Oberlin Public Schools and the Pledge of Allegiance

The public school system of Oberlin, Ohio, is a little unusual in that a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance has not been an official part of the school day or even of school board meetings. It would be nice if more public schools followed the lead of Oberlin schools, but some people in Oberlin want their schools to change and start promoting a religious oath to everyone's kids. Fortunately, it doesn't look like this will happen.

Shawn Marcin was upset when he realized that his daughter didn't say the Pledge of Allegiance in class. He brought the issue up to the board and found out that the pledge hadn't been said in Oberlin schools for about 30 years.

Shawn and other Oberlin residents were vocal about the issue, and forced the Board of Education to revisit the pledge issue. ...

Marcin says, "Because that got voted down, now there are some who think the issue is over, no I'm sorry, I don't think it's going to be."

Source: Fox 8

Voted down was a compromise proposal from Superintendent Geoffrey Andrews. He suggested that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited just a few days each month and, far more interesting, Andrews suggested that they use the original Pledge of Allegiance — the Pledge without the addition of "under God." According to at least one parent, editing the Pledge of Allegiance to return it to its original is an "abomination."

The reactions of opponents to the Pledge are far more reasonable:

Sebastiaan Faber, a professor and chairman of Hispanic studies at Oberlin College, said he was not comfortable with his children, who hold Dutch and U.S. passports, publicly pledging allegiance to either country. And he said problems would be created if some students said the pledge and others do not.

"It will call attention to difference rather than celebrating it," he said.

Source: The Plain Dealer

You can't instill patriotism through daily recitation of a Pledge of Allegiance; the most this accomplishes is unreflective and unthinking nationalism — and that's assuming that reciting a Pledge of Allegiance accomplishes anything at all. Sometimes it seems that efforts to push the Pledge of Allegiance are more about calming the fears of parents that kids will end up thinking for themselves and make their own choices in life instead of submitting to the "right" political and religious ideologies which have the approval of the state.