It's Flag Day. As a child, I learned (along with my classmates) the words to the Pledge of Allegiance. Ironically, I would learn them at a time when "liberty and justice for all" clearly did not exist for many Americans. Later, as a Scoutmaster and public-school teacher, I would lead the recitation of the familiar words many times.
Unfortunately, on one or two occasions I would encounter a school administrator who seemed to believe that students can be required to participate.
They can't. The United States Supreme Court has said so. And I had no problem reminding students of that decision when asked.
Sadly, I would learn by the grapevine that some fellow teachers were outraged by that simple admission to my students. But my credibility as a teacher was on the line and I held firm. In the mind of any rational student, why should anything I say be trusted if I'm not being honest about this?
When we say the pledge, what we really are doing is affirming our allegiance not to a symbol but to an idea. That idea is encompassed in our Constitution, modified through the years and interpreted by our courts. And it is precisely because we are NOT forced to recite it that I will gladly participate in it.
I'm Jim Kline, and that is my Perspective.
