Schools, the Pledge of Allegiance and emotional engineering

Corning school picture. Not where I went btw.





This past week I have been grappling with the notion of transferring my eldest into public school. He currently goes to a Montessori school and will finish his third grade. After that, he might have the possibility of going to 'upper el' (grades 4-6) but there are a few factors why that might not be possible.
At any rate, I bit the bullet last wednesday and visited the elementary school in our neighbourhood. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised; the school looked cozy enough on the inside and all the classes have seperate wings. The school is huge (650 kids) and there are 6 classes for each grade. The curriculum though looks to be very good. The third graders have been working on their writing skills using the W5's (what when why etc) in writing their reports and they've learned how to write their reports; first brainstorm, then draft, then edit, then write. And they've all been learning powerpoint (!) and converted their reports into a powerpoint presentation. This was all established interestingly enough under Bush as Governor (don't lose faith in the program now, somebody else must have put it together) and is known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills program. TEKS.

The assistant principal was very nice and knowledgable herself and was a teacher at the same school in the mid 80s. 15 of her collegues who were there at the time still teach at the school today. They have an excellent library, very pretty, organized and heavily used. They also have computer labs for the younger and older kids with a computer teacher for three days a week. They alternate music, art and pe classes every three days. And the classes have only 22 kids in them until grade 6. All in all, the school itself and the education level looked to be pretty high standard and the principals seem to have the right attitude and accessibility. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.
But, as with all public schools, here's the clincher; there is that ubiqitous Pledge of Allegiance. I have said from the beginning that I arrived in this country that this whole pledge thing reeked (Youth, serve your fuhrer)





of 'Hitler Youth' symbolism. And this morning, after doing some research, I am shocked and dismayed to find out how accurate I was;

The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag originally (1892 to 1945) began with a military salute. The pledge was written by Francis Bellamy, cousin and cohort to Edward. The pledge was created to promote their military socialism in the most socialistic institution: government schools (socialized schools). They wanted government to take over all schools and create the "industrial army" from children to spread the Bellamy vision. The Bellamys admired the military and they wanted all of society to ape the military under a martial law system.

The most socialistic institutions in the USA -and the cause of the spread of socialism throughout the USA- has been the military and government schools (socialist schools).

The military salute began the Pledge of Allegiance and the gesture was then extended toward the flag with a straight-arm gesture and thus, Francis' early pledge was the origin of the straight-arm salute of German National Socialism as discovered by the historian Dr. Rex Curry, author of "Pledge of Allegiance Secrets." Shocking photos are on the web.
http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html

Early flag ettiquette for men in uniform was to perform the straight-arm salute - not the military salute - when the flag was passing or when the Pledge of Allegiance was being robotically chanted. That practice lasted as long as 1942 for civilians.

AND

The original Pledge of Allegiance began with a military salute that was then extended out toward the flag. That is how the classic stylized straight-arm salute originated in the USA's pledge.

As consequence, the USA set a bad example for a long time, as the world observed the U.S. military delivering the straight-arm salute to the flag before WWI, during WWI, after WWI, and for up to three decades before the existence of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

People were persecuted for refusing to pledge or to perform the straight-arm salute to the national flag. That was to the flag of the USA (the stars and stripes) and of Germany (the swastika flag) as it happened at the same time. Some religious people considered it sacrilegious. There were good reasons to view the pledge/salute as the worship of government. Most people do not know that a cross was worshiped as the notorious symbol of German National Socialism. The NSGWP called their symbol the Hakenkreuz, not the swastika. Hakenkreuz means "hooked cross." Although the swastika was an ancient symbol, Professor Rex Curry (author of "Swastika Secrets") discovered that it was also used sometimes by German National Socialists to represent "S" letters for their "socialism." With a 45 degree turn of his Hakenkreuz, the leader of the NSGWP combined the cross with collectivism, merged church and state, meshed religion and socialism, and mandated the worship of government.

For several pictures depicting this go HERE! For some reason I tried to download some pictures and Blogger did not make it happen. I even got permission from Professor Curry himself. So..check it out.


However, even if one might think, well,that was then and this is now, we don't salute the same way, it does not have the same connotation for sure! Think again. To any non-American this slavish, sheep-mentality-jump-to-the-feet pledge is something that looks militaristic straight out of an old science fiction film. To me, it's part of this whole propagandic emotional engineering that effects children when they are the most vulneralbe and susceptible to brainwashing as children during Kindergarten, elementary school cannot make philosophical distinctions and engage in critical thinking. Come middle and high school, they'll be effectively programmed to consider it 'normal' and not question it. The few that might most likely come from critically thinking homes but the masses in any society does not, in my observation, engage in such critical discriminating thought. Consider this book, 'A Child of Hitler'. Alfons Heck joined the Jungvolk which was a junior branch of the Hitler Youth at age 10. Hitler ended up having very loyal and faithful little soldiers by the time they were 16/17. I have read a few accounts growing up of men ending up fighting mere German boys at the end of WW2.

However, if you think the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines set off a (no doubt manipulated by Country and Western radio stations) furor about making a comment about Bush, consider this exchange (follow the link) of college students in California who decided to drop the pledge of allegiance;
Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government.

The move by Orange Coast College student trustees, the latest clash over patriotism and religion in American schools, has infuriated some of their classmates -- prompting one young woman to loudly recite the pledge in front of the board on Wednesday night in defiance of the rule.

"America is the one thing I'm passionate about and I can't let them take that away from me," 18-year-old political science major Christine Zoldos told Reuters.

Yikes! Especially in the years following 9/11 with the neoconservative Bush administration in place has their been an atmosphere that some referred to as 'fascism'. 14 Points of fascism to be exact. Whether you can believe or fathom that or not, the pledge of allegiance has very much been one of those symbolistic gestures and oaths that require even religious people to pledge allegiance to 'Mammon'. In order to appease the religious folks during the 50s, the 'under God' was added and made more palatable. I still believe a loyalty oath is appropriate in a military setting only where you literally have to rely on others in life and death. In a democracy and a multi-ethnic, pluralistic one as the United States, it has no business being promoted period!
Yes yes, you are entitled to have your child be exempt from participating but how would that look? How about the peer pressure? He's only 8.
I still have very strong reservations about this issue and I am not sure at this point what I will decide to do. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think if they kept the same upright arm stance that after WW2 they would have kept the pledge here in the US?