Evidence #2

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/08/forcing_kids_to_say_the_pledge_of_allegiance_is_bullying_a
nd_pointless/

Forcing kids to say the Pledge of Allegiance is

bullying and pointless
A Florida educator was suspended for pressuring a Jehovah's Witness boy to say
the Pledge
MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS Follow
TOPICS: EDUCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE, JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, LIFE NEWS

(Credit: AP/Reed Saxon)

Imagine a place where young children are forced every day to declare their nationalism. Imagine
a place where, if a child says he cant do it, for religious reasons, his teacher physically tries to
force him to do so and says to move out of the country. Imagine Florida.
As the Tampa Bay Times reports this week, a fourth grade teacher was suspended last month
after allegedly making a 9 year-old boy, who is a Jehovahs Witness, say the Pledge. The boy told
school administrators that early on September 11, his teacher Anne Daigle-McDonald took his
wrist and placed it over his heart, telling him, You are an American, and you are supposed to
salute the flag. The next day, several students say that she did the same, and then told the class,
In my classroom, everyone will do the Pledge; no religion says that you cant do the Pledge. If
you cant put your hand on your heart, then you need to move out of the country.

Jehovahs Witnesses are forbidden to salute any flag, and to do so is considered a serious
violation of the faiths restriction on worshipping objects. But the boys parents had instructed
him to stand respectfully during class Pledge time. And his mother, who asked not to be
identified, told a news affiliate Wednesday that she explained her religion to the teacher at the
start of the school year. I still spoke to her for five to eight minutes about my religion, our
religion, she says. We still love our country. We respect other peoples rights to do that. We
respect the flag.
During a hearing in September, Daigle-McDonald denied forcing the child to say the Pledge,
saying, I showed him gently, taking his hand (wrist) and putting it on his heart. I was
explaining it to him how we say the Pledge. I told him he did not have to say it. Written
statements from seven students attest that Daigle-McDonald later told the class, If you cant put

your hand on your heart, then you need to move out of the country. She claims that the remarks
were Not to him. Not to anybody. I was talking about terrorists, like 9-11. They wouldnt say
the Pledge so they should go back to their home country. She says it was a social studies
issue.
The District ruled that she violated the boys Constitutional rights and made derogatory remarks
which embarrassed the boy. She was suspended for five days and has been removed from
student contact, and will now have to undergo diversity training.
In a landmark ruling seventy years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that forcing schoolchildren to
recite the Pledge is unconstitutional. In its decision, the court cited Jehovahs Witnesses and
noted that Children of this faith have been expelled from school and are threatened with
exclusion for no other cause. Officials threaten to send them to reformatories maintained for
criminally inclined juveniles. Parents of such children have been prosecuted, and are threatened
with prosecutions for causing delinquency and famously declared, 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. We think the action of the local authorities in
compelling the flag salute and Pledge transcends constitutional limitations on their power, and
invades the sphere of intellect and spirit which it is the purpose of the First Amendment to our
Constitution to reserve from all official control. And earlier just this school year, Massachusetts
atheists challenged the tradition of saying the Pledge, asking that the words under God be
struck from it.
Nobody requires adults to stand up every day and rattle off a promise to be loyal to a flag and to
a country under God. Yet in a large number of our schools, we expect our children to do so.
Worse, we punish and rebuke them when they dont. Its pointless indoctrination that it serves
nothing but killing a minute of class time. And disturbingly, it makes it easy for bullying teachers
to root out the kids they believe are someone less than loyal little Americans. And though she
knew the boys religion, Daigle-McDonald told the District she just wanted all of the students to
respect the day. It wasnt a holiday, so I didnt see why the whole class couldnt say the Pledge.
Analyzing Evidence 2:
This article shows that even though children are not legally required to say the pledge,
they are already being forced to in schools across the country. The teacher that forced this child
to say the pledge ignorantly stated In my classroom, everyone will do the Pledge; no religion
says that you cant do the Pledge. If you cant put your hand on your heart, then you need to
move out of the country, (Evidence 2), even though she was completely aware that the child
was a Jehovahs Witness and therefore, religiously, did not want to say the pledge. He was then
coerced and disrespected into saying the pledge. . If the pledge was legally required to be said by
all students, the bullying and abuse that could come from teachers or other administration would

be then what violates the constitutional rights of these children. This article also has a great quote
by a Supreme Court judge released after the obligation of saying the pledge was declared
unconstitutional. 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. We think the
action of the local authorities in compelling the flag salute and Pledge transcends constitutional
limitations on their power, and invades the sphere of intellect and spirit which it is the purpose of
the First Amendment to our Constitution to reserve from all official control (Evidence 2). This
quote means that America is branded to be a place where all people can practice, or not practice,
whatever religion or hold any opinion that they wish, and that the government or school systems
have no direct power over forcing a child to say anything.