Americans: Until what age did you have to say the Pledge of Allegiance each morning?

Only if we wanted to. :cool:

I know we did it in elementary school in the 80s, but not all the way through elementary school.

In middle school some, I think. Probably during the Gulf War. I didn’t say it, no one noticed.

Not in high school at all. This is in suburban Ohio.

I did it all through high school and I graduated in 2008. In North Carolina. We still love America in this part of the country

Here we love America but despise the Pledge.

I remember mumbling through it after morning announcements every morning even in high school. We also had the raising of the flag during the pledge.

throughout HS. (graduated from a New England HS in 1996)

  1. Grade 1, I think. I recall saying it in pre-k and kindergarten, but after that I can’t recall.
  2. 1989ish.
  3. Los Angeles

In Kansas in the mid 1980s, my elementary school said it every morning. A student was elected to read it over the PA system first thing in the morning. I went to that school for K, 1, and 2.

Then we moved to Indiana, by now in the late 1980s, and there was no regular pledge. Maybe we said it as assemblies sometimes.

It was in the '60s and my memory is fuzzy, but I think all through elementary school, which is through the sixth grade. West Texas. It stopped after that, I’m pretty sure.

Up to and including sixth grade, so until 1967 or so. Then not in junior high or high school. Upper Midwest.

Regards,
Shodan

Somehow this mania about everyone reciting the Pledge on every conceivable occasion reminds me of Catch 22 when the base commander thought it would be a great and patriotic idea if loyalty oaths were signed by everyone, frequently and often. Before getting a meal at mess, for example. Remember what happened when a big-ass visiting general was handed one to sign before being served?

We said the pledge up to fifth grade and also said the Lord’s Prayer everyday in public school in rural Ohio. It was 1970 and the teacher was retired/dismissed the next year because of it (just because the Supreme Court said she couldn’t). Ruby Burns, she was the definition of old school; made us learn the names of the presidents in order (recite them to the class) and you had to be able to answer with the name of a specific state’s capital city whenever she randomly choose to call on you at any odd ball time during the day.

It wasn’t so much loyalty oath as it was brainwashing you into being a American! We just knew we were better than those commies that didn’t recite the Pledge and Lord’s Prayer! I can still hear her emphasizing the “one nation, under God, indivisible” part of the pledge.

Said it every day K-12, NY Suburbs, graduated 1989

Said it this year at Parent Back to School night here in LeftyVille NJ, was lead by the local Boy Scout Troop.

Just for the record, it’s possible to love something that you don’t pledge allegiance to. And vice versa.

I said it through fourth grade. Then we moved to Montreal and I didn’t have to say it anymore. :smiley:

Shit, I remember being given pocket cards with the new wording in bold, just like that. We had to relearn the pledge.

K - 12, western NY, this is back in the 80s.

By high school, people could, and did, either say the pledge or just sit quietly while others were saying it. It wasn’t a big deal at all, either way. The biggest reason for sitting quietly was if you were trying to get some homework done before the end of homeroom. My best recollection was that on any given day, it was about half and half. And it wasn’t always the same people sitting it out, kind of like if you had some time, you would do the pledge on Monday, but maybe you were trying to get in 3 more minutes of studying for your Chem exam on Tuesday.

This is one of those things where I was surprised, later as an adult, to learn that saying it or not saying it had been a challenging or difficult issue faced by some people.

Truthfully, it would have been unusual to have a non-US student in the school in the town where I grew up, so I’m not sure how that would have gone. My guess is that the handful of exchange students who came through in high school would have been taught the pledge as an example of “life in America!” without any particular push for them to actually participate. And their non-participation would have blended right in with no comment.

Not school related, but here in Southern California, we still say it when we get together for one of our weekend shooting matches at the gun club I belong to- because even if we don’t agree with all her policies, we love our country!

I know we did thru 8th grade - I was in Catholic school those years (1960-68) but I don’t remember doing the pledge once I started 9th grade in the public school system. Maybe we did, but I don’t recall.

I avoid it now as often as I can, but sometimes, it’s easier to go thru the motions than get plastic patriots all riled up…

I think we stopped reciting the pledge in the 5th grade. Maybe the 6th? It’s hard to recall for certain.

Said it occasionally in Scouting. Still remember my Scout Oath too.

On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my Country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.