Free speech in the land of the free

We constantly hear about how un-American the people who don't like the Pledge of Allegiance, or who don't like it being turned into a religious shibboleth, are. If you're a real American, committed to American values, you'll stand and salute, right?

Well, a group of students got their own lesson in American values last week. As they had all school year, they didn't stand during their classes' mandatory Pledge observance, so they were suspended.

That's right, despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has said that students can not be required to participate in Pledge observations, this school has decided that the correct consequence of exercising their First Amendment rights is supension.

Students suspended for not standing for pledge

May 12, 2008

By Paul Walsh Star Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS — Three small-town eighth-graders in Minnesota were suspended by their principal for not standing Thursday morning for the Pledge of Allegiance, violating a district policy that the principal now says may soon be reworded to protect free speech rights.

"My son wasn't being defiant against America," said Kim Dahl, mother of one of the students, Brandt, who attends Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High School in northwestern Minnesota.

Yup, "with liberty and justice for all."