Are there any equivalents to the Pledge of Allegiance in any other nations besides the United States, and if so, are there any similar controversies going on about its compulsory recitation in public?
Canadian here. Is the Pledge of Allegiance what you say when you become a US citizen, or is it recited more often? I have this impression that it is recited in US schools, but I’m not certain.
I don’t remember ever running into anything like that in Canada.
It’s the “flag poem” that US kids are taught to recite in grade school. Conventionally, the class would stand, put right hands over hearts, and recite the thing while facing the flag every morning.
Heinlein notes in his travel book Tramp Royale that (in 1954, when it was written, at least) New Zealand required every visitor to swear an oath to keep the Queen’s Peace.
In Japan there’s no actual pledge. But use of the national flag and national anthem in schools is a controversial topic. Schools are required to use both in school events and ceremonies, but some people are opposed to it because they are associated with the militaristic past of Japan. Every once in a while there’s a small news story about some teacher who get suspended for refusing to stand up for the anthem.
Thanks, AHunter3. Here in Ontario, we public-school students definitely didn’t recite anything like that… although I have a vague memory of standing for the national anthem, during “morning announcements” at 9AM. Then there’d be assorted announcements. In high school some people turned morning announcements into a mini radio show. That was pretty cool.
The standing would mostly have been during public school, and less so in high school. I went to the regular public system, not “separate” schools (Ontario’s Catholic schools).
Sunspace, the pledge is this thingy. Depending on jurisdiction, daily pledging (and the presence of flags in all classrooms that that requires) may be mandatory all the way through high school. I know it’s a state law in Wisconsin, at least. Individual students can’t legally be compelled to recite it if they have a personal or religious objection, but not everyone necessarily knows that part.
Here’s how I remember saying it in elementary school:
I pleja leejinz to the flag of the US of A. And to the public for which I stand, one nation, under God, invisible. With liberty and justice for all.
And of course, legions of school children have wondered who Richard Stanz is, that Republican they pledged to every day: “And to the Republican Richard Stanz, one nation, indivisible…”
i grew up in WI, and we only said the pledge through 6th grade.
eviladam, part 2 - It’s recent, was only put in place for the 2001-2002 school year, I believe. When did you graduate?
i graduated in 96, so i guess that explains it.
I should think there would be riots if someone tried to get the kids in our schools to Pledge Allegiance To The Flag. He would be torn apart as a ‘fascist’.
In the US I could cause vast protest trying to get the pledge out of schools. 
Hot button issue. Ironic in that the one legal challenge that is notable was filed by the conservative Jehovah’s Witnesses, who object to pledging alegiance to an Earthly power.
Richard Stanz is Don Zurley’s cousin.
I got lots of training for this kind of stuff in Catholic school reciting all those prays. And blessed art thou, a monks swimming…
I remember say “I pledge allegiance to the united plates of asparagus”.
:…And blessed is thy Fruit of the Loom, Jesus…" I always wondered why Catholic kids were talking about Jesus’s underwear! 
Indian Pledge. Every day before school we had to say it in the assembly. Back then we thought it was corny, now I think it is positively childish. Oh, and every day there were a few titters after the line ‘All Indians are my brothers and sisters’. Yeah, good times.
*India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters.
I Love my country. I am proud of its rich and varied culture. I shall always strive to be worthy of it.
I shall love and respect my parents, teachers and elders.
To my country and my people I pledge my devotion *
Wow, never heard of that - but I’m waaaay too young.
We don’t have a pledge or anything anyway - it’s bad enough in some schools getting the students to say ‘Good morning’!
When I went to a British school, I remember having to say the lord’s prayer every day before the end of school…Our father who fart in the kitchen, Harold be they name…(I used to love the tresspassessssssss bit, like one long whisper).