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Pennsylvania is one of the 47 states that mandate schools to provide for the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance or singing of the National Anthem. But while teachers and students basically honor the mandate, an actual out-loud recitation is not wide-spread across students.
“I think everybody stands, but not everybody says it,” said Abigail Yeh, 11th grade.
Most classes stand, but very few actually say anything. Many students interviewed expressed similar experiences and agreed with this statement.
“I don’t say anything because no one else does, and it is really early in the morning.” said Alexa Kimmel. Her ninth-grade classmate Matilda Mackillop agreed, saying, “It is awkward and only the teacher does.”
Some classes, such as gym, can’t hear the pledge and therefore don’t participate. “We don’t do anything,” states Nora Anderson, a 10th-grade mod A gym student.
The general consensus is that most classrooms stand silently, with only the teacher talking. Other classes don’t do anything at all. This is such a change from the sound of a whole class reciting the pledge in the lower grades. Yet, it is one that everyone has accepted, almost always going along with a quiet sound of teens waking up at school.
Reporting and Photography by Kate Paulet and Trinity Klicker
