I think I  was a little ahead or after my time in high school.  I graduated in 1981 from a high school in New Jersey.  I decided at the beginning of freshman year I would not stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  I didn't go around spouting off about why and for a long time I was kind of ignored by the faculty. My friends just didn't really care and thought I was just trying to be rebellious and piss off the faculty. I more or less kept my reasons personal.  Only when someone on the faculty "had enough" of my disrespect (their words) they asked why.  I told them the truth. I was not going to take a pledge that stated there was "liberty and justice for all".  There wasn't and they knew it, they just said "okay" and let it go.  I guess they realized it was a quiet political statement I felt strongly about and they couldn't argue with.  Which was the way it was.  Just in case you want to call me unpatriotic, what I did after high school was join the Air Force and I stayed in until I retired. I think if students are just mouthing empty words in their head, we shouldn't be making them say the Pledge.  If they have a full understanding of what they're saying let it be voluntary. It isn't freedom to say or not say something a guaranteed right in our freedom of speech?  Anybody who wants to force it makes me question why? To indoctrinate?  I agree why force it?

I think I  was a little ahead or after my time in high school.  I graduated in 1981 from a high school in New Jersey.  I decided at the beginning of freshman year I would not stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  I didn't go around spouting off about why and for a long time I was kind of ignored by the faculty. My friends just didn't really care and thought I was just trying to be rebellious and piss off the faculty. I more or less kept my reasons personal.  Only when someone on the faculty "had enough" of my disrespect (their words) they asked why.  I told them the truth. I was not going to take a pledge that stated there was "liberty and justice for all".  There wasn't and they knew it, they just said "okay" and let it go.  I guess they realized it was a quiet political statement I felt strongly about and they couldn't argue with.  Which was the way it was.  Just in case you want to call me unpatriotic, what I did after high school was join the Air Force and I stayed in until I retired. I think if students are just mouthing empty words in their head, we shouldn't be making them say the Pledge.  If they have a full understanding of what they're saying let it be voluntary. It isn't freedom to say or not say something a guaranteed right in our freedom of speech?  Anybody who wants to force it makes me question why? To indoctrinate?  I agree why force it?