It doesn’t matter who I talk to, I have never heard anyone say that public schools are perfect. It could be anyone from a high school drop out to a Ph.D. to a teacher or principal. Everyone has an issue with them. I honestly think I could write an entire blog dedicated to the failures of public schools. I’m positive there are some out there, even though I’ve never looked for one. Even the concept of a public school does not make sense to me. I can’t figure out how anyone goes for it, other than saying “it’s for the kids, so we have to do anything and spend any amount of money because, it’s the kids. So you’ll ‘learn’ whatever I decide you’ll learn”. Let’s forget the fact that it is insanely expensive to minimally “educate” a kid (almost $20,000/year at a local high school that the students recently burned down), why would anyone want one person or organization in charge of setting an agenda and a curriculum for an entire nation? Common Core is only making it worse. I will never understand why we cannot let the people who are with the actual students, the parents and teachers, decide what and how to teach the kids.
Side note: Before anyone bashes me as an America hater because I am writing this right before the 4th of July, I will say that I guess that is just your opinion, but please read the entire post. I love this country. I love the constitution. I have many relatives who fought for what they believed is right and put their lives on the line so I can write this blog without going to jail. I literally do thank God that I was born in this country. I do not know how every country in the world operates, but I do believe I was blessed to live in the best. That being said, I am an individual.
In this post, I want to focus on one issue; The Pledge of Allegiance. I didn’t even go to public school, but I did say the pledge every day. Of course when I faithfully recited it every morning I had no idea what I was actually saying, but I’m pretty sure that’s how they wanted it to be. I did, however, know that we were honoring and respecting the flag. It is true that anything you do as a child pretty much stays with you the rest of your life. Everyone loves Mom’s home cooking. Why? Because that is what you grew up with. The communists knew about the power of state schools. Marx and Engels have it all over their Communist Manifesto. If they could just control the schools to push their agenda, the proletariat would follow them as opposed to the bourgeois. Have you ever heard of the Hitler Youth?
There was a wave of Progressivism (Teddy Roosevelt) and nationalism back in the late 19th century all the way through the mid 20th century. I remember being confused when I learned that Nazi nationalism was a bad thing. It confused me because I was (am) a proud American and at the time I bought into the blind hype. I can remember asking my teacher if nationalism is good or bad. I do not remember my teacher’s answer, but I remember not being satisfied. After that I probably thought about baseball cards and bubble gum and stared at the clock until the class was over.
Anyway, people in power realized they could use the love of the state to increase their power and force their will, the same way they used religion in the past. The state is good, the state says do X, okay I’ll do X. That is precisely how Hitler gained his power and was able to take care of their “problem”…German Pride! Well the Pledge of Allegiance was written in the time that nationalism was just taking off, 1892. We love to think, and we’re taught to think, that the Pledge is American and celebrates Freedom and Liberty and all the other words we were never actually taught about when we were in school. The truth is, it was written by a Socialist, Francis Bellamy, who held a position in the NEA. Before Bellamy published the pledge in Youth’s Companion and declared it “an official program for universal use in all the schools”, most public schools did not even have the flag.
His agenda was clear. It was the same tactic that was spelled out in “Communist Manifesto”. You may be a Socialist, and you may agree with their agenda, but even so, you cannot argue that the founders of this country were not socialists or that they wanted anything to do with socialism. This was a way to help fundamentally change the thinking of a nation by saying that we honor this great land. You may agree with the tactic, but you have to understand that its true purpose was not explained to our little brains, but it worked. Even supposedly small-government Republicans hold the Pledge sacred, but please think about what it means and the result of saying it every day from the time you’re a small child until you’re 18. If you want to pledge allegiance to a government you have no control of, that you often disagree with, that tracks your phone calls and gets pissed off when someone lets you know about it, well, that’s up to you. I’ll pass.
God Bless Freedom, Liberty, and Personal Property,
Slappy Jones II
Interesting perspective. I submit that the line “And to the republic for which it stands” is the reason that even a staunchly individual, libertarian citizen can support the pledge. A democratic republic like the one we are supposed to have in the United States protects its citizens natural rights. The government exists as a necessary structure to ensure everyone has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I didn’t understand the pledge when I was in school either. I doubt my teachers did either. If they had, I’m sure their union would have objected to the practice of supporting a republican government versus a socialist state.
I love that idea. I would love to pledge to be an individual and be proud of a country that respects our rights. Wouldn’t it be nice if schools taught our kids that they are individuals? That they have rights, and this is one of the few countries that protects those rights? Maybe we would then stop segregating Americans into groups like, the black vote, the Hispanic vote, the gay vote, the soccer mom vote, the business man vote, and now the white Hispanic vote. (Does that make Obama a white black guy?) Ask a high school kid to explain what liberty is, I guarantee you get a confused look on his face.
Instead, the pledge is serving its intended purpose, to make us good servants of the state. To blindly follow whatever the president says. Remember, it is patriotic to pay more taxes.
I think the reason the Pledge was such a genius idea for the socialists is because they knew everyone would get behind it. While we weren’t looking, all the people who legitimately praised the republic for which it stands, slowly let it slip away while they closed their eyes praising the republic and talking about freedom and liberty.