. Nevertheless, we apply the limitations of the Constitution with no fear that freedom to be intellectually and spiritually diverse or even contrary will disintegrate the social organization. To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds. We can have intellectual individualism [319 U.S. 624, 642] and the rich cultural diversities that we owe to exceptional minds only at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. When they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the price is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us. 19
Isn’t Robert Jackson awesome? I think it’s a real shame that he is not better remembered, like Thurgood Marshall or Earl Warren.
Oh, and as for my son: the teacher never did reply to my email, and she has acted a little uncomfortable around me since then. But she let him know the next day that he didn’t have to say the Pledge, and as far as I know he does not say it any longer. Nor has he seemed to encounter any social repurcussions as a result, though I suppose that could change as he gets older.
Great!
Just as long as she doesn’t mention it to the entire class. the teacher of a class i helped with last year kept pointing out the one vegetarian girl to the rest of the class, over and over…. and would mention that she didn’t know how the student could get enough protein … and, when the class ordered pizza, made sure that she was mentioned as needing the vegetarian type.
P.S. When the kids said the Pledge, I said it, but left out “Under God.” The kids noticed of course, but I didn’t explain.
Good point. I have tended to be surrounded by vegetarians (I eat meat myself, though I try to only eat humanely raised, free range/organic meat, and never pork), and they always describe this kind of treatment. Never mind that a well rounded vegetarian lifestyle (as opposed to the “french fries and cigarettes” habits of a few of my animal rights supporting friends) is the healthiest possible!
I was a substitute teacher this past spring, and I did the same thing–though in my case I don’t think anyone noticed.
-Alan
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Support Hugo Chavez: Fill up your car at CITGO!
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Oooohhhh – I was that constantly tormented little vegetarian girl.
The upside? By the age of 10, I had read Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation – and later John Robbins’ Diet for a New America – …I had some scathing comebacks. <grin>
Peter Singer is sure an interesting cat. Did you ever read the series of articles about him written by a disabled rights activist? She considered his ideas loathsome, but found the man himself hard to dislike.
I also have a long article from the NY Times’ Sunday books section called “An Animal’s Place” that I really like, and have saved for years on my hard drive. It turns out (and this might surprise some animal rights activists) that the lifestyle I strive for (eating meat, but only that which is raised and slaughtered in a humane way) is actually more or less endorsed by Singer as a legitimate one.
I tend to avoid the topic as much as I can – I learned early that it’s an issue that can bring out the very worst in people.
I haven’t thought about Peter Singer in years, and know very little about him. I would surely skip over any articles, for or against him – having long since consigned my thoughts about vegetarianism and animal rights to the realm of personal choice.
I guess any passion I might have once felt about the topic was worn down decades ago.
What a wonderful upbringing your have done with your child. That he is able to come to some basic conclusions based upon the premises and logic he has seen in his home. I can only hope that my children will have the same enlightened abilities to question those areas that feel uncomfortable to them as they grow and mature.
bold added by me
That this freedom to differ is under such attack by our current regime suggests that Jackson’s words should be read by all members of the current regime.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful experience with us.
You’re so very welcome–and thank YOU for the kind words!
My story is huge to me, of course, but it is just one family’s tale. Jackson’s words, though, should–I completely agree with you–be read as far and wide as possible. I might try to come back with them at some point in a more “universal” diary or something, with a different title…
Way to go! I’ve always been opposed to the Pledge of Allegiance and refused to recite it growing up. I was pretty dumbfounded when my daughter came home from schoole one day and told me she got into a disagreement wither her teacher (2nd grade). She had not encountered the Pledge before (private school), but her 2nd grade teacher decided it would be good for the class to recite it each morning. My daughter did not like the “under God” part, so she substituted “under Goddess”. Another girl overheard her and started saying it too. Before too long, all the girls were saying “under Goddess”. The teacher told Cypress that she did not have to recite the pledge, or she could omit the words “under God”, but she could not alter the pledge in any way.
The next time I was at the school, I talked to the teacher about it. She told me that she had looked into the law concerning the Pledge of Allegiance and while it was true that one did not have to recite it, it was illegal to alter it.
All in all, the teacher handled the situation pretty well, and even though I dislike the Pledge, I understood her reasons for using it in class.
I loved your email to the teacher. I can well imagine that she had rarely, if ever, encountered opposition to the Pledge before. Your email was educational without being overbearing. Well done!
THe thought of a room full of young girls whispering ‘goddessssss’ – I’m still smiling. Thanks for sharing that.
Thank you! Justice Jackson deserves most of the credit, though.
I, like zander, absolutely love that image of children reciting “goddessss” in unison. But her teacher’s point actually does make sense to me.
Personally, I just wish they’d get rid of the Pledge. Whether “under God” is in there or not (and a lot of people don’t know that this phrase was inserted in the 1950s–it was not part of the Pledge for its first several decades, including when my mom was growing up). It’s kind of this creepy Hitler Youth type thing if you ask me.
Yeah, exactly….it is creepy to me too.
I didn’t ultimately agree with the teacher, but she wanted to have the kids understand that they were part of something bigger. In other classes she let them choose the Pledge (e.g., there is a Pledge to Earth that they could have chosen).
Thankfully, we haven’t had any problem in public schools as they don’t recite the Pledge here. But, I remember being that weird kid who stood silently during the Pledge.