More Teaching Woes

Wow, I am really being tested these days. Perhaps it is because I am trying to encourage someone who is going into this field. A parent really griped at me for marking down their student’s citizenship grade. I had marked it down because this student refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The parent demanded it be changed, and basically threatened to sue over the issue. Of course, from taking the two or three school law classes I have had, I knew that a student could not be “compelled” to stand for the pledge. I thought I might have a week argument that marking down the citizenship grade did not constitute “compelling” a student to participate since the citizenship grade did not directly reflect on the student’s grade point average. And, of course, we were always told in school law, “you can do anything until you are challenged on it.” The issue died as soon as I spoke to the superintendent. The mark will be changed.

The bigger issue, of course, is what I was trying to teach the student--respect for the symbol of patriotism, respect for the country, respect for liberty and justice, respect for the men and women who gave their lives for us, etc. It saddens me that if my children go to public school, their teachers will be forbidden to teach them these virtues.

So why are people so set against reciting the pledge. Probably because of these two simple words: “…under God…”. Many people hate God. They simply don’t want anything to do with Him. There are a lot of reasons why this is, but I really think it is just that simple.