Both Klein School District and Cypress School District require their students to stand and recite the pledge or be punished.  Both district are north of Houston.

Two students have fought for their right not to pledge allegiance to a flag because they feel, “We live in a country where there isn’t justice and freedom for all, and so I’m not going to stand for a pledge that says there is.”

They are both African American and both are female.

Oddly, in a journalism class one of the students was told to change classes to get another teacher.

At one point, a guidance counselor suggested that the student switch out of a journalism class whose teacher had insisted she stand, according to the lawsuit. This year, a teacher told the teenager’s class that those who sat through the pledge were comparable to Soviet communists, pedophiles and Islamist extremists, the lawsuit said. Classmates harassed the teenager online and in person, including as recently as last week, Mr. Kallinen said.

The other was suspended for refusing to stand while in the principal’s office.  The school secretary told her, “This is not the N.F.L.” The student was told that if her mother did get to the school within 5 minutes, she would be escorted off campus by police.  She is 17 years old.

It seems to me that teachers should be the bulwark of education and open mindedness.  Maybe we should have teachers be required to read the Bill of Rights every morning or at least quit messing with students who have read it.

Thanks to Sam in Minnesoooota for the heads up.