Why is it important for students to salute the flag and recite the pledge of allegiance before school?

In advance, I apologize for the length of this answer.

Do you really want to know? It's not popular to know the truth-it gains you many enemies. I am fully aware that I will gain some here by saying this. No matter.

The pledge of allegiance is but one form of indoctrination that all nations and groups use to instill a sense of unity and conformity. That we must do so in unison, facing the same way, and with our hands in the same position further evidence of this.

http://proudatheists.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/p...

The desire for uniformity goes beyond political and social groups as well. Uniformity is also a huge issue with the military as well-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKiinZtm6rs

When we all do the same thing-it creates anonymity among us. A new guy will immediately adapt the actions of those near him in such a situation-to avoid being singled out.

This used to be a purely military issue-with formations being key in past wars-until the advent of more accurate firearms and Heavy Artillery deemed them obsolete. However, marching in formation-despite having minimal physical impact on the ability of a solider-has a subtler mental impact on him. Marching in uniform fashion-kills independent thought-which is considered the antithesis of proper soldierly action.

As a form of Indoctrination (closely related to Propaganda), it must follow at least one of the 7 rules I have laid out-this mainly follows rules 1 and 5 but also subtly follows rule 7 as well-

1. Good vs. Evil, Left vs. Right, White vs. Black-it does not matter-so long as nothing rests in the middle that is said to be a viable option (moderates are called weak and indecisive when the opposite is usually true).

2. Appeal to ridicule. Gain a position of influence and tell people someones crazy enough times, and they'll believe it with no evidence whatsoever. Despite no actual study of any kind the vast majority still foolishly believe Socialism has always failed-it just so happens that we never hesitate to point it out when it does fail-so the only evidence the average person has is that which he is told-which brings us to the next rule-

3. Restriction of information-Ignorance. In the past, books were outright burned. Today this is not as effective-so you have to convince your flock that the "enemy's" literature, documentaries, websites, ect. are all lies and meant to poison you. Not wanting to risk their standing within the party, the average person will not dare research the "enemies" sources.

4. Fear. Fear causes us to do many things-most of these are remarkably stupid. Fear mostly arises out of ignorance (see rules 2 & 3). As Yoda once said, "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering." While you foam out the mouth at the audacity of the Liberals or Conservatives-you yourself suffer.

5. Chants, slogans ect. "Four more years!", "Change you can believe in!", "9/11!" and so forth. Slogans both unite us and quite logical thought. Try to think logically about anything while yelling these things out loud. In political rallies for instance, people are often hired to start yelling a chant (thereby causing others to) when the speaker pauses. This takes away from any time you may have better spent realizing how insanely idiotic what you just heard was. For example- "And then, we need to nuke half of our own cities!" the pause is interrupted by "4 more years!".

6. Anger-a.k.a. Fear's red-headed bastard child. It's not difficult to be angry with those on the other side when they are manipulated into to being angry with you. As opposed to being angry because you burned your toast, being angry for political reasons causes you to actually SEEK more anger! It's scary, really. You have a million problems-and rest assured, propaganda will convince you they are all the cause of the "enemy".

7. Grouping. How many times have you heard of the "Commie, Gay loving, America Hating Liberals!" or the "Fascist Religious Fanatical Gun Loving Neocons!" Chances are you have-probably in some of the answers to this very question. Go ahead and look, I'll wait. Anyway, by grouping together otherwise unaffiliated groups of people, you make it easier to target them all with one of two words-the word of your cause (Conservative, Republican, ect.) with the word of their cause (Liberal, Democrat, ect.). This invokes all of the previous 6 rules at once (or which ever ones you used-probably all 6 anyway) with a single word!

How it follows rule 1-

God is the source of all Good according to Christians. Therefore, a nation under God must be good-and all things against that nation are also against God-therefore they are bad. This creates the diametric yet highly irrational mental image that the world is divided neatly along good and evil, black and white (rule 1).

How it follows rule 5-

By mindlessly repeating certain things over and over again, they lose their conscious effect and gain a foothold in your subconscious-which also at the same time drowns out thought in your conscious.

How it follows rule 7 (Subtly)-

As mentioned with rule 1-all things under (grouped) under God must be good-so it must follow that all those things (grouped) under Satan must be bad. This rule kicks into effect when you hear about some enemy of the United States-

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsDrb...

It is very important that everybody knows that we have to pledge allegiance the the FLAG, not the man, not the party, and definitely not the corporation.

Not just students but everybody should. Although students are the only ones who are captive enough to be held to do so.

No matter what you think, like, or dislike about your government, you must always stand by your country. And thus pledging your allegiance is one way to do that.

The reason we salute the flag is for all the fallen men and women that have fought for your right to be free in this country. Yes you need to say and salute the flag every day and you need to do it with pride for your country. If you don't then you are a cowered in my book.

Proud Army Wife

Students do not salute the flag. However they do pledge their loyalty to the flag and to the Republic for which she stands.

I have pledged my life to the same. And I have and still do salute our flag, the symbol of our Republic and our freedoms.

SFC

US Army

Retired

Let me tell you a little story. My dad fought in World War II. He was fighting in the "Battle of the Bulge", and was shot in the right leg. It was January, it was very, very cold. His uniform was white, so as to blend in with the snow. He lay there a while, then the soldier who came to help him was shot and killed, and fell on top of my father.

He lay there in the snow for hours. Freezing. Bleeding. Praying to God someone would come to help. A medic, anyone. Finally, after many hours, a medic came to help my father. The snow saved his life. The dead boy on top of him kept him warm. My dad lost most of his right leg. Came out the the army a year later, after having to spend one year in the hospital. He met my mom, got married, and had me. I had a dad with one leg.

I am proud to stand up and say the pledge of allegiance, I am proud to salute my flag. I know what it cost for freedom. That's why.

We need to take pride in our country. We don't see much of that these days. A country divided cannot stand. Why not respect our country? There are others that want to see us crumble. What sense does it make to do this to ourselves?

It's not.

The flag is a symbol.

Instead they should be reading the Bill of Rights every morning.

To show those Communist Russians that America WILL win the Space Race!

The fact you don't know illustrates our broken public school system perfectly.

To ensure that nobody becomes a communist. Seriously, that's why we had to do it.