I was surprised to read that Superintendent Anna Nolan announced that the Pledge of Allegiance “to the United States flag” will now be said before each School Committee meeting (starting in September), and that Newton students will be required to “pledge the flag each day.” It baffles me as to why we are reverting back to this uninspiring form of so-called patriotism. The rationale of it being a “nice tradition” seems pallid. As Steve Calechman wrote in his 2022 Boston Globe article, Schools Should Teach the Forgotten History of the Pledge of Allegiance, “I never understood how saying those words would make me a good American.” Indeed, reciting the pledge by rote every day does nothing to help kids understand our history, engage in civic debate, or encourage them to participate in our democracy. Now that’s patriotic!
As a secular Jewish kid growing up in the 1950s and 1960s — when we still had prayer in public schools and sang Christian hymns at assembly — feeling forced to say the pledge (especially the “under God” part, which was only added in 1954), always seemed an affront to my own freedom of speech. And we know that once the ritual begins, few kids, not to mention teachers, will be brave enough to decide not to say it.
Let’s hope this isn’t a harbinger of other revived “traditions.”
Cyrisse Jaffee
Newton Lower Falls