Opinion: I pledge, uh, legions?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Whither the flag salute? Is it still a daily part of your kids’ lives? Do you care?

The Pledge of Allegiance, once the ubiquitous starter to just about every public-school day, may be falling on somewhat harder times. How much harder isn’t clear. Nobody seems to track such things.

The issue came up when I heard about a book by a former (and obviously disgruntled) L.A. school teacher, Nachum Shifren. In it, he complains among other things that administrators ignored his requests for an American flag so he could lead students in the pledge. This brought to mind my surprise when I discovered that at my daughter’s suburban elementary school, they say the pledge only during schoolwide assemblies. Odd as that seemed, it wasn’t particulary disturbing, even if it took her awhile to get the words down.

Perhaps schools are trying to avoid pledge-related lawsuits like the one filed by Michael Newdow, a California atheist, in 2002. Newdow sought — ultimately, unsuccessfully — to have the words ‘under God’ stricken from the pledge. I got in touch with Newdow, who said he hasn’t heard anything about flag salutes falling off.

Teachers on an online forum provide a mixed picture. Texas is clearly serious about its pledges (there’s a state pledge, too). Some other teachers say their schools don’t do the pledge regularly, or leave it up to the individual teacher. A Pennsylvania teacher says she had to go out and buy a flag at the dollar store for her classroom. Yet, despite Shifren’s tale, some parents in L.A. Unified tell me their children do the flag salute every day.

So what’s the story here in California? How many parents even think to ask their kids? How important is it to their school day?