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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 19343
[Civil]
Date Posted:
2/5/2008
7:49:23 am EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 8,547
RSS: 16,531
Comments: 34
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Teen Says He Was Kicked Out For Not Standing For Pledge Of Allegiance
Author: Paul Harasim Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Title: STUDENT'S STAND: NOT TO STAND
Devon Smith, a Spring Valley High School sophomore, said what he did Monday morning was no different from what he's done since the eighth grade -- he neither recited the Pledge of Allegiance with other students nor did he stand silently while classmates took part in the recitation.
What was different, the 16-year-old said, was teacher Susan Rheinwald's reaction to his lack of participation.
He got kicked out of class.
"I wasn't being disruptive," he said Monday afternoon while sitting with his mother on the couch in their Spring Valley home. "I don't believe we are 'one nation under God' as the Pledge says. I don't believe in God. So I was just sitting there. That is my right."
Though Smith was told to go to the dean's office by Rheinwald, he phoned his mother, Donna Pearson, who told him to come home.
Like her son, Pearson does not believe in God. She is a member of the Wiccan faith, though her son says he is not.
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Community Thoughts: There are 34 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Dissent Is Patriotic | Feb 8th. at 3:02:44 pm EST
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Terry (Irvington, Virginia) - Email Me
The way things ought to work, the students have a protected right to not just passively resist, but actively disrupt blatantly illegal activities. The students call 911 on their cel phones, not restricted from using them to enforce law against bad teachers or admins, the police arrive, and haul the scofflaws, both teacher and admins, for a few years of reeducation in a Graybar Hotel, on charges of felony deprivation of rights under color of law. Since that would end their careers, the education offered is mostly to other potential such crooks.
There's a serious problem when a specific deity was fraudulently added to a loyalty oath, with all courts which have pretended that's generic or inclusive seriously warped. There's also a problem of far from neutral application of law merely imposing loyalty oaths at all, Bellamy or tampered versions. Responsible schools would teach kids about their civic duties to refuse and resist, rather than abuse those who don't play along.
Of course that's not present reality, and so running over to the ACLU for help, and making sure to ask for serious money damages to "raise consciousness" among voters and ding politicians who have to explain to them why taxes are higher, is the only solution that doesn't now call for extermination of corrupt politicians as conditionally is the last legal (even if unlawful and difficult) remedy in our system of laws. Even if monetary damages are token, and punitive damages against government often unavailable, forcing individual teachers or admins to hire lawyers and appear in court as named defendants, and the recovery of legal costs and fees enabled by even $1 of actual damages, do send a message that government agents, in that role and as recklessly if not maliciously abusive neighbors, did something very wrong.
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| In High School, | Feb 8th. at 10:15:16 am EST
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Laura Beaudet (Somerville, Massachusetts) - Email Me
I did not say the pledge. Most of my teachers didn't care. One year, the teacher I had for homeroom said that he didn't care if someone didn't want to say the pledge, but that if we wanted to be exempted from it, we had to write up our reasons for not saying it and hand that in to him. I wrote about the history of the pledge, how "Under God" was a late addition that I saw as inconsistent with the ideals of our founding fathers, how I didn't believe anyone should be forced to make an oath, etc. I thought this was a good approach, because it was his way of making us show him that we had actual moral reasons for our choice, and weren't just doing it to be lazy or disruptive. He respected our moral choice, once we explained it.
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| Sickening..... | Feb 7th. at 3:33:42 am EST
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nasionnaich (Stanchfield, Minnesota) - Email Me
Shades of McCarthyism........
"1984" wasn't just a novel -- it is fast becoming a reality.
---nasionaich
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| After Reading The Comment Thread | Feb 7th. at 3:27:01 am EST
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Rev. Sea Wind (Louisville, Kentucky) - Email Me
Here's what I replied with.
"I am a veteran. I am also a Wiccan. I PERSONALLY disagree with Devon's decision to not stand for the Pledge, but I do not utterly condemn him for it. Instead of demning him to hell or some or inviting him to leave the US, I would PRIVATELY take him aside and talk to him about why he did what he did, and talk to him, in a calm, reasonable manner, about why it is important to show respect, even if one does not recite the Pledge. To me, this seems far better than all the vitrolic declarations I've been reading about on this thread.
"As for all you so-called "good Christians" who are condemning this young man for asserting his rights, I say this to you: the great Garrison Keillor summed it up best. "Give up your good Christian life and follow Jesus." None of you showed the true love and compassion of Jesus Christ, who sat down with prostitutes and criminals. Shame on you all."
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| Wow | Feb 7th. at 12:32:54 am EST
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wyldeflower (Peoria, Arizona) - Email Me
I can understand not requiring a youth to say the pledge of allegiance. They ARE too young to really understand, and adults certainly have the right to decide whether they wish to pledge their allegiance. I have never had a problem wih it. I worship both God and Goddess. I just leave out the "under God" part and say it the way it was originally written. It's important for me to appreciate the fact that I DO have the right to worship who or what I want to. If I lived in some other country, I may not be able to enjoy that freedom.
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| There Is Another Article On It... | Feb 6th. at 9:43:17 pm EST
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Lady Eagle Spirit (Austin, Texas) - Email Me
I emailed it to Wren earlier.
Find More info -- HERE
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| I Never Saw The Point.... | Feb 6th. at 6:37:43 pm EST
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Batman (Madison, Wisconsin) - Email Me
...of making children, of all people, take any kind of pledge, when 1) they're not old enough to vote, 2) they probably have no idea what they're pledging in the first place, and of course, the obvious 3) they're minors, who would require their parents to act as guardians in such case of any other kind of oath, pledge, or otherwise. I honestly think it's pointless to have children do this. It absolutely serves no point, unless, that is, you're counting brainwashing, which you have to throw in said point #2 - most kids don't have the foggiest idea what the pledge of allegiance is about, and come to think of it, neither do most adults.
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| I Never Saw The Point.... | Feb 6th. at 6:36:47 pm EST
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Batman (Madison, Wisconsin) - Email Me
...of making children, of all people, take any kind of pledge, when 1) they're not old enough to vote, 2) they probably have no idea what they're pledging in the first place, and of course, the obvious 3) they're minors, who would require their parents to act as guardians in such case of any other kind of oath, pledge, or otherwise. I honestly think it's pointless to have children do this. It absolutely serves no point, unless, that is, you're counting brainwashing, which you have to throw in said point #2 - most kids don't have the foggiest idea what the pledge of idea, and come to think of it, neither do most adults.
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| I've Read The Comments | Feb 6th. at 3:45:47 pm EST
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Moonlight Wolf (Bradford, England) - Email Me
...and I have to say
What an ignorant bunch of prats!
The kid was well in his rights not to say the Pledge of Allegance and well within his rights to do so.
They simply diss him because he looks like a punk and his mother is Wiccan. Why does the press always add parts about people's background when it's not relevant.
Oh, that's right. They want the ignorant to make idiots out of themselves by commenting on the facts that have very little relevance to the point.
And people wonder why there are so many jokes about Americans.
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| Ah, Memories | Feb 6th. at 12:59:05 pm EST
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Eran Rathan (Old Town, Maine) - Email Me
of growing up in a small NH town, where I was the only ethnic Jew, and one of three kids in my class who was not Protestant (the other two were JW's) .
The three of us were asked politely by our teachers (usually at the beginning of each year) to stand silently while we did the pledge...and it was no big deal.
On a couple of occasions I simply sat, to be obnoxious and to try to get a reaction, but usually it resulted merely in the teacher rolling their eyes and sighing heavily...and that was it.
Its really only an issue of someone gets offended, one way or the other...and being offended is NOT protected by the Constitution or the law. As long as one is respectful of what they disagree with, there isn't a problem, n'est-ce pas?
Eran Rathan
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| Too... | Feb 6th. at 7:35:36 am EST
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Maisy (Akron, New York) - Email Me
I got snapped at a few times when I sat during the Pledge, because I was reading or doing homework instead and didn't notice. The other times I stand just because I want to they don't know the REAL reason your standing.
But being kicked out for that isn't right and the teacher and school should have handled it differently.
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| A SCHOOL SYSTEM.... | Feb 6th. at 5:31:13 am EST
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Whitewolf (Schenectady, New York) - Email Me
behaving badly!
I gave up standing for the pledge in school too, because I personally felt that I never got justice for some of the BS that happened to me.... what REALLY clinched it was back in Junior High I got kicked off the bus for smoking, AND I DON'T SMOKE! Never have, BTW.... Needless to say my Mum was MAJOR furious at the school system. They never investigated the facts, they just arbitrarily DID. I have to give three cheers to this young man for standing by what he believes. I hope they slap the school silly with a lawsuit....
Love to all
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| *claps For Devon* | Feb 5th. at 11:47:18 pm EST
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Lady Eagle Spirit (Austin, Texas) - Email Me
Because of this young man, we had a lively discussion this afternoon about civil rights, the Pledge and the 'moment of silence' some schools have in place of prayers. It really impressed my 12yo daughter (13 on Thursday) that I would not 'force' her to say the Pledge, she can use the moment of silence for her own praying and she can refrain from saying the Pledge on religious grounds (she is a bit like the young man at this time...agnostic) .
This talk was a miracle because with Mercury in retrograde, we did not 'kill' each other!
Walk in Beauty...
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| Back In The Day..... | Feb 5th. at 10:20:21 pm EST
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Thorin (Newaygo, Michigan) - Email Me
I remember back in the 1970's when 7th Day Adventests (SP) didn't stand up or recite the Pledge, and NOBODY said a thing about it. Personally, when I say it, I replace "GOD" with "GODS", as do my sons. Yes, the parent's religion comes into play, as both she and her son have the RIGHT to NOT stand up or say the Pledge if they prefer not to......for ANY reason. Hopefully, the ACLU or some group comes down hard on this teacher. JMO
Thorin the Skald
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| I've Got A Quote That Fits The Comments | Feb 5th. at 6:09:53 pm EST
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Avagdu (Independence, Missouri) - Email Me
on this article,
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" Sinclair Lewis.
For some, to question their beliefs, patriotism, etc., is criminal and un-American. I guess that they are unaware that the wonderful thing about our country is that we DO have the right to disagree. The constitution guarantees this for all its citizens. apparently, like their faith, the constitution is conditional, when and to whom it applies.
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