It is still done all the way through high school around here (Kentucky). Personally, I stopped at age 10 or 11 when I looked up the word “allegiance” and decided that that was not a pledge to take lightly. I always stood, though, and nobody ever gave me any trouble about it.
When I was traveling around doing blood drives, the pledge would often be recited over the intercom, sometimes accompanied by the national anthem, while we were setting up . At least half of my staff would drop what they were doing and look for the flag.
1st through 8th, Catholic school in Philadelphia in the 70s & 80s. I’m pretty sure we didn’t say it in the Catholic high school I went to.
My kids currently go to school in Massachusetts, one of the bluest of blue states, where by law, under penalty of a fine of $5, teachers in public schools are required to lead the class in the PoA every day, so they’ll be saying it K-12. I’ve attempted to get them to say it on weekends as well, but they’ve declined.
Until they said that it was no longer a requirement to say it, as long as you stood up. I believe that was junior high (7th grade). Prior to that I was only mouthing it and not saying anything as early as 5th grade, when I started really understanding concepts such as allegiance, patriotism, and propaganda from history class (i.e. I started finding it creepy). We often had to sing songs such as “America the Beautiful” and “My Country 'Tis of Thee” in grade 3 and lower.
They still said it over the intercom every morning until I graduated, but the older the students were the less of them that said it. I believe they said they decided to no longer require it because of the “under God” part being a religious thing. We never had foreign transfer students until high school when it was no longer required anyway, but I imagine they wouldn’t have to even if it was a requirement.
New Jersey, public school (except for a brief period in nursery school and kindergarten), early 1970’s to mid 1980’s.
Teachers led the class in the Pledge every day the entire time I was in school. I stopped saying it in High School, after it was determined that the school couldn’t compel students to say it. Students were expected to stand during the Pledge whether they said it or not.
In kindergarten (and maybe 1st/2nd grade), we usually recited the date before saying the Pledge and sang a patriotic song afterward.
I have a hard time understanding why a foreign student would say it. Pledging allegiance to a foreign country? Does everyone in the world have to swear to be American now, just to be normal?
I graduated in 1987 from a small school in Western PA (<150 in my class) and we said the Pledge all the way from K - 12. We stopped singing “My Country Tis of Thee” in 2nd grade.
Although taught to say the Pledge in kindergarten, they didn’t teach us what it meant until civics class in 8th grade. (For non-murikans: we learned it at age 5 and learned the meaning at 13.) There was one kid who would stand up but not say anything and we thought that was weird.
I think it was in first and second grade (1957-58). I don’t remember saying it past that. I said it during my oath of enlistment but left out the under god part, no one noticed (or cared?) Raised in Tennessee.
Through the end of high school. I graduated in 1987. This was in a small town in upstate New York. We had the option of standing without reciting or waiting in the hall. Remaining seated while others stood and recited was not an option. After about the sixth grade I felt like it was indoctrination but I didn’t care enough to make an issue of it.
Through elementary school, or at least most of it, in San Diego.
Even as a young child, I didn’t see why we had to recite the Pledge every day. I believed that once you’ve said it, you’ve said it. I don’t recall there being a time limit in it.
Maryland, we did it through my Senior Year, (1979) I stopped in Junior High, no one cared. By my senior year, I don’t think anyone did it, but it came through the PA system every morning.
Because it may as well be the E Plebnista or whatever the Star Trek episode had, as far as the kids are concerned. You get up, say a series of phonemes, and sit down.
My kids in NJ say it every day through middle school, but only during assemblies in HS.
Until fourth grade. The school was K-8, but I transferred to a middle/high school for fifth grade, which I attended through 10th. The pledge of allegiance was not done daily there, but was done at graduation and selected assemblies. When I transferred to the high school that I graduated from, we only did the pledge of allegiance during our weekly senior assembly (we didn’t do it during our weekly junior assemblies) and at graduation.
The school I attended K-4 was 1985 to 1990, 5th to 10th was 1990 to 1996 and 11th-12th was 1996 to 1998.
I cannot imagine how under any circumstances a foreign national would be required to pledge allegiance to a country not their own. I am sure they would be expected to stand or sit quietly and be repsectful, though.
At our school, it was not mandatory that you said it. I remember 7th or 8th grade my best friend and I decided everything British was better and stopped saying the pledge of allegiance for a few weeks. No one even bothered with us.
I remember saying it each morning in high school, say 1970, Virginia, but I’m sure it there were periods in previous grades where we did not say the pledge. It seemed to go in and out of fashion.
I know we didn’t say it in high school, which I started in 1981. I can recall saying it at some point as a child, but I don’t recall exactly when we stopped (it *was *a long time ago…)