Speaker Ralston Responds to Charter School’s Removal of Pledge
Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) issued the following statement on the recent action by Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School regarding the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America:
“The Pledge of Allegiance speaks of America as ‘one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’ Seeing a taxpayer-funded school devalue those ideals is disappointing and disturbing. While I respect individual freedom of speech, I question the wisdom of administrators making our Pledge of Allegiance secondary to a school chant and rewriting our Pledge. I find it completely unbelievable that someone could have thought this was a good idea. I’m sure our House Education Committee will examine whether taxpayer funds should be used to instill such a divisive ideology in our students.”
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lawtonsack
Lawton is a graduate of Georgia Southern University (the GSU) with a degree in Information Technology. He has held numerous positions within the Georgia Republican Party throughout the years.
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Doesn’t Speaker Ralston have anything better to do?
“Doesn’t Speaker Ralston have anything better to do?”
Ralston wants to be ahead of the game so he can’t be accused of being “soft on liberals”.
I bet this story shows up in some TV ads this fall.
Hey, give him a break. He is just now living down the revelation from the last election cycle that he was found in possession of a MARTA Breeze card.
The question that should be asked is: What is it that makes these kids and/or their families not feel comfortable saying those words? I can imagine a few reasons, but without hearing from them it would be speculation.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some Christians resisted saying the Pledge, because when it comes down to having to choose between their country or their god, some don’t choose country.
As someone who is uncomfortable with my 5-year-old child blindly reciting the pledge, I’m happy to answer your question.
My wife and I are not religious, and we believe it is inappropriate for a school to coerce a 5-year-old child into believing in a concept called “god.” Or even worse, believing that “god” has some sort of special affinity for America. But, by making her stand up every day and say “one nation under god,” that’s pretty much what is happening. A 5-year-old doesn’t understand the pledge, nor does she understand that the phrase “under god” was added to the pledge in the 1950s as a nod to the (flawed) notion of American exceptionalism. She’s going to think “school makes me say god, so there must be a god.” And that’s wrong.
A “pledge of allegiance to the United States of America” is meaningless to a five-year-old. They don’t know anything about the nation, its history (especially the historically-problematic concept of “liberty and justice for all”), or its political systems. How can they possibly “pledge allegiance” to something they don’t understand? Why do we make children do this? I believe that my daughter can one day make up her own mind about whether she “pledges allegiance” to this country–there’s no need to force her to do so on a daily basis.
Hope this helps.
Yes. That is similar to a rationale I’ve heard before.
I just think it’s, ironic?, that many Christians will have no problem pledging their allegiance to the flag, but then when a conflict comes up they choose to discard that oath for some other.
It’s hard to serve two masters.
Republicans: For local control until they’re not!
Lots of people out there ready to defend your right to believe that nothing is more important than your individualism. Maybe consider that every time you recite the pledge it is like shaking their hand and saying thank you for creating a safe space for me to be me.
I don’t recite the pledge. And I don’t worship the military. Can you guess why? I come from that life.
You do not have a clue about how the modern U.S. military works. Here is a hint: It isn’t about what Joe Dickhead in East Cobb believes. It is hilarious to me how reactionaries break all this down to Flags and God.
It’s quite possible that some of these kids/families resist saying that pledge exactly because they DON’T feel like school is a safe space.