The Pledge of Allegiance & Moment of Silence Controversy
The Pledge of Allegiance and Moment of Silence controversy revolves around the intersection of patriotism, education, and the First Amendment's clauses on religion. Since the mid-20th century, the inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge has sparked significant debate about its constitutionality, particularly regarding whether mandatory recitation in public schools promotes a specific religious perspective. Critics argue that requiring students to recite the Pledge, especially with its religious reference, places undue pressure on those who may not share that belief, thereby infringing upon their rights to free expression and religious freedom.
In parallel, the practice of instituting a Moment of Silence in schools has faced scrutiny, especially when such moments are perceived as nudging students towards prayer. Legal challenges have arisen, questioning whether these mandates endorse religion in a public school setting, which is against the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Historical cases, like that of Russell Tremain in the 1920s, illustrate the complexities families face as they navigate their rights against societal and governmental expectations. As public schools become arenas for these discussions, many advocate for greater awareness and conversation about the implications of both the Pledge and moments of silence, emphasizing the need for education that fosters understanding rather than mere conformity.
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The Pledge of Allegiance & Moment of Silence Controversy
Any activity required by public schools will face controversy if it presents a religious connotation. Since 1954, the Pledge of Allegiance has incorporated the words, "under God," introducing a religious aspect into its patriotic rhetoric. To many Americans, that public school students are required to recite it is unconstitutional and unnecessary. This article will present a brief history of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Moment of Silence, as well as a description of the First Amendment and a case study of Russell Tremain, a nine-year old student caught in the middle of a First Amendment case between the ACLU and the state of Washington in 1925.
Keywords: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); Allegiance; Church and State; Citizenship; Civil Liberties; First Amendment; Liberty; Moment of Silence; Pledge; Recitation
Overview
All over the United States, public school students rush to their classrooms in the morning and are called to attention when announcements begin sounding over a loudspeaker. Part of the morning ritual is to stand, place their right hands over their hearts, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in unison with the voice overheard throughout the school. While students are now not required to follow in recitation, they usually do because everyone else does.
Conformity may be the reason most students recite the Pledge, especially young students who cannot fully understand the meaning of the words they are saying. The fact that they are expected to recite them at all is controversial. Many opponents of its recitation argue that the Pledge does not belong in school because it serves no educational purpose for students to memorize and simply recite words. Another controversy involves whether or not students feel pressured to recite the Pledge — which references God — because the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment states that they don't have to.
The Pledge of Allegiance
Frances Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892. The United States had recently experienced its Civil War, and patriotism was pushed as a means to rebuild the country. Since it was first written, the Pledge has been revised only twice:
In 2002, almost a year after the September 11 attacks on New York's twin towers, three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that to require students to say "under God" was unconstitutional and that public schools could no longer mandate the Pledge's recitation. Reaction to the decision was overwhelming: "Starting with the president and leaders of both parties in Congress, elected officials poured more uninhibited scorn on the decision than on any other action of a court in living memory" (Clausen, 2002, p. 35). The decision was over-turned and currently, thirty-five states in America require recitation of the Pledge every day in school (Piscatelli, as cited in Martin, 2008, p. 127). In addition, the Pledge of Allegiance is used to welcome new citizens into the country as it is recited at the conclusion of naturalization ceremonies (Parker, 2006).
Moment of Silence
Required moments of silence are not so well-received. In 1985, the state of Alabama not only required a moment of silence for its public school students, the state actually created a prayer for the students to silently recite. The case was brought to the U.S. Supreme Court and the mandate was deemed unconstitutional. However, it was only considered a violation of students' First Amendment rights because it clearly pointed toward a religious affiliation. The Court devised an alternative for Alabama, which the state quickly embraced. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor identified the alternative based on the First Amendment itself:
In other words, if a moment of silence does not specifically endorse the concept of praying, it can be used as time spent on just about anything that is quiet. Furthermore, whoever is requiring it cannot be seen as forcing a religion because religious affiliation is not required for students to participate. Derek Davis, Editor of Journal of Church & State, identified five ethical arguments against O'Connor's play on words and, more specifically, a required moment of silence in public schools.
First, Davis notes that changing the wording does not change the meaning:
Second, Davis notes that many people want religion in public schools: "The absence of any form of prayer in the classroom, they argue, is … a sure sign that God has been removed from the schools" (p. 437). At the turn of the 20th Century, public schools were a way for America's poor and immigrant population to receive religious instruction of a Christian nature. In 2010, however, many people believe that 1) everyone has the right to choose his own faith, and 2) should he choose to believe in God, his observance should not be restricted to a public school building. Third, Davis points out that many of the people advocating for a moment of silence are doing so because the lack of moments of prayer have caused the country to become immoral (p. 438). Fourth, Davis point out that religion by any other name does not warrant a required time of observance: "It is rare to find Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and members of other minority communities of faith who favor moments of silence" (p. 439).
Finally, Davis notes that by virtue of the Equal Access Act of 1984, as long as it is not led by teachers or administrators, students can observe religion in public schools without a need for an established moment of silence.
Further Insights
The First Amendment & the Establishment Clause: The Separation of Church & State
The United States Constitution was signed in 1787. Price (2004) notes that in order to focus more on the people — rather than simply describing what the government could and could not do (as the original document does) — the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution. The third Article is the First Amendment:
Thomas Jefferson helped create the Bill of Rights, and to clarify the meaning of the First Amendment, he wrote a famous letter to Danbury Baptists to explain the intention of the amendment:
The Establishment clause (the first part of the amendment) was created as a way to ensure that the federal government couldn't declare any specific religion to be the religion of America. The Free Exercise clause (the last section of the first part) was created to keep the federal government from telling anyone which religion he could practice, where he could practice it, or when he could practice it, even if practice meant not observing a religion at all. In other words, one religion is not better than another nor is it better to observe religion than not to observe. Thus, the First Amendment is pretty clear: the government can't tell Americans what to do about religion. Yet, in 1954 the phrase, "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance, and children nationwide have been required to recite the phrase every school day since. Many people feel that such a requirement is unconstitutional because it demonstrates the government (public schools) telling American students to observe one religion in opposition to another (God as opposed Buddha, for example) or to observe a religion as opposed to no religion (God infers religion).
Educational Value
Directly following the September 11 attacks of 2001, an outpouring of patriotism took over the country. Part of that patriotism was reflected at the beginning of the school day when the Pledge of Allegiance was recited over a loud speaker. This is certainly a way to show patriotism for those who chose to do so. However, requiring that time be taken out of the school day for students, teachers, and administrators to recite the Pledge of Allegiance has caused a great deal of controversy, especially when state governments are requiring the recitation. In the year following 9/11, "half the states required schools to offer the Pledge during the school day, and five additional states introduced bills [through legislation] to that effect" (Gehring, 2002, as cited in Bennett, 2004, p. 58).
In Colorado, when a law was passed requiring students and teachers in a public school to recite the pledge every day, people challenged the mandate in court arguing that saying the pledge offered no educational value to the school day and that it should therefore not be required.
Further, Tomey-Purta (2000) notes that "civic education classes characterized by the discussion of political issues were more likely to result in knowledge and interest in politics than was the rote memorization of factual material" (as cited in Bennett, 2004, p. 66). Indeed, teaching patriotism and using the Pledge of Allegiance as the medium to do it is an educational practice. Saying the pledge for the sake of saying it, however, is not.
Case Study: Russell Tremain
Russell Tremain's parents refused to allow him to say the Pledge, and as a result, nine-year old Russell experienced an unexpected education in civil rights. In September of 1925, Russell Tremain's father requested to the Franklin School in Bellingham, Washington, that the child be allowed to refrain from participating in the daily salute to the flag. Mr. Tremain argued that such salutation (at the time, a hand was raised and outstretched rather than placed over one's heart) supported war and the military, and the Tremains did not. The elder Tremain believed in "a literal interpretation of the Bible, the sinfulness of war, and, most importantly, the authority of God over human institutions" (Henderson, 2005, p. 750). As such, when the Franklin School denied Tremain's request, he refused to allow his son to attend the institution if Russell was expected to recite the Pledge. In 1925, all children were required to attend school and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. When Russell's parents kept him home, they were seen by the state of Washington as unfit parents, and Russell was taken from their home and put into foster care.
Members of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tried to intervene with the state on the Tremain's behalf, but their intervention was based on the family's First Amendment rights being violated. The Tremains did not care much about their First Amendment rights since in their view God was the only entity with the power to make them follow any laws. Well into the next academic year, members of the ACLU were still fighting for Russell's return home. The organization's fight was recognized by the court because of the unconstitutionality of Russell's removal from his home. However, because the Tremains would not concede their stance based on the constitution (or any laws not created by God), Russell remained apart from them for over two years. Eventually the child was returned, but only because his parents and the court agreed that Russell would attend school — public or private — once he was returned to their care (Henderson, 2005, p. 760). It is likely that Russell did not know the extent to which his parents were in violation of any laws. From the court's perspective, expecting him to attend school but not to say the Pledge was encouraging him to break the law, which made them unfit (Henderson, 2005, p. 760).
Issues
What Does the Pledge Mean?
When he was growing up, Christopher Clausen, author and professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, noted that most of the people around him didn't take issue with the Pledge of Allegiance; he didn't think they thought much about it at all. He concluded that "most of them said they believed in God because it made life easier among other evasive people who also said they believed in God" (2002, p. 38).
Professor of Education at the University of Washington, Walter Parker, has conducted many discussions about the Pledge of Allegiance. Similar to Clausen, Parker points to a defined evasion regarding what the Pledge of Allegiance means. Parker has talked with elementary school students, high school students, and their parents and teachers. Without choosing sides by saying that recitation of the Pledge is good or bad, he simply points to his observations noting that most people who say the Pledge don't really know what it means:
In Parker's experience, when people fully consider the Pledge of Allegiance, more issues are raised than those of religion and the first amendment. This positive discovery shows that there is much more to the Pledge than those two concepts. Perhaps discussions like the ones he has had should be undertaken at the beginning of each school year — at an assembly, maybe — so that students (and their teachers and parents) can discuss and interpret the words. That way, the recitation of the Pledge would have meaning, not simply exist as an exercise in conformity, and its place in educational settings would have merit. Unlike Russell Tremain, the students choosing not to recite the Pledge as well as their peers who opt to recite freely will be fully informed about that choice.
Terms & Concepts
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): A national organization that advocates for the rights of individual people by offering litigation assistance, working toward more effective legislation, and promoting education for the public.
Allegiance: Loyalty; in the case of the Pledge, to the flag and nation of the United States.
Citizenship: Participation as an individual citizen of a country and enjoying the rights and privileges afforded as such.
Civil Liberties: Rights and freedoms granted to Americans based on the Bill of Rights and the amendments therein.
First Amendment: American citizens' freedom of speech, religion, the press, and to peacefully assemble as outlined in the Bill of Rights.
Liberty: "A political, social, and economic right that belongs to the citizens of a state or to all people" (www.encarta.msn.com).
Moment of Silence: The opportunity to use time during the (school) day to reflect on one's thoughts, to meditate, or to pray.
Pledge: A promise.
Prayer in School: The controversial practice of having a specific time during the (school) day for students to pray.
Recitation: Reading or speaking a memorized text out loud.
Bibliography
ACLU. (2002, March 11). The Establishment Clause and public schools. The Establishment Clause and the Schools: A Legal Bulletin. Retrieved September 24, 2010 from ACLU website: http://www.aclu.org/religion-belief/establishment-clause-and-schools-legal-bulletin
Amendment I. (n.d.). United States Constitution: Bill of Rights. Retrieved September 24, 2010 from Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute: http://topics.law.cornell.edu/constitution/billofrights
Bennett, L. J. (2004). Classroom recitation of the pledge of allegiance and its education value: Analysis, review, and proposal. Journal of Curriculum & Supervision, 20, 56-75. Retrieved June 7, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14616204&site=ehost-live
Chiodo, J. J., Martin, L. A., & Worthington, A. (2011). Does it mean to die for your country? Preservice teachers' views regarding teaching the pledge of allegiance. Educational Forum, 75, 38–51. Retrieved January 2, 2014 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=56621815
Clausen, C. (2003). Opening exercises. American Scholar, 72, 35. Retrieved June 8, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=8898163&site=ehost-live
Davis, D. H. (2003). Moments of silence in America's public schools: Constitutional and ethical considerations. Journal of Church & State, 45, 429-442. Retrieved June 10, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Education Research Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=10946286&site=ehost-live
Henderson, J. J. (2005). Conditional liberty: The flag salute before Gobitis and Barnette. Journal of Church & State, 47, 747-767. Retrieved June 8, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=19281703&site=ehost-live
Martin, L. A. (2012). Blind patriotism or active citizenship? How do students interpret the Pledge of Allegiance?. Action In Teacher Education, 34, 55–64. Retrieved January 2, 2014 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=73313007
Martin, L. A. (2008). Examining the Pledge of Allegiance. Social Studies, 99, 127-13. Retrieved June 8, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=32517670&site=ehost-live
Martin, L. A. (2011). Middle school students' views on the United States Pledge of Allegiance. Journal Of Social Studies Research, 35, 245–258. Retrieved January 2, 2014 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=90623572
Parker, W. C. (2006). Pledging allegiance. Phi Delta Kappan, 87, 613. Retrieved June 8, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=20494028&site=ehost-live
Price, R.G. (2004, Mar 27). History of the separation of church and state in America. Retrieved July 12, 2010 from rationalrevolution.net: http://rationalrevolution.net/articles/history%5fof%5fthe%5fseparation%5fof%5fchu.htm
Tomey-Purta, J. (2000). Comparative perspectives on political socialization and civic education. Comparative Education Review, 44, 89.
Suggested Reading
Center for Civic Education. (1995). We the people: The citizen and the constitution. Calabasas, CA: Center for Civic Education.
Ellis, R. J. (2005). To the flag: The unlikely history of the Pledge of Allegiance. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
Gehring, J. (2002). States weigh bills to stoke students' patriotism. Education Week, 21, 19-21.
Frantz, K. (2008). School prayer by any other name? Humanist, 68, 4-5. Retrieved June 10, 2010 from EBSCO online database Academic Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=27987278&site=ehost-live
Gotta minute? (2001). Current Events, 100, 1-2. Retrieved June 9, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Education Research Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=4026561&site=ehost-live
Humphrey, N. (2011). Newdow and the Ninth Circuit: What happened between 2002 and 2010 to change the court's opinion of the constitutionality of the pledge to the flag?. Journal Of Law & Education, 40, 711–718. Retrieved January 2, 2014 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=66567492
Knowles, T. (1992). Continued legal developments on the school flag. Social Education, 56, 52-54.
Miller, M. S. (1976). Twenty-three words: The life story of the author of the Pledge of Allegiance as told in his own words. Portsmouth, VA: Printcraft Press.
Mixing religion, politics troubles Americans, new poll indicates. (2001). Church & State, 54, 15. Retrieved June 10, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=4093755&site=ehost-live
O'Leary, C. E. (1999). To die for: The paradox of American patriotism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Piscatelli, J. (2003, August). Pledge of Allegiance. ECS StateNotes: Character/Citizenship Education. Retrieved June 9, 2010 from Education Commission of the States http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/47/20/4720.doc
Reporter's Transcript Ruling, Lane v. Owens, Civil Action No. 03-B-1544 (D. Colo., Aug. 21, 2003), 11-12.
Sica, M. G. (1990). The school flag movement: Origin and influence. Social Education 54, 380-84.
Tolo, K. W. (1999). Civic education of American youth: From state policies to school district practices. Report 133 by the policy research project on civic education policies and practices. Austin, TX: Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.
Walsh, M. (2013). Massachusetts high court weighs 'pledge' in schools. Education Week, 33, 4. Retrieved January 2, 2014 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=90249285
Williams, M. (1992). Preparing for the centennial of the Pledge of Allegiance: An annotated bibliography. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 55, 4, 13.