Student Omits ‘Under God’ From the Pledge of Allegiance, School Vindictively Lowers His Grades

[KamaAina]

Welcome to Blue California.

http://aattp.org/student-omits-under-god-from-the-pledge-of-allegiance-school-vindictively-lowers-his-grades/

A California High School student was punished for omitting “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Derek Giardina, 17, a student at Merrill F. West High School in Tracy, California, said the Pledge of Allegiance properly as instructed as part of the morning announcements. While he omitted only two words, which were added during the anti-Communist panic of the 1950’s.

Unfortunately, the school lacks the necessary knowledge of American history to appreciate the traditional manner of reciting the Pledge, arguing that if a student is going to lead the school, the pledge must promote one specific deity — or, the “traditional way,” as the school says.

Giardina says he was required to lead the school in the pledge as part of a debate class assignment, but that he would normally abstain because he is disillusioned with our country, and is not at all religious. Everyone in the class is required to lead the pledge 12 times a year. The first two times he led the school, he recited the bastardized 1954 version of the pledge, but the third time he recited it properly....

Giardina later learned that his grade had been marked down because he chose to correctly honor our country. “I think I have a low C now, from doing other speeches, but it is a very large point value,” he said. He received a warning that if he omitted the unnecessary phrase again, he would be punished. Previously, the reduced grades were causing him to fail.

[Politicalboi]

1. Holy Shit and in Ca too

I hope this kid sues the shit out of them.

[onenote]

23. He won't if he's smart. Since he'll lose.

He had the choice of reciting the pledge as part of a public speaking class or an alternate assignment. When he accepted the assignment to recite the pledge, he accepted the requirement that he recite what was put in front of him. As someone else noted down thread, if you take a class in which you're required to debate an issue, and assigned a perspective with which you disagree, you won't get a good grade if you don't make the effort to do the assignment as given.

[BlueJazz]

2. I don't "Get" the whole pledge thing. When I join a group or whatever (Like DU)..

..I pledge/agree to follow the rules of conduct and be respectful...or put it another way> I will follow the rules (or be punished/banned) because..I GIVE YOU MY WORD.

Do I have to sign up or pledge with the group every day? (I gave you my word yesterday that I would follow the rules or be punished/banned. You want me to do it again? Why. Isn't my word good enough the first time.

This saying a Pledge every day just diminishes it's meaning...and seriousness.

[shenmue]

3. The hell?

There is no state religion. Period.

[yeoman6987]

10. Was the paper he was given included with those words?

He basically didn't complete the assignment. That was the problem. If he were reciting the I Have A Dream speech and left two words out, would he have the same outcome? If it wasn't a test, I'd be furious.

[MattP]

4. Parts of CA are not so Blue

Although alot of it is Blue there are pockets of stupid everywhere

[LWolf]

5. I'm a bit skeptical.

Simply because, in every school I've ever worked in, including schools in CA, all staff knew that the pledge could not be compelled. If an individual teacher tried to compel that pledge as a class assignment, and the students knew it ahead of time, that student, and his parent, could have appealed and won, before his turn arrived.

[egduj]

16. It wasn't compelled.

He was given a choice between this and an alternate assignment, but he chose to seek (and quite successfully, apparently) attention and be the cool hip atheist kid.

[muntrv]

6. We won WWI and WWII without saying "under gawd" in the Pledge.

By the way, don't tell this school district that the Pledge was written by a socialist.

[Xithras]

7. The school is actually correct in this case.

There was an alternate assignment available, and he was being graded on the quality and accuracy of his delivery (it was the public speaking portion of the class). When I was in high school, my debate team had to argue for and against several controversial topics, including Roe v. Wade. I was assigned to argue AGAINST abortion rights by the teacher. Even though I disagreed with my own arguments, the assignment was to build and argue a topic from a particular viewpoint. That's the entire point of debate class...to learn to speak and debate effectively. NOT to further your own personal viewpoints, but to work on the fundamental mechanics of public speaking and remonstration.

While I can appreciate that the student has his own opinion, the assignment was to speak in front of the school, reciting the pledge as-written. By deviating from that, he tanked his grade. If he genuinely couldn't bring himself to complete the assignment as-written, there was an alternate assignment he could have completed instead. He chose not to do it.

This isn't the same thing as a student leaving words out while reciting the pledge in a crowd. He was performing a public speaking assignment with a pre-written script, and was being graded on the quality and accuracy of his delivery. Because he deviated from the script, he did not complete the assignment.

I'm a civil libertarian most of the time and usually side with the students in these cases, but this particular situation isn't a first amendment issue. He was given an assignment to read a script, and he did not do it.

[RKP5637]

9. Thanks for this additional detail! Now, I see the reasoning. n/t

[RKP5637]

8. Institutions trying to force their superstitious beliefs on others. To me, this

smells of law suite potential! I wish the ACLU would take it. I'm so fed up with this kind of bullshit. Not everyone is a god fearing christian, and not everyone is religious. And supposedly we have religious freedom, and that also includes the right to dump the institutionalized superstitious bullshit.

[yeoman6987]

11. Please read the article

You will most likely see that it wasn't a free speech situation. If it were I'd be giving you a million accolades on your post.

[RKP5637]

12. Thanks, yes, I see, I had assumed it was different. I see now their reasoning. He accepted

the assignment rather than the alternative and did not complete the assignment correctly.

[yeoman6987]

13. I honestly do that all the time as well.

Have a great night!

[RKP5637]

14. Thanks!

[Orsino]

22. Schools have no business including religious tests in any graded assignments...

...and no business leading students in stupid pledges of loyalty.

[adirondacker]

15. Students receive extra credit for showing up for the test in this costume...

[lpbk2713]

18. Is this a T-bagger rally?

I see more Porta-Potties than people.


j/k

[Damansarajaya]

17. I always say, "under gods." I'm for diversity, you know. nt

[B Calm]

19. Is this a private tea party school?

[Old Nick]

20. Maybe the Chinese will share a little bit of their technology with us

You know, just enough to make us more efficient workers.

[dsc]

21. for the most part this kid has no leg to stand on

He was offered an alternative assignment, which didn't involve the pledge or god, and refused to do that. He thus didn't perform the assignment correctly and got graded accordingly. That said, the detention he got for the second time he refused is out of line.

[Rowdyboy]

24. I was very sympathetic until I read the article. He had the option to take an alternate assignment

that would not degrade his integrity and he deliberately chose to refuse. Then he did the assignment differently than instructed and was punished with a lower grade. He's not a teacher, he's a student-students don't decide on their own what parts of an assignment are appropriate.

If students had that power exactly what assignment would EVER be completed? Learning to follow instructions is supposedly part of education.