Do Schools in Other Countries Recite a Pledge of Allegiance?

It’s been unconstitutional since 1943 to require kids in public schools to recite the pledge of allegiance. At least in the United States. But this hasn’t stopped controversy from erupting just about every year when a teacher or school authority figure gets in trouble for forcing a kid to stand for and/or recite the pledge of allegiance.



Interestingly, the text of the pledge was written by a socialist minister (an oxymoron today, but in the 1800s not so much). Actually, it wasn’t until after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1943 decision that stated it was unconstitutional to force kids to recite the pledge, that the words “under God” were inserted into the language, apparently as a tool to fight the perceived Communist threat at the time.

A 2004 Supreme Court decision allowed for the god language to remain in the pledge. The American Humanist Association has been suing states to get rid of the god language, but to date has been unsuccessful.

While U.S. court decisions have made it clear that kids are not required to recite the pledge, many schools do it anyway.



But what about other countries? Do schools there also recite some sort of pledge?

It turns out that very few, if any, industrialized countries have such a thing in their schools. A discussion on StraightDope.com show a lot of confusion of what countries do, but one thing seems clear – the U.S. stands alone with this activity.

Or does it?

Kids in North Korea are required pledge their allegiance to their ruler, Kim Jong Un, started at 7 years old. Here’s how the Guardian describes the scene:

Standing in arrow-straight rows, their faces are hardly the picture of happiness as they are forced to pledge their allegiance to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and call him ‘father’. Troubling images of them being inducted into an organisation likened to the Hitler Youth emerged as their despot leader pressed ahead with plans to launch a ballistic missile, potentially with nuclear capabilities.

American kids used to salute the sky while saying the pledge, but this stopped when Hitler and Mussolini’s followers did the same thing.

I’m not saying that schools here are the same as in North Korea. Far from it. I’m merely saying that this particular connection is interesting and worth a discussion among school leaders who are tasked with deciding the degree of importance that patriotism warrants in a classroom – and what type of patriotism they are trying to instill.

These questions are increasingly important as the world continues to globalize, and borders continue to disappear or blur. School should be a place to learn, and the line between learning and indoctrination is not clearly defined.

All that said, there is a certain awkward beauty to the American system – we’re free to shout the pledge with all our might, or opt out from reciting the pledge at all. In North Korea, that freedom to choose is non-existent.

(Creative Commons image via Wikimedia.com)