PART-TIME PATRIOTS

Pledge requirement generates little concern (JOHN WELSH, Sep. 02, 2003, St. Paul Pioneer Press)

After years of debate at the Legislature and a gubernatorial veto that gained national attention, one might expect the new state Pledge of Allegiance requirement to stir up a little controversy at that all-American institution known for spirited opposition and protest - high school.

Don't count on it.

As schoolchildren and their families prepare for today's start of classes, the new legislative mandate that Minnesota's public school students recite the Pledge of Allegiance at least once a week has caused little commotion.

Most elementary students already recite the pledge, often on a daily basis. Most high schools have not made the pledge a part of their school day, but students and principals don't think the new weekly requirement will be a big deal. With young Americans dying in Iraq on a too-regular basis and the patriotic wave after 9/11, a Pledge of Allegiance requirement will get a better reception than it would have in years past, they say.

"It would have generated a lot of good discussion and a lot of protests in the past, but I don't see that happening today because of the political environment,'' said Robert Schmidt, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals.

It's a shame American boys have to be in harm's way for the Left to stop mewling about the Pledge. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 2, 2003 8:50 PM