Every morning in Iran, students are…
Every morning in Iran, students are lined up and asked to chant, loudly, “God is great! Khamenei is our Leader!”, among other statements. (30 years ago it was “God is great! Khomeini is our Leader!”)
That’s their current conservative government that takes away precious school time to indoctrinate the Iranian kids. This is the norm in countries where democracy and freedom are under threat. Horrible, isn’t it?
In the US, our conservatives want all students to stand each morning and pledge allegiance to the flag (and the nation for which it stands, under God). These are the same conservatives who think that government is needlessly meddling in people’s lives.
While class time is shrinking due budget cuts, we don’t seem to have issues wasting a minute or more of our children’s day, five days a week, ironically reminding them that while that flag stands for liberty and freedom, they are being forced — bullied — into reciting the pledge.
Our children are asked to pledge allegiance every weekday. The President of the US and our congressmen and politicians only have to take the oath of office once every four years.
Wouldn’t it be better if our children spent the same few minutes each day reading a section of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights? I’d much rather know that our students can recognize and differentiate the amendments, rather than memorizing a 31 word statement.
Related:
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1364207&srvc=home&position=emailed
CriticalMusings 