Here’s a new memory for my imaginary first year of teaching treasure chest: a fellow teacher called me unpatriotic today! I was so wrong in assuming that the patriotic police ceased to exit when Bush left office. But I digress…
We were having a planning meeting for the school assembly, and a teacher suggested cutting out the pledge since the kids already say it in the morning.The Patriot, as I will call her, laughed and said “We’re not doing that! Not saying the pledge at an assembly is just unpatriotic.” I couldn’t help it…I laughed and shook my head. They mostly ignored me, as they usually do (which is why I’ve gotten away with dozing through the last two planning meetings), and the meeting continued. And as I listened to my colleagues try and figure out how to shorten the assembly, I brought up the cutting out the pledge idea again…and again The Patriot laughed and refused. I don’t know what came over me but I shared that I personally don’t say the pledge in my class, although I ask my students to stand and allow them to chose on their own if they would like to say the pledge. I personally don’t believe in blindly pledging my allegiance to anything other than my family (and only on their non-crazy days), and I definitely don’t think the word “under god” has any place in a school building (separation of church and state anyone?).
The Patriot went crazy! She scrunched up her nose and nasally yelled “that sounds terrorist!” And then she went on a long-winded and unnecessarily loud tirade about people moving to Canada or back to South America if they didn’t want to follow our customs…no one invited them. It was unclear if she was referring to a specific them, an “everyone and their mom” them, or just me. And I couldn’t tell if she was joking. If it was a joke, it was lame.
Ridiculous.
