My school is a very civics-minded “American Classical School,” which is different from a religious or even secular-humanist classical approach. It foundationally embraces a thoughtful, reflective patriotism grounded in an appreciation of history and buttressed by the solemn appeal to natural rights referenced by the founding fathers when they established our American Experiment. In support of this experiment, it has been recognized in each generation that there was need for a more-than-political tool to foster this idealized, reflective patriotism. For this reason, several attempts were made to foster a spirit of American nationalism through the repeated practice of solemn oaths of allegiance.
What many know today as the Pledge of Allegiance, happened to be the most successful of those attempts. The 1892 version read simply-–“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands—one nation indivisible—with liberty and justice for all.” But the movement’s impetus seems to have always sought a connection with public institutions of learning–“that the distinctive principles of true Americanism will not perish as long as free, public education endures” (Francis Bellamy). This correlation between education and patriotism reached a high-water mark in the post-WWII era, when schools across the country regularly recited the allegiant oath.
In my own reflections on the Pledge of Allegiance, I have long been interested in what exactly the Pledge is meant for–what does it mean?–what does it accomplish?–What does it do to the psyche of the person initiated into its regular recitation? My conclusion is that it has the effect of invoking and arousing a citizen’s conscience toward civic duty. Without even stating specific duties (that would be more the task of the founding documents), it nonetheless turns the soul of a citizen toward the good–especially the goods of doing justice and other acts that accord with true liberty.
In this way, through these lines of civic verse, a citizen is actually initiated into the spirit of American citizenry. His soul is turned toward the civic good; conscience is awakened; her very affections and tastes are developed and fostered to align to the broader ideals of a self-governing body-politic. And when these excellencies mature in the soul, that citizen ceases to merely recite the words of another—but can now, through a rational act of the will, speak with increased conviction, poise and power, saying, with all gusto and all solemn authenticity: “I myself pledge allegiance to this ideal of liberty and justice for all!”
For these reasons, our K-12 students at my school continue to recite the Pledge every day. As we embrace this spirit of citizenship the result is something beautiful! By late high school years, the hope is that the Pledge is not a banal repetition of words, but a movement of the soul which evidences that our youth have been initiated into the republic itself! They embrace the American experiment! And as full-fledged participants in this now 250-year-old experiment, they feel the gravity of the day, and the necessity of loving and protecting the good. Whereas the Pledge no doubt began for them as a call to their heart and mind that they might respond to what is worth loving in our nation, for the mature, it soon becomes a clarion call from within the citizen’s soul, spreading wide the acclaim due to those very excellencies. The Pledge as such, becomes the Call of the Allegiant.
Jeremy Mendenhall currently serves as the Academic and College Advisor at Treasure Valley Classical Academy, an Idaho public charter school.
