The Oxford School District recently reinstated a pledge policy and is giving students and faculty the option to opt out of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, a standard morning activity in U.S. public schools.
Public schools cannot force students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, though schools may allow time to recite the pledge at the beginning of the school day.
Mississippi State Code 37-13-6 states the boards of trustees of Mississippi public schools require students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at least once every school month. The code also states any student or teacher who objects shall be excused without penalty.
The Oxford School District Pledge Policy was reinstated the week of Oct. 26, involving students reciting the pledge every morning. The Oxford School District administration has also educated students on their options during the recitation of the pledge.
Oxford School District Communications Coordinator Kelly Graeber said the high school administration wanted to give students the option to participate or not. Students are given the freedom to choose, and if their choice is to opt out, they know they are not allowed to be disrespectful or disruptive during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Graeber said giving students the option to choose is part of preparing decision-makers for society.
“We want them to be confident in the decisions they make, and they can start thinking, ‘Is this important to me? What are my thoughts? Where do I stand?’” Graeber said.
Lindsay Parker, a student teacher at Oxford High School, said this new policy is positive for students and a way to protect them.
“I am really happy Oxford High has made students knowledgeable on their rights,” Parker said. “I would not want any of my students to feel uncomfortable or forced to compensate their beliefs. I do, however, feel that the pledge is more patriotic than religious, although not all families see it that way.”
A study by the American Humanist Association, with support from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, reports that 34 percent of Americans support removing the phrase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. The study was conducted in May in response to a 2013 poll by Lifeway Research, which stated that only eight percent of American adults felt “under God” should be removed from the pledge.
The original version of the Pledge of Allegiance did not include the words “under God.” The patriotic oath was attributed to a Baptist minister by the name of Frances Bellamy and published in a children’s magazine in September 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s voyage to America. It originally read “I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
In 1954, Congress added “under God” to the Pledge during the Cold War to emphasize distinctions between the United States and the officially atheist Soviet Union.
