Texas High School Student Suspended For Refusing to Stand During Classroom Pledge of Allegiance

[napkinz]

by Kerry Anne
May 10, 2014

A Texas high school student has been suspended from school for failing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance as a protest against government policies. The news of Houston high school sophomore Mason Michalec’s two-day in-school suspension quickly spread through his community, prompting a vigorous debate about freedom of speech.

The decision also appears to violate a high court ruling on the matter. In 1943, the Supreme Court — in the case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette — ruled that persons may not be compelled to stand and observe the pledge, writing,

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."

Nevertheless, Michalec finds himself on the receiving end of some fairly repressive behavior from his school. The student had been steadfastly observing his ‘silent protest’ for some time without incident. But on this occasion, a different teacher witnessed his refusal to rise, took offense and insisted he stand.

"'This is my classroom, this is the principal’s request, you’re going to stand'," Michalec said the teacher told him. "And so, I still didn’t stand. She told me she was going to write me up."

In scenes more fitting of a theocracy than a democracy, Michalec was handed a letter from the school principal punishing him with a two-day in-school suspension refused for failing to stand for the “Moment of Silence, Pledge of Allegiance, and the Texas Pledge’. Furthermore, 15 year-old Michalec says he was told by the principal that for every day he didn’t stand, he would be given two more in-school suspension days. This leaves the student with the choice to violate his political beliefs or sacrifice his education.

read more: http://iacknowledge.net/texas-high-school-student-suspended-for-refusing-to-stand-during-classroom-pledge-of-allegiance/

[arely staircase]

1. that school fucked up

that isn't legal

[randys1]

2. Texas hates America, why would they do this?

How fucking stupid and childish are people, god damn flags and pledges, JESUS CHRIST YOU STUPID FUCKING ASSHOLES...

flags and pledges are meaningless, for immature people, this student is more grown up than the entire state of texASS

[arely staircase]

4. you realize the girl in question is a Texan right?

as will be the lawyers who she hires to sue the district? were you trying to be ironic by complaining about immature people while using all caps strings of profanity, or did it just work out that way?

[Nobel_Twaddle_III]

28. what girl ?

[arely staircase]

29. I thought the studnt was female. nt

[Nobel_Twaddle_III]

30. nope

[randys1]

35. Yeah, I realize there are some decent people in all American states

But the rightwingers in these states who control everything are disgusting pigs...
Terrorists, criminals, killers.

So when I say TEXAS hates America, I mean RICK PERRY and all the rightwingers...

I shouldnt have to qualify that here as you should know that is what I mean, but I am learning how to do things here at DU

[DFW]

42. One way to do things at DU....

Is NOT to lump all of us Texans under one roof.

Yeah, we have a lot of crap yet to wade through, but 3.3 million of us voted for Obama's re-election, too. It's bad enough when we have to suffer Perry, Cruz and Gohmert being pictured as the face of Texas, ignoring that people like Ann and Cecile Richards, Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower and Wendy Davis ever existed. But it's worse when people pretending to be open-minded and progressive lump us all into one right-wing trashbag. We expect that of Freepers calling us all "libbruls." We do NOT expect it of people we ought to have as our allies. There are right-wing assholes in Massachusetts and California, but I don't recall one Texan member of DU ever calling Massachusetts or California a right-wing hellhole (Orange County notwithstanding).

[randys1]

44. To think that I am lumping all texans together is insincere, you know i am not doing that

I am the first to acknowledge that there are bad people everywhere, including if not especially California.

But Texas, represented by Rick Perry, says it wants to SECEDE from the nation...at least I am pretty sure I remember hearing shit like that.

At that point, I am not your problem, the rest of the civilized world is your problem...

[DFW]

47. "Texas hates America:" your words, not mine

Perry said Texas wanted to secede, not the rest of us. You are not THE problem, just part of one. "texASS" fer Pete's sake. So, every time some racist Republican from Southie mouths off, it's open season on "mASSachusetts?" I thought not.

If it is not your intent to lump us together with the worst elements in our state, you might want to choose your words more carefully, in order to give a more accurate impression of your sentiments. There are plenty of Texas progressives on here that are rather tired of being portrayed as part of an army of Gohmert clones.

After all, Sean Hannity grew up where, and Bill Moyers grew up where?

[yeoman6987]

7. I would love to know more to the story before I pass judgment

First of all is this a sudden situation? Has the student been standing through the year and suddenly started to not want to? Is it because he is being defiant not because of the flag but because he is having Spring fever or something else? I really wish they had more information.

[napkinz]

8. does it really matter whether it's a "sudden situation"?

He cannot be forced to stand, period!

[yeoman6987]

10. I know but I could see the school being suspicious of his actions

if he has been doing it and then suddenly is having behavior problems in other areas and using this to continue it. Everyone has witnessed this before. I see it with the nephews when they don't want to do something that they were doing all along and then suddenly out of nowhere they don't want to do the activity. Normally they are made to do it and they get over it pretty quickly. All I want to know is if this is a serious belief or just a rebel action.

[DireStrike]

13. There is no objective standard to determine if something is a "serious belief".

I don't want the government to start attempting to determine the nature of personal beliefs. If that means a kid with a behavior problem wins a petty fight, so be it. There are more important things.

[napkinz]

14. if you read the rest of the article, I think you'll find this is not some stunt ...

Saying he was ready to accept the threat of more suspensions, Michalec said,

“I think it’s time people start doing something for themselves and stop just taking whatever is handed to them.”

Michalec added,

“I’m really tired of our government taking advantage of us,”

“I ‘m angry and frustrated and annoyed that they would try to write me up for something that I have the right to do.”

http://iacknowledge.net/texas-high-school-student-suspended-for-refusing-to-stand-during-classroom-pledge-of-allegiance/


and even if it were a stunt, it doesn't matter ... one cannot be coerced into standing for the Pledge

[awoke_in_2003]

16. "one cannot be coerced..."

+1000

[redqueen]

22. Might want to watch the broad brushing there. That kid isn't the only person here who thinks little

of these pledges.



Anyway, have to post this again

[napkinz]

37. ...

[Swede Atlanta]

3. What comes next? Forced jack-booting and rifle practice?

They should appeal and make the school district pay dearly for this.

As a kid I blindly did the Pledge of Allegiance thing. I was raised in a conservative western state but I don't think I was unlike other kids my age. I am in my mid to late 50s.

Later in life I have decided never to stand or hand on the chest for the Pledge nor to participate. It is but a symbol of something we are slowly losing - freedom.

I was home for a 4th of July parade a few years ago. People around me were clearly upset when I didn't stand up, salute or anything when the U.S. flag passed by.

It was not a sign of disrespect. It was a recognition we have been programmed as automatons to do what we are told without considering the meaning. The flag is a symbol. It is not a god nor something to be worshipped.

On the other hand when the veterans' groups passed starting with the WWII and Korean War vets in cars and then the Desert Storm, Afghan and Iraq wars passed by I stood up and clapped for them. They are the real heroes.

I know some people here may feel differently but I don't see the flag as anything other than a symbol. I don't worship symbols. As a Protestant we stopped idolatry worship when we stopped praying to Mary and the Saints. I feel the same way about my country.

[arely staircase]

5. what comes next?

a law suit

[951-Riverside]

6. The supreme court has ruled several times that children don't have to participate in this ritual

The principal can take his or her forced patriotism and high tail it to North Korea.

Seriously, if you feel compelled to force other people to worship a piece of cloth or your religious beliefs GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS COUNTRY!

This leaves the student with the choice to violate his political beliefs or sacrifice his education.

Actually no, he needs to get a civil rights lawyer and sue the district. There is no choice here, the school either has to abide by the court's rulings or settle with the young man

[arely staircase]

11. I am a teacher in Texas and every few years I get a student who won't participate in the pledge

usually for religious reasons (Jehova's Witnesses) and nobody gives a shit.

[HooptieWagon]

9. She should sue the teacher, principal, and school board...

For a gross violation of her civil rights. I think a couple million is probably appropriate.

[alp227]

12. Let's see right wingers, Fox News, talk radio, The Blaze come to his defense...

oh wait, free speech is only for PATRIOTS and PRO-AMERICAN and PRO-CHRISTIAN speech, not atheist commie traitors like Mason! /snark

[napkinz]

46. I expect FOX to claim the principal and the other students are the oppressed victims.

that's the twisted reality they live in

(I'm sure a Borowitz satirical piece would put int those terms.)

[Brigid]

15. That stupid school better keep this in mind:

From the wikipedia article on the Pledge of Allegiance:

Congressional sessions open with the recital of the Pledge, as do many government meetings at local levels, and meetings held by many private organizations. It is also commonly recited in school at the beginning of every school day, although the Supreme Court has ruled on several occasions that students cannot be compelled to recite the Pledge, nor can they be punished for not doing so.

[MohRokTah]

17. What a WONDERFUL thing for Needville High School to do!!!

I think it's just grand that Needville High School decided they would fund this kid's college through the doctorate level, as well as a home once he finishes college, as an award from the lawsuit that is certain to ensue from their violation of his civil liberties.

[Malone]

18. we never did the pledge in HS, in Texas

The weird thing about this for me is we never did the pledge of allegiance in Texas high school, and that was 20 years ago. Maybe as little kids in elementary school in the early '80s, but I don't remember ever doing it after maybe 3rd grade.

You would think it would be a statewide policy, or that maybe it was in a small town, but the article says Houston. I don't even think we had any kind of "home room" class that would allow the time for it.

[msanthrope]

19. I want to be the lawyer that sues that school district into the ground. nt

[ZX86]

20. The student should say he doesn't recognize the federal government

then point a assault rifle at some federal agents. He will then be considered a patriotic American and a hero.

[arely staircase]

21. +1 nt

[kestrel91316]

23. BINGO

[Thinkingabout]

24. Now here is a student getting a suspension for not standing for the pledge

And Governor Rick Perry saying he wants Texas to secede from the union. Also Perry has refused to expand Medicare and set up state health exchanges with the blessing of a GOP legislature. Now tell me how that squares up.

[Arugula Latte]

25. "liberty and justice for all" -- what a freakin' joke

[Ikonoklast]

39. "Except for that little sumbitch right thar."

"He needs to respact mah authoritah!"

[Arugula Latte]

40. He ain't a real 'Murkin!

String 'im up!

[DhhD]

26. It works both ways. Now the school will have to send in certified teachers to teach him in the

suspended, alternative classroom. The district will have to set up an IEP under IDEA as the student's behavior has been determined to need a modified program for rehabilitation of behavior. They must set up and ARD Meeting within 30 school days. The parents can appeal the decision to the State Education Agency. The federal office of special education, OSERS, could pull all the federal funds forcing the State to fund the loss while the parents bring a law suite.

The Principal has just turned his/her command over to the State. And IDEA is a federal public law.

[EEO]

27. Texas...

I have always been a supporter of Texas seceding from the United States. Don't let Oklahoma hit you on the way out.

[SheilaT]

31. I hope the ACLU gets involved here.

I have stopped reciting the Pledge and I will no longer stand for it. Even at Democratic Party functions, which can make me pretty unpopular on occasion.

[3catwoman3]

32. We have friends who are from England...

... and are in the US on a long term arrangement because of the husband's unique expertise in metallurgy. A few years ago, their then-8 yr old younger son was required to recite the pledge in his 3rd grade class every morning. His parents were not at all happy about this. they asked for him to be allowed to just stand quietly and respectfully during this ritual. this request was refused.

I cannot see what purpose it served to force a child who is not a US citizen to recite our pledge of allegiance.

BTW, we live in a very red county in the otherwise quite blue greater Chicago area.

[Mrdrboi]

33. I guess that school doesnt talk about Old Supreme court cases I take it.

I really dont see how the Principal can win this. Instead of doing research and discovering that students are not forced to do the pledge,but instead of that this person chose to run head first into a wall and became a fool.

The student should walk into the school with a printed paper of that Supreme court rulling and say Deal with it.

[Arcanetrance]

34. Question why are they pledging to Texas as well as the United states

[napkinz]

38. well, I suppose Rick Perry is still considering secession

[FSogol]

36. Just say one of Matt Groening's versions:

“I plead alignment to the flakes of the untitled snakes of a merry cow and to the republicrats for which they scam: one nacho, underpants with licorice and jugs of wine for owls.”

or



and my fav:

[herding cats]

41. Back in 2008 this school suspended a 5 year old Native American boy for having long hair.

Adriel Arocha, the five-year-old boy who went to kindergarten in Needville despite his long hair, made it a week in class before he was put into In-School Suspension because his hair was too long. The ACLU filed a lawsuit today against the school district to stop the punishment.

"We regret that this child is sitting in In-School Suspension, but sacrificing his beliefs, and teaching him that who he is and what he believes is shameful, will be more harmful," Lisa Graybill, the legal director for the ACLU of Texas, tells Hair Balls.

Problems started this summer when Adriel's parents wanted to enroll him in school but were told that he would have to cut his hair because it violated Needville's dress code. A haircut wasn't an option because of his family's Native American beliefs. The district eventually agreed to allow Adriel to attend if he tucked his braids down the back of his shirt, and he went to school everyday but didn't hide the hair.

According to Graybill, only one other student has been in suspension since the start of school, and that student was punished to three days for threatening to shoot another kid.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2008/10/needville_arocha_hair.php

In this recent case a student chose to protest what he sees as a loss to his 4th Amendment rights, and the school took it upon themselves to breach his 1st Amendment rights. They're not exactly learning from their previous mistakes, are they?

[DFW]

43. The first time my daughter went to school in the States, she landed at a Texas public school

She was 16, and a little apprehensive. She grew up here in Germany, and was on a semester "abroad." Although she had visited the States many times, she had never lived there or attended a school there.

I went with her and spent the first few days with her at the house in Dallas in case she needed some help getting adjusted. After the first two days, she said all was pretty much OK. She said she didn't dare ride her bicycle (I got her one) to school any more because the other kids looked at her as if she was from another planet. So she stopped doing that. The other thing she didn't get was thr ritual chanting every morning.

Huh? Ritual chanting? I thought they weren't allowed to do that in American public schools: Besides--ritual chanting? How many Buddhists were at this school, anyway?

I asked her what they were chanting. She said the all stood up and started mumbling something. She it started out with "I spread the peaches."

This was beginning to sound VERY weird. I asked--they ALL stand up and chant "I spread the peaches?" She said it went on after that, but they mumbled it in complete boredom and she couldn't make out the rest. I couldn't believe this was happening. I doubted they had Tibetian monks in saffron robes lead the chanting, so I asked her what else went on? She said nothing, They all stood up, put their hands on their chests and started this weird chant that began with "I spread the peaches."

Ding! Ding! Hands on chests..I think I get it. I asked if there was any chance they were saying "I pledge allegiance." Her English was good, but since we never use the words "pledge" or "allegiance" in normal conversation, she didn't know them.

In post-Nazi Germany, overt exaggerated expressions of nationalism are frowned upon, so this whole concept was completely foreign to her. I explained what it was all about, that I had to do it too when I was in public school in the States, and that it wasn't anything unusual. She shouldn't take it as some kind of neo-Nazi type of thing. She sort of understood, but still thought of it as a weird thing to do. After thinking about it, I had to agree with her. It IS a weird thing to do.

[dembotoz]

45. in high school during viet nam a few in my homeroom never stood during the pledge

we sat in the back corner by alphabetical chance

our dear homeroom teacher
mr Eberhardt never said a thing

during the bush years i would avoid setting where a stand up was required
bathroom break, in the hall way etc.

the pledge still creeps me out