Every morning during homeroom, someone speaks over the P.A. system and leads us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Personally, I don't say the Pledge because I don't believe that it should be said in schools. People may think that this is unpatriotic, but I disagree strongly with the Pledge for what I consider very valid reasons. First, the Pledge contains the words "under God." Very simply, in a public school, the words "under God" are not appropriate. It may seem picky, but there is a separation of church and state in this country which should hold for all aspects of public schools.

Another issue I have with the Pledge of Allegiance is the fact that is extremely idealistic. We would like to think that there is "Liberty and justice for all," but there isn't. There is a large amount of injustice and discrimination, especially racial and economic and we should be doing something to stop it, rather than pretending the country is perfect.

There is also an issue that is usually overlooked: in 1892, the Pledge was first said by school children to commemorate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. However, today we accept the fact that Columbus didn't discover America, because the Native Americans were already here. This makes the Pledge of Allegiance not only outdated, but also historically incorrect.

Instead of giving an outdated and prejudiced pledge to the flag, we should be working to stop the prejudices that the Pledge actually promotes, and showing our patriotism by taking pride in being American, rather than giving a speech to a flag. n