Hey, I have a question. I'm tempted to do an AIBU but I'm too scared of being eaten alive! I do hope you can go gently on me.
If your kids are at school here, how does the school handle the whole Pledge of Allegiance thing?
If they do it, is it no big deal or does it bother you? (Especially if you are British citizens)
I'm moving my children from their current school because they're just not very happy there and the fees are astronomical. One of the things that put me off the local public school was 'Pledge of Allegiance Fridays' where the kids have to wear red, white and blue every Friday and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
Anyway, fastforward a bit and I decided I really want my kids to go back to a Montessori school. They were at one in the UK and were happy there and my younger daughter is having some problems at her school now that I think would be helped by a Montessori environment. I've narrowed it down to two schools but one of them does the PoA every morning around the flag.
While I don't really object to the wording of the pledge (the children have dual nationality and our family is fairly agnostic). I just don't like the principle of children having to make a pledge without really thinking about what it means and it seems to go against the Montessori philosophy to make them do this. In my mind, a pledge is something that should never be made lightly or out of habit.
The principal of the school was boasting during the tour about how multi-national the school was, yet all the children have to pledge allegiance to America, one nation under God. I think my problem is that it seems to be rather inconsiderate or poorly thought out to make non-American children go through this ritual every day without carefully thinking about what the children are actually saying.
I actually had similar objections to the national anthem back in the UK, or the recitation of the Lords Prayer without considering the words, but I wonder if I'm just being difficult or overthinking. My husband explains it's just one of those things that schools do and he never thought about the words when he said it, which I find rather sad.
I think what I'm going to do is let the girls have a trial day at both Montessori schools (the PoA one and the non-PoA one) and see which they prefer. But I know if they have to do PoA, it'll annoy me.
I suppose similar issues have been brought up with Brownie/Guide vows and religious worship in school assemblies, but this seems to be a step further. It's not just religious but it's also a national thing when non-American citizens are being made to do this at school.
So, wrong thread, I know, but AIBU to make this a factor in choosing a school for my children, and am I making too much of a deal out of this?