The United States Pledge of Allegiance Ceremony

Abstract

The study evaluated 60 middle school students and 191 high school students on their willingness to recite or not recite the Pledge and their rationale. Overall, 60% of the middle school students and 68.6% of the high school students chose not to recite the loyalty oath. For the European Americans students, the most common rationale among the middle school students for reciting the Pledge was tradition; with the high school students, the most common reason for not reciting the Pledge was the voluntary nature of the Pledge ceremony. With the middle school and high school Akwesasne Mohawk students, the most common reasons for not reciting the Pledge were the voluntary nature of the Pledge ceremony and their Akwesasne Mohawk/Native American status. With their strong rejection of Pledge recitation, the Akwesasne Mohawk tribe has perpetuated a stronger socialization of their youth. However, the act of reciting the Pledge represents just one form of patriotism.