The proposed Hillsdale curriculum standards for South Dakota’s K-12 social studies classes don’t just violate good pedagogical practice; they also violate the law.
Standard K.SS.1.N requires kindergartners to “recite the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ from memory.”
In 2014, the South Dakota Legislature unanimously approved Christo-fascist Representative Hal Wick‘s House Bill 1150, which amended a strange 2002 law protecting “the right to recite the Pledge of Allegiance” to mandate that every school district “provide students the opportunity to salute the United States and the flag each day by reciting the pledge of allegiance.” Recognizing that forcing a child to verbally accede to the existence of a deity by uttering the 1954 anti-Communist amendment to an 1892 Christian-socialist ploy for selling flags and magazines violates the First Amendment (not to mention rigorous Christian theology), 2014 HB 1150 allowed students to “choose not to participate in the salute to the United States and its flag” but requires that non-participants “maintain a respectful silence during the salute.”
HB 1150, as codified into SDCL 13-24-17.2, gives students the “opportunity” to recite the Pledge of Allegiance but prohibits schools from mandating that students utter those words. The Hillsdale standards break that law, forcing kindergartners to recite those words to demonstrate their proficiency in social studies.
Maybe standards author Professor William Morrisey’s plan is to lace the standards with such blatant illegality just to prompt attentive parents to sue over their school’s violation of SDCL 13-24-17.2. Then the school can take the kindergartners on a field trip to the courthouse to watch the trial.
If the standards had been written by practicing South Dakota social studies teachers, like the 2021 draft standards that the Governor threw out, we probably wouldn’t have a standard that ignores South Dakota law. But hire a retired professor from Michigan who has never taught or lived in South Dakota to write South Dakota’s curriculum standards, and this is the kind of legal error that results.
You know, the older kids had trouble reciting the pledge when they changed it. They were so used to reciting it without “under God” that they stumbled over “God.” I was in the first or second kindergarten class that had to recite the “under God” phrase along with the rest of the Pledge. I didn’t realize I didn’t have to recite the Pledge. It was just kind of a regular thing we did. By the time we got to junior high, we were all done with that. I don’t remember reciting the Pledge much after that. except at school board meetings. I’d skip the “under God” part. Otherwise I have no problem with the Pledge, since I believe in liberty and justice for all.
There are religious groups in South Dakota who have established their constitutional right not to recite the pledge of allegiance. They are opposed to “taking oaths” believing that act to be contrary to the Scriptures and the Pledge apparently qualifies as an oath. After the State of South Dakota’s flagrant discrimination against the Hutterites during WWI, which resulted in at least two deaths and many physical assaults, the majority of those folks fled to Canada. Jahovah Witnesses have similar restrictions when it comes to oaths as do some of the “Holiness” Churches. Those religious restrictions by religious “out” groups, have saved us all from a repressive “State Religion” which our legislature would impose given it’s recent proclivities.
I guess Hillsdale College doesn’t realize that mandatory Pledge of Allegiance has been struck down many times by the courts. I remember in the grade school we recited the pledge with flags in our class up until about the mid-80s. About that time there was a legal challenge and our school decided to pull all the flags out of the classrooms and we quit reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Which was a good thing because I felt it was wrong to force me to recite the same thing over and over day after day as a child. I thought it was a form of indoctrination or brainwashing, at least that’s what I felt when reciting it.
Donald, I believe in “liberty and justice for all”, but I don’t need to be forced to recite a pledge on a daily basis to reaffirm that in my heart. I don’t think any child should be forced to say it over and over either. We are human beings not robots.
Along a similar vein, I recall the Board of Education voting against any group prayer in school other than a silent prayer because members of some denominations thought it was sacrilegious to pray in public with members of other denominations. For example, Lutherans would not pray aloud with Catholics. This happened in the 40’s when I was attending a two-room elementary school in Dempster, SD.
I’m not all that upset about the pledge. It doesn’t say they have to recite it every day, just that they have to memorize it. I’m more concerned about some of the others, like
F. The student can use sequential terms correctly to narrate personal and historical events, including first, next, last, before, and after.
There is no “first” in historical events, unless you inculcate Genesis.
And them there’s this:
M. The student can correctly use words related to work, including
Which is to include borrow. Have to get those kids in the debt trap early, apparently!
Or this: K.SS.4. The student identifies and explains the meaning of different symbols of America. Symbols may include, but are not limited to: HCG
To my eyes, that’s much more directed at indoctrination than reciting by rote the pledge.
After Jan 6th I thought “the pledge” would be ashamed to be connected with traitorous magats in any form, let alone mandatory memorization and utterance thereof. Magats have no shame!
Lynne, there’s plenty to be concerned about in these standards. Thank you for those other examples.
But the violation of law in this kindergarten pledge standard is problematic. The standard doesn’t just say kids have to memorize the pledge. It says they have to “recite” it. Even if the standard said “memorize” instead of “recite”, teachers still have to measure whether students are achieving the standard, and administrators still have to be able to demonstrate that their teachers are teaching to the standard. That means schools must produce evidence that the students have memorized the pledge. The standard makes clear the method of assessment: students must say the pledge out loud for teachers to hear. That forced recitation violates the law.
If I were teaching social studies, I would feel a professional and civic obligation to tell students that the law protects their right not to say those words out loud. I would give students the option to memorize and recite SDCL 13-24-17.2.