When Students Refuse to Recite the Pledge of Allegiance: Preservice Teachers’ Responses

Abstract

The Pledge of Allegiance is a culturally essential—and often legally mandated—daily exercise in many schools. With societal focus on patriotic exercises and many individuals’ subsequent refusal to engage in these exercises, it is important for preservice and inservice teachers to examine their approaches to students who refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. This article explores preservice teachers’ forecasted responses to students who refuse to recite the Pledge in their future classrooms. In this case study, many preservice teachers foresee themselves as arbiters of students’ right to refuse recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, incongruent with state statutes and case law.