Maryland Elementary School Facing Backlash Over ‘Pledge of Allegiance’
One Maryland public school stopped requiring students and staff to recite the Pledge of Allegiance after a free speech group opposed “mandatory patriotism,” Fox News reports.
Twin Ridge Elementary School officials in Mount Airy initially mandated the Pledge of Allegiance but reversed this decision after needing clarification on the school’s policy for the salute. In April, the school sent out an email to all staff affirming that the Pledge of Allegiance was obligatory.
It read, “All students and teachers are required ‘to stand and face the flag and while standing give an approved salute and recite in unison the pledge of allegiance,” according to the state’s code of education.
Shortly after sending the clarification email, the nonprofit organization Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) demanded the school withdraw its position, citing concerns related to the First Amendment, Fox reported.
The school was criticized by the organization for not clarifying that students and teachers had the option to opt out of the pledge.
“The First Amendment protects not only your right to express yourself, but also the right to refrain from doing so. That includes refusing to salute the flag. Mandatory patriotism is no patriotism at all,” FIRE Senior Program Officer Stephanie Jablonsky said.
Maryland mother Kathleen Champion joined “Fox & Friends First” to discuss why she was “not surprised” the school reversed course, as well as the wider issue of a growing lack of respect for the country’s flag and left-wing hostility to traditional forms of showing patriotism.
“I do believe that everybody should stand for the pledge. I do understand that some people have religious beliefs that makes them have a difference from it, and that makes sense. I think that that should be the only exception that there is from it. But I really, honestly don’t understand why people have a problem standing and saying the pledge in this country,” she told Carley Shimkus on Friday.
“We’re American citizens, and we should be proud of that country that we’re lucky enough to be in,” she continued.
“I think that one of the big problems is that our students don’t really know why they’re not standing for the pledge,” Champion said, explaining that many students are simply ignoring it in favor of looking at their phones.
“If the schools just encourage them to do it, I think that they would actually stand. After the whole kneeling for the national anthem, I think that we saw a big decline in people wanting to show respect in so many ways,” she added.
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