Several weeks ago, the New York Daily News discovered that a number of New York City schools had failed to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as a part of their typical school day. In fact, the Daily News surveyed 10 city schools and found half of them skipped the pledge despite New York State law requiring the daily flag salute. Clearly, if the Daily News researched this further, they would have found many more schools failing to recite this time honored oath. The Daily News was tipped off by a parent after their 8-year-old daughter was unable to recognize a group of children reciting the pledge while watching a television program. Unimaginable. I was shocked to hear that a public school would skip one of the most important civics lessons you could give during a school day. Of course, I’m aware that the United States Supreme Court allows individuals to opt out, but for an entire school to go years without reciting the pledge – seems more than un-American.
Mr. Andy Booth, American Legion Flag Etiquette program and a real patriot, told me that this occurs more than you would think. Mr. Booth said we’re fortunate to be in a patriotic community—Island Trees and Levittown—where the schools welcome the American Legion’s flag etiquette program. Incredibly, Mr. Booth has visited schools where American flags are not displayed in their classrooms. In fact, when he asked about the absence of classroom flags a confrontational teacher said to him, if I displayed the American flag I would need to hang others and she ran off a list foreign countries. Only in America!
Well, I am glad we’re in a school community where we honor our great nation, proudly recite our pledge, and display our colors – red, white and blue in all of our classrooms. Equally important, I’m glad we have veterans like Andy Booth teaching children lifelong lessons about the flag, honor and country. God Bless America!
