While it was a common practice in our less civilized past, an adult laying hands on children is not okay, except in some rare cases of the risk of physical aggression or need for self-defence. But to grab a 6-year-old and force them to do the Pledge of Allegiance to satisfy one’s own personal political leaning is wrong on several levels. Sadly, that’s what one Pennsylvania boy has been having to deal with regarding his teacher in his “extremely conservative” town.
After the boy’s mother heard about this teacher wrongfully forcing him to stand up for the Pledge to the flag, she took to r/legaladvice to ask for legal advice on how she’s supposed to handle the situation, considering it happened in a public school and her son is autistic. “My son told me that his teacher has been forcibly pulling him up by the arms to say the pledge allegiance in class. I am already well aware that this is a violation of his first amendment right,” she explains.
To anyone wondering whether the 6-year-old understands what the Pledge represents, his mom assures readers of her Reddit post that he is very much aware. “This is his choice,” the mom says. “He understands that our president has been hurting people and doesn’t want to stand.” You can’t deny that his behavior is quite admirable, considering the child has his own issues to deal with, yet still chooses to take a stance against what he believes is wrong.
Unfortunately, a large number of commenters in the post either gravely misunderstood what was going on or lacked backbones of their own, based on their irrational reaction to the post. They called the mother a “horrible parent,” accusing her of indoctrinating her child with her own political beliefs that would cause him to reject standing up for the Pledge of Allegiance. The mom defends herself, saying that the conservative people in her area are “very loud” about their beliefs, and with what’s going on in the news and all, her son has started to ask “questions.”
“I do not believe in sugar coating things,” she explained. “I try to explain things as unbiased as possible, but I believe it is important for them to know the truth.” Of course, she will have her own level of bias in her explanations, but, for example, there’s no bias to be had in explaining what happened to the innocent Renee Good. Whatever the case, though, what the boy’s teacher is forcing him to do, physically, is 100% in the wrong.
Fortunately, some people in the comments had their heads on straight, with one stating that “physically pulling him up is assault.” They continued, “Insisting that he gets up is an infringement of his civil rights. The teacher is doing it because he or she is getting away with it.” Hopefully, the mother speaks with the principal or the school board about the matter. And if they are on the teacher’s side, then taking the issue to a lawyer or publicly via media outlets might be the move.
