MANDATING PLEDGE WOULD WASTE CLASS TIME (1-2004)

It isn’t as though our state elected officials have nothing 
else to do. After all, unlike legislators in some other 
states, they make up a part-time, civilian, legislative 
body that meets in session for only two or three months out 
of each year. In that time, they have to take care of all 
the state’s legislative and budgetary needs. 
 
And yet, State Sen. Mike Young of Indianapolis has found 
the time to introduce a bill that would force all public 
schools in the state to lead their students in reciting the 
Pledge of Allegiance, and to provide a “moment of silence” 
so that students would have time to pray (or yawn, or pick 
their noses, or dream about going on a date with that one 
gorgeous classmate). 
 
When I was studying to become a teacher, we had professors 
that talked about such things as “time on task.” It is the 
time actually spent doing learning activities in a 
classroom.  
 
In a typical class of 20 students, meeting for 45 minutes 
per day, a teacher might get 25 or 30 minutes of 
instructional time in. The remainder is spent doing things 
like taking attendance, passing out papers, handling 
discipline problems, or saying the Pledge of Allegiance. 
 
Senate Bill 135, if it finally becomes law, would force 
teachers to give up valuable classroom time for what 
amounts to housekeeping chores for the state government. 
That’s because making students recite the pledge or giving 
them time to pray or meditate is not going to change the 
beliefs of those students. 
 
If they hated America before, they will hate it even more 
because of the state’s intrusion on their free speech 
rights. If they were apathetic on the subject of 
patriotism, making them say the pledge will not make them 
more patriotic. If they were atheists before, they are not 
going to use the mandated moment of silence to communicate 
with God.  
 
Samuel Butler once said, “He that complies against his will 
is of his own opinion, still.” What does it accomplish to 
require that schools provide class time to say the pledge? 
Does it increase their knowledge of what our war heroes 
have done for this country? Does it teach respect for those 
war heroes? Does it make them better citizens? 
 
No, not at all. They can learn those lessons better from 
teachers. 
 
What the law would teach is that the state doesn’t trust 
local school districts to gauge the community’s preferences 
with regard to saying the pledge or providing a moment of 
silence. It teaches that spending time mindlessly reciting 
a script is just as important to the state as algebra or 
biology. 
 
And what about that mandatory moment of silence? Just how 
long is a moment? Did Sen. Young take into account that 
some schools may consider 15 seconds to be a moment, while 
others might opt to drag out the unproductive silence for a 
couple of minutes? Is that equitable use of time? If you’re 
going to mandate something by law, you might as well go all 
the way and divvy up every last second. 
 
Admittedly, my comments in the last paragraph were tongue-
in-cheek, with a touch of hyperbole, because the proposed 
law is so laughable. But it really isn’t funny when you 
consider how intrusive it is on individual school 
districts, and how it may violate First Amendment rights of 
students. 
 
The bill has a provision that would allow students to opt 
out of saying the pledge. And nobody is going to tell 
students they must use their moment of silence for praying. 
But to make students, or their parents, choose in advance 
to opt out of a classroom activity is intrusive. And every 
student knows that the real reason for the moment of 
silence is because their government wants them to pray. 
 
The bill, as written, probably has little chance of 
passage. And if it does make the cut, chances are it will 
be ruled unconstitutional by the courts. But at least Sen. 
Young gets his 15 minutes of fame out of the deal.