Schools stumble over pledge

New state law fuels a scramble for flags; students debate value of recitation

Students returning to schools across North Carolina this year have been surprised by a daily practice that many of their parents never knew had faded: reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

A new state law requiring schools to schedule time each day for students to recite the pledge has revived a tradition right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. But some schools are scrambling to complete that picture by finding flags for every classroom, and some students are questioning the value of a daily repetition as an act of patriotism. Teachers in some schools were unprepared for the change and unsure of what directions to give students.

"We've been pledging to the flag even without the flags," said Tom Humble, principal of Raleigh Charter High School, whose students began saying the pledge on the first day of classes, Aug. 16.

Humble said some teachers had put up pictures of the flag, and at least one downloaded an image onto his computer. The school ordered flags and hardware, at a cost of $623, for each of the school's 30 classrooms.

The law, which the General Assembly approved this summer with one dissenting vote, also directs schools to display the flags of the United States and North Carolina in all classrooms.

At Wakefield High in North Raleigh, Principal Steve Takacs improvised during the first few days of school by having students in classrooms without flags face the front of the school, where the outdoor flag flies. Since then, student leaders have been leading the pledge on classroom television monitors, with an image of the flag in the background.

"We've ordered more flags," Takacs said.

In Wake County, classroom flags are standard accessories in new schools. Other schools can order them from the district's warehouse, where they are in stock, said Bill Poston, a district spokesman.

Durham school administrators are figuring out how to meet the demand, and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro district is relying on flags donated by organizations such as the American Legion, purchases by PTAs and the schools themselves.

Classrooms at East Chapel Hill High now have small flags on stands that can be placed on desks or filing cabinets. The flags were provided by the PTA.

"How do you say the pledge to the flag if you don't have it?" said Stephanie Knott, a Chapel Hill-Carrboro spokeswoman.

A trend since 9/11

North Carolina is now one of 37 states that require schools to include the pledge in their daily schedules, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Six other states have made the practice optional. Until this year, North Carolina law only "encouraged" schools to display flags in classrooms and recite the pledge.

Many states have added or strengthened the requirement since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Sara Vitaska, a policy associate with the conference.

The change in North Carolina law was spurred by an Apex High School student whose efforts led to the bill, which was initially filed in 2005.

Elementary schools in Wake and other Triangle districts have led students daily in the pledge for years, either because of local policy or tradition, but its debut in high schools has prompted debate among students and in classrooms.

"I view it as a civic duty," said Danny Trinh, 16, a junior at Enloe High School in Raleigh, which hadn't yet started the daily pledge this week. "It's a privilege to be a citizen of this country."

Other students said the daily recitation would diminish the pledge's meaning rather than deepen a sense of citizenship.

"I'm as patriotic as the rest of us," said Nina Gandhi, 16, also a junior. "But it shouldn't be said every day for repetition. It should be valued for the meaning, not as a requirement."