Pledge Of Allegiance, recitation in schools Options

[simx]

I just wanna know what everyone thinks about this. Recently, for my AP government class we had to do an essay about wether reciting the pledge of allegiance in public schools was constitutional or not. This is pretty much what i wrote:

If the school officials force all the students to recite the pledge, then It is unconstitutional... Violates the Lemon Test, standard 2 I believe...

If it's voluntary to say the pledge during school, then it it doesn't not violate the Establishment Clause (passes the lemon test)

Anyone else have an opinion about this?

[XoJennaoX]

Just because something is unconstitutional doesn't mean it is wrong, thats why we have so many ammendments.
It is just a matter of respect.....if you don't like some of the values of America..tuff shyt.... you live here don't you? If you hate it that much that you cannot stand for less than 10 seconds then you shouldn't have the privledge to live here in the first place. It is not like it is going to kill you or damage/corrupt your beliefs. In fact the people that are most readily to stand for the flag are people who were not born in this country.....go figure....it is just respect, it does not reflect or change their beliefs and they know that. Just like Karamelle said about the Olympics, there everyone stands for any country's flag and anthem in respect, despite their beliefs.

[Paradox of Life]

Just because something is unconstitutional doesn't mean it is wrong, thats why we have so many ammendments.
It is just a matter of respect.....if you don't like some of the values of America..tuff shyt.... you live here don't you? If you hate it that much that you cannot stand for  less than 10 seconds then you shouldn't have the privledge to live here in the first place. It is not like it is going to kill you or damage/corrupt your beliefs. In fact the people that are most readily to stand for the flag are people who were not born in this country.....go figure....it is just respect, it does not reflect or change their beliefs and they know that.  Just like Karamelle said about the Olympics, there everyone stands for any country's flag and anthem in respect, despite their beliefs.

I guess you're right. From a law standpoint, it should be optional to say the Pledge of Alliegance. Maybe you're a kid that doesn't like the way America operates and you just plain don't like to live in it, but you can't leave because obviously you're a minor. Well, it's your own right that you don't want to say the pledge, but it is a matter of respect and morals if you want to say the pledge. I personally, don't like to say the pledge (and I don't), not because I hate the country (I don't like it either), but it's just redundant that we have to do it every single day. This kind of goes along with freedom of speech.