Prodigy, product of propaganda, or....? 10 yr old refuses to say Pledge of Allegiance
 

A 10-year old boy refuses to state the Pledge of Allegiance until "gays and lesbians" have the same liberties as heterosexuals.

The kid told the teacher she could "jump off a bridge". Dad says the kid quoted his first amendment right. He also said that kids at school call him a "gaywad".

So what do you think - smart, empathetic kid, a product of what he hears in the news, or taking on parental views?

What do you think?
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/....no.pledge.cnn

Meh.. so?

This is on CNN?

The kid should be punished for telling the teacher to "jump off a bridge." Sorry Dad, we won't even go into students rights, but in the non-school world, I don't think the first amendment would cover that.

Now whether the kid should say the Pledge? Ehhh, that's kinda iffy. I've known people who disagreed with the "under God" part, so they would leave that out. I don't think its THAT big a deal (but then again, i'm the one who won't say the Texas pledge lol)

Agreed. I've never been a fan of the "under god" part, but I always stood out of respect for the pledge and the others in the room. Sometimes I said the whole pledge other than that line, and sometimes I just stood quietly.

It's cool that the 10 year old feels so strongly about something and is willing to take a stand for it, but you've got to do it in a respectful manner. And threats (even if idle) are not high on the respect scale.

Exactly. The Constitution protects people against the GOVERNMENT... Not against their teacher giving them detention.

Exactly.

There's no way the kid came up with this on his own. He's parroting mom and dad, who should be making him very sorry he ever spoke to a teacher that way. If you're going to take a stand like this, at least do it without mouthing off at the teacher.

Assuming this is a public school, it's operated by the government and the teacher acts on behalf of the government.

The First Amendment still isn't going to help him, though.

True. But again, this isn't to protect people from their teachers punishing them for being an idiot. It's to protect the kid from being arrested for "speaking against the government" as a whole (in refusing to say the pledge of allegiance).

Either way, the whole thing is stupid.

That's what I thought. I don't have kids, but I thought that 10 was a bit young to understand sexual politics (if that is a correct "new" usage of the term).

As for telling the teacher off, the dad seemed amused by it. He seems so enthused about his "gifted" child that he fails to teach the kid basic respect.

I feel like the kid is "special" on the side of so ridiculously smart that his parents don't know what to do with him and wonder if there was a mix-up in the nursery.

I like him. I'd raise him.

Around 11-12 years old, I stopped wanting to say the Pledge of Allegiance; and I stopped standing up and putting my hand over my heart for whatever anthems or allegiances there were.

My parents weren't the reason. I had started reading a lot of history books and journal articles that, IN MY OPINION, didn't paint the U.S. in a good light. I decided to translate my newfound knowledge into a 12 year old version of social protest.

I'm so kickass.

Pip pip!

Look at his shirt!

My mother said she stopped saying the Pledge in school; my grandparents had absolutely nothing to do with it. If she was able to pull that off on her own free will over 50 years ago, why is anyone surprised that a kid today--who tend to be much more informed about how the news and politics than most of us were at his age--would do the same thing?

exactamundo.

There are far too many parents like this.
He may have really come up with that on his own. Even so, I agree with Kevin. This was on CNN?
But them I'm one of those people who does not find it amusing when kids "say the darndest things." He should be punished for talking to the teacher like that.

On another note, I refuse to say the Pledge, and support his decision in that regard. I just don't support kids talking back to their teachers. I can't even imagine what I would have done had one of my students said something to me like that. But they knew better.

Ditto