10-year old refuses to stand for pledge of allegiance because of gay rights injustices.

[Msterbeau]

The kid's got courage in spades and I totally support what he's doing.

http://www.arktimes.com/articles/articleviewer.aspx?ArticleID=2f5d7a3b-c72a-446b-8d20-3823aa79c021

[Rev.Reverence]

That teacher does owe the boy an apology...it don't matter what his elders care about...it is his protest...besides..the teacher also owes the mom & G-maw an appology, foe ASSuMEing.....

[pomba gira]

Brave little kid. Can just imagine the hate mail he's gonna get.

A GOOD teacher would have used his action as a "teachable moment" on core democratic values, rather than getting ignorantly confrontational about it. My rule is, if a student can give me a well-reasoned explanation for why they don't want to do something, I will at least work with them... never just play the "because I said so" card.

[KatRN05]

Brave kid. Same with that girl who wants to take her girlfriend to Prom. Just let her take her girlfriend! We are not living in the fucking 1950s.

Edited March 16, 2010 by KatRN05

[Slogo]

[Rev.Reverence]

Brave little kid. Can just imagine the hate mail he's gonna get.

A GOOD teacher would have used his action as a "teachable moment" on core democratic values, rather than getting ignorantly confrontational about it. My rule is, if a student can give me a well-reasoned explanation for why they don't want to do something, I will at least work with them... never just play the "because I said so" card.

[Fidget(+)]

I wanna throw him a party.

xD!

[candyman]

Huh...that kid has balls and a brain.

“I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer,” Will said. “I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all.”

I think this is problem...currently? When has it ever been? Maybe, instead of just protesting and talking down about the people that don't agree with him he could try to help them understand or explain to them...but in most situations like this nobody will do that. Also, if he thinks that the kids opposing him are "more crazy, out of control and vocal" then what the hell is he going to do when he gets to high school or college and people disagree with him?

[Onyx]

wow. He would have made a more effective point if he had skipped the comment to his teacher to jump off a bridge, but after all, he's only 10. I don't like the way the school handled it.

"At the end of our interview, I ask young Will a question that might be a civics test nightmare for your average 10-year-old. Will's answer, though, is good enough — simple enough, true enough — to give me a little rush of goose pimples. What does being an American mean?

“Freedom of speech,” Will says, without even stopping to think. “The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents.”

Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson smiles."

[pomba gira]

Huh...that kid has balls and a brain.

"I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer," Will said. "I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all."

I think this is problem...currently? When has it ever been? Maybe, instead of just protesting and talking down about the people that don't agree with him he could try to help them understand or explain to them...but in most situations like this nobody will do that. Also, if he thinks that the kids opposing him are "more crazy, out of control and vocal" then what the hell is he going to do when he gets to high school or college and people disagree with him?

Dude, this is a ten-year old, albeit a precocious one.

And disagreeing is one thing. Name-calling and bullying are something different altogether.

[candyman]

Dude, this is a ten-year old, albeit a precocious one.

And disagreeing is one thing. Name-calling and bullying are something different altogether.

Yes but remember what grade he is in...that stuff comes with the average age group and doesn't really indicate anything other than they are in that age group. Also, very few people in HS or college stop at just disagreeing with you so its almost always name calling and such.

How long will it take for this kid to get to college anyways? Freakin smart!

[TygerLili]

The "go jump off a bridge" comment was out of line. Yes, the teacher was out of line, but two wrongs don't make a right. If I were his mother I'd have told him to apologize for that comment, but fully supported him on everything else.

It is nice to see someone that age thinking for himself instead of just doing what he's told "just because."

[torn asunder]

i had a friend in school who refused to stand for the pledge too - he was a jehovah's witness & said it went against his religious beliefs. there were a few kids who stood up for him, but the majority were assholes.

Edited March 17, 2010 by torn asunder

[Head Wreck]

i never did like the thought of the pledge of allegiance every morning in the first case, its seen by a lot here in Britain as fascistic and brainwashing.

a proper pledge of allegiance is given of free will anyhow

[Rev.Reverence]

The "go jump off a bridge" comment was out of line. Yes, the teacher was out of line, but two wrongs don't make a right. If I were his mother I'd have told him to apologize for that comment, but fully supported him on everything else.

It is nice to see someone that age thinking for himself instead of just doing what he's told "just because."

He said, "With all due respect,"...& that makes it oK in my book...& I'ld be amazed if my child used that phrase properly...the statement said, that the teacher was already bein' loud at him...that, is not cool...like HW said, pledges of allegiance, are best made of free will, not forced...also, upon thinking..I don't think that the pledge, is proper for children at that age...they can't sign legal documents..how can they oath, same~same for things like baptisms, & conformational type situations...

[Nightgaunt]

i never did like the thought of the pledge of allegiance every morning in the first case, its seen by a lot here in Britain as fascistic and brainwashing.

a proper pledge of allegiance is given of free will anyhow

I completely agree with you. I've always had a problem with the way kids are taught to make that pledge by rote. I know that I was never taught, as a child, what the words actually meant. These kids grow up to be adults that still recite the Pledge in that child-like, conditioned way. It sounds like nitpicking, but it makes a difference when you hear it that way and then hear it spoken by someone who understands it and believes in what they're saying.

"I pledge allegiance.

To the flag.

Of the United States of America.

And to the Republic.

For which it stands.

One nation.

Under God.

Indivisible.

With liberty and justice for all."

VS.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!"

A good test is to ask someone to recite the Pledge where they avow loyalty to the Republic and then ask them if we live in a Democracy. Guess what most people will tell you?

[candyman]

"I pledge allegiance.

To the flag.

Of the United States of America.

And to the Republic.

For which it stands.

One nation.

Under God.

Indivisible.

With liberty and justice for all."

VS.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!"

A good test is to ask someone to recite the Pledge where they avow loyalty to the Republic and then ask them if we live in a Democracy. Guess what most people will tell you?

Hehe one time I said it the fast way to get done with the cold and rainy PT faster and proceeded to get my ass chewed by my SGT for about 10 min...