dc koop

It's not irrelevant. She's just not old enough to realize how fortunate she is to live in a country like this. Maybe a year or two traveling abroad when she's old enough will open her eyes a little more,

An involved citizen can always work to try to improve the negative things which need to be improved without disrespecting his or her country at the same time

kimilseung

We will have to agree to disagree on what we mean by disrespecting a country it seems.

SultanOfSwing

Even if they disagree with you, you are at the very core of this discussion doing nothing but standing up for and supporting your daughter. Nobody should be having a go at anybody here.

As I mentioned earlier, she is not hurting anyone by doing this, but I believe the school are skirting close to being harmful by singling her out for it.

kimilseung

Thats a point, you either support illegal actions by a school or you oppose illegal actions by a school.

SultanOfSwing

I mean, I'm sure the school are acting out of their own CYA agenda of 'keeping the peace' but surely there are bigger fish to fry.

kimilseung

At the moment it is just a teacher. Waiting to see what happens before escalating. It was just by chance that I got to hear what had been happening. I have emailed that teacher my expectations.

SultanOfSwing

There I am getting ahead of myself again.

kimilseung

Its Seattle, so I see two more emails as a maximum before my expectations are met.

dc koop

There's nothing wrong with adult pressure when it's focused on teaching impressionable young minds that such things as racial, religious and sexual orientation intolerance and hatred have no place in a decent society. That's what's called being constructive.

Refusing to say the pledge of allegiance however is not constructive. It may be her right under the First Amendment but her attitude offends many decent people who also believe in what I said in the first paragraph.

kimilseung

I hear your position, but I disagree with it. I feel the pledge is a hinderance to a fully free society where dissent is encouraged and nurtured. We will have to disagree on that. I am not in this thread going to expand on that issue much more than that, as I started this thread to be about my support for my daughter in defending her constitutional rights.

and if people are offended by it, then they really do need to reassess their priorities. and Fu## 'em they have a right to be offended if they choose. Its a pity they cant see the strange juxtaposition of being offended by someone exercising their freedom (their priorities seem to be conformity before freedom).

dc koop

I never thought growing up in the UK that singing "God save the Queen" was a hinderance in any way to a fully free British society. Where's the logic in believing that saying the Pledge of Allegiance is a hinderance to a fully free US society? In a sense it's just the American equivalent to the national anthem.

I'm sure that my grand kids after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before classes could go outside on first break and yell "Down with Trump" without being harassed in any way.

Pulaski

Deciding where within the school building she should sit or stand while participating in an action she is constitutionally entitled to perform (i.e. not participate in reciting the Pledge), is "illegal"? That seems like a stretch! What next, school children demanding the right to be taught English in the science lab?

SultanOfSwing

Do you really care that much if/when someone sits or doesn't sing it though? Plus that is a song that implores the deity to save the monarch, whereas the Pledge literally says 'with liberty and justice for all', even though that is not always the case, but I suppose you can't have an asterisk with the phrase 'terms and conditions apply'.

It's just a little poem. Absolutely nobody is hurt by a child not standing for it. Christ on a bike, this is a ridiculous argument.

kimilseung

She can not be embarrassed, humiliated, singled out, or punished in any way. She has the right to not be excluded from her cohort.

Pulaski

I would have thought that any responsible parent would want her to be taken to a safe space where she isn't exposed to such rampant nationalism.