Teacher assaults kid that refuses to stand during the pledge of allegiance

[TheFuse]

The pledge lost any meaning it had when they included "under god". It's a joke, just like anyone who is actually outraged by this.

[God Save The King]

If he actually struck the student, hopefully they're fired, lose their teaching credentials, are barred from teaching in the future, and sent to prison for a decent stint, to think about what they did.

Hopefully the 11/12 year old kid isn't scarred for life over the incident.

[Socialhealer]

time for a p-p-p-p-payout, yeh getting physical with children is a good way to lose your job.

[Swag]

IMO the pledge is a bit out dated. After all, it WAS written in 1892.

Here are some interesting facts:
1) it was published originally by a socialist minister in an American children magazine and NEVER referenced "America" in it at all
2) it has been edited several times in its history. 1923 "the United States of America" was added. In 1954 "Under God" was added
3) in 1943 it was made illegal to force children in the US to recite the pledge.
4) The original Pledge of Allegiance had instructions to preform what we often refer to as "the Natzi salute" directed towards the flag at the line "to my Flag", but was removed after WW2 for the obvious reason.

So, there you have it. The lines of the Pledge of Allegiance have always been flexible and changed to suite current cultural beliefs, we've changed the way you were supposed to salute the flag, made it illegal to force children to say it in schools, and had all kinds of court cases and media attention on the subject of the pledge over the course of the history of our country.

Is it just me, or does this seem like an awful lot of trouble for something that was published in a kids magazine 129 years ago?

[mizeri]

fire the teacher and get back to studying things needed for graduation

[Belize]

Not a fan of droning the pledge. I'd rather see the kids sing the national anthem. At least that would wake them up.

And make everyone's ears bleed within a 50 mile radius.

[Baelic]

Can't really comment on the validity of it being called "Assault"

By violating the constitution just to help ensure a kid stands up while some words are being said is just sad.

[AlphaOut]

I believe standing for the flag is important. It teaches the younger generation respect for the soil they live on, and many died for. With that said, I don't believe people, especially students, should be obligated to recite the pledge.

[Endus]

Given that this was a bait thread, locking it here before it gets worse than it already is.