Here is an excerpt from Andy Bachman’s blog. Andy, the rabbi at Congregation Beth Elohim, attended Friday’s Parents as Reading Partners, a montly open school hour for parents.
As is usually the case, the school’s spectacular principal, Liz Phillips, came over the PA to read a poem. The fifth graders mouthed the principal’s words when she asked everyone to rise and join the fifth grade in leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
I looked at my daughter, who stayed up late on Tuesday night to watch Barack Obama claim the Democratic nomination, making history. She looked at me and smiled. Tears filled my eyes. She rolled hers.
And then I saw her turn toward the American flag with her hand over her heart and with the naivete and idealism of the child she still is, dedicate herself to the values of her country.
It was a moment I will not soon forget.
[somthing wrong with comments? this is the 3rd time I’m trying]
Yep; one def: “Extreme nationalism characterized especially by a belligerent foreign policy; chauvinistic patriotism”
Pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? It’s not any specific words, it’s the action. Saying any “pledge” daily in a school, by kids who probably don’t know, or care what it means…yes, that’s at the very least hypocritical. I’d feel the same if adults were forced to as well, but that’s another thread.
PS: I also know what chauvinistic means.
[comments not posting?]
Yep; one def: “Extreme nationalism characterized especially by a belligerent foreign policy; chauvinistic patriotism”
Pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? It’s not any specific words, it’s the action. Saying any “pledge” daily in a school, by kids who probably don’t know, or care what it means…yes, that’s at the very least hypocritical. I’d feel the same if adults were forced to as well, but that’s another thread.
PS: I also know what chauvinistic means.
Chandru, do you know what the word “jingoistic” means?
Can you point to the words in the pledge you find to be jingoistic?
My son also goes to 321, and I was also in his class Friday. What I saw warmed the cockles of my heart though it was quite the opposite of the rabbi’s observation…most kids and many of the adults did not stand at all, and I saw none with “their hand on their heart.”
It’s always surprised me that a progressive school like 321 even recites the Pledge (I suppose it’s policy.) The question should be “why?” Why does this jingoistic ritual even exist here? Like the Obama flag-pin non-issue, whether you are patriotic or not is hardly determined by your ability to stand and motivate your right arm.
In other times I would have protested it, but seeing its benign non-observance (don’t see, don’t tell?) now I choose to go along with it.