Woodruff wrote:I don't know how you could possibly consider it NOT indoctrination. The ENTIRE POINT of the recitation is indoctrination...what other reason is there? Perhaps you can point it out for me, if it's not indoctrination?
I would call it an exercise in patriotic fervor. Let's look at it in historical context.
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855–1931), who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850–1898). The original "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in the September 8 issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The event was conceived and promoted by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, as a campaign to instill the idea of American nationalism by selling flags to public schools and magazines to students. According to author Margarette S. Miller this was in line with Upham's vision which he "would often say to his wife: 'Mary, if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded, and create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into the Constitution, I shall not have lived in vain.'"
While I am not going to pull a Mike Church on you, the only item of indoctrination was so effectively incorporated into the American spirit after the end of the Civil War (that is the notion that the "United States" is a singular noun and not a plural one ... "One Nation") that there is no real need to "indoctrinate" the children in the notion. (As a side note the early founders would have screamed at the thoughts in the pledge.)
So that leaves us with the pure capitalistic motive; the pledge is an excuse to sell flags. You can't pledge without a flag in every classroom.
Woodruff wrote:tzor wrote:True indoctrination comes with a sugar coated package. You should check out the real indoctrination that goes on in schools these days.
Such as?
Global warming claptrap (and I'm not talking about real science but "feel good" Sesame Street level total fluff stuff) that tries to put a political message inside a nice wrapping of a song or a slogan or an image.
Global Warming Activities for KindergartenMother Earth: Hi guys! It’s me, Mother Earth. I bet you never thought I would come and chat with you today. You know, the big old world you are sitting on. Reach down and touch it - it’s me! You can jump on me, you can dance on me, you can somersault on me, you can dive into my waters, roll around on my grass, dig in my sand, and wiggle your toes in my squishy mud [building pictures in their minds]. I am the whole world: I am the oceans [point to the blue water masses on the mask], I am the land [point to the green land mass on the mask], I am the forests, I am the mountains. I hold all of the animals in the world in my arms, all the fish in the sea, all the butterflies in the air, and all the people on the earth. I am your planet, I belong to you and you belong to me and together we live a happy life.
Uh, I think I'll stop at this point; I just freaked myself out. I'm glad there is a whole continent between California and me. No seriously; that freaks me out. Then again, I was reading with the first graders in Kindergarten.
Mother Earth: Now, I need you to go out into the world and teach all the little children and their families, too. You get to make a puppet that looks just like me and then tell my story to all your friends. You can pretend to be me!
Can't stop ... must hit submit button ...