Angela took her in for her final day, and made the rounds first to her school teacher, who upon seeing Fair, in her eyes one of 30 numbers on a list, she quickly jumped into scheduling mode and tried to usher Fair off to the auditorium, where all the kids meet before class to say the pledge and well, begin their regimented days. Angela cut her off to say that the reason we are here is to say goodbye, and the teacher was, in her own words "taken off guard, shocked and disappointed to be losing such a valuable asset to the class". Well, it took only five years for her to form into this wonderful person. How long would it take for the schools to train that out of her?
Angela and Whitman then trekked to the office for the official crap, and Fair went off to her meeting with the kids, where she, by her own choice, stands silent during the pledge. Angela told me that the office workers were kind and quite helpful, even giving us a book of regulations for homeschoolers! More rules? Didn't we just say we were leaving? Back to a quick memory....
When we decided to send Fair to public school, the one thing that worried us most was the pledge of allegiance. This may seem trite to many, but to us, this is a huge symbol of the state's indoctrination of our minds and hearts, and a vicious plot of patriotic garbage that quickly becomes the nationalist fervor we saw on 9/12. On 9/10, if you had a flag on your car, your hat, your shirt, two on your porch, one on your debit card and one on your doggie sweater, you were a zealot. On 9/12, you were a "Good 'Merican". Garbage.
When we approached her soon-to-be teacher with our concerns, she turned to Fair and asked why she did not want to say the pledge. Fair responded "because it stands for war", her words, not ours. The teacher then turned to Fair and said, while Angela was standing right there, "maybe mommy should teach you to be more positive when you speak". Not making this up, this really happened. How exactly could anyone be positive in their reasoning for NOT wanting to do something? Exactly why should we be positive all the time? Why is it assumed that Fair did not come to this idea on her own? Are we not to foster in our children their ability to make decisions and formulate thought?
She then went on to say that maybe Fair should say the pledge "until she could give a good reason to not." Well, she just did, and no, she won't be saying the pledge. The teacher then said she should at least stand up because "it would be bad for a little girl to stand out like that in front of her peers". Okay, disgusted yet? What the teacher obviously meant was "it would look bad for us if Fair were to use critical thinking and act likewise, in front of the other kids". Fair said she doesn't mind standing, so that was that.
Let's look at the history for the pledge for a brief second. It was written by a Christian socialist, but interestingly enough, did not include any statement of God. This is from wikipedia:
Bellamy's original Pledge read, "I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."
The word "to" was inserted between "...my Flag and" and "the Republic" in October, 1892.
The pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be stated in 15 seconds. He had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided they were too controversial since many people opposed equal rights for women and blacks.In 1923 the National Flag Conference called for the words "my Flag " to be changed to "the Flag of the United States ". The reason given was to ensure that immigrants knew to which flag reference was being made. The words "of America " were added a year later. The U.S. Congress officially recognized the Pledge as the official national pledge on June 22, 1942.
In 1940 the Supreme Court, in deciding the case of Minersville School District v. Gobitis, ruled that students in public schools could be compelled to swear the Pledge, even Jehovah's Witnesses like the Gobitases, who considered the flag salute to be idolatry. In the wake of this ruling, there was a rash of mob violence and intimidation against Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1943 the Supreme Court reversed its decision, ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that "compulsory unification of opinion" violated the First Amendment........
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It should also be noted that the use of the words "Under God" were later added after pressure from the Knights of Columbus and the Daughters of the American Revolution, two historically racist and imperialist organizations. When presented with this proposal, President Truman also suggested adding the word "Love" before Liberty and Justice for all... but apparently this just didn't match up to the nationalists ideas of what our country should stand for. Under god stayed, Love was left hanging.
That was the first taste of disgust. The second was when the school nurse felt "obliged to inform" us that vaccination was very good and should be done for all children, and upon "any national vaccinations, such as for the swine flu" Fair would have to be pulled from school. Yeah, but no.
There has been much controversy surrounding vaccines since they were first being used. This stems back, in our country at least, to polio vaccines, which were compulsory in all schools, and goes through the decades of experimental drugs being pushed into our lives through our children, and schools have been the target. In fact, we are made to believe that, legally, our children must be vaccinated to enter the school house doors. THIS IS NOT TRUE. You do not even have to claim religious exemption, you simply can say "I would prefer not to" and go about your day. That is, of course, kept as private knowledge, and the public idea is that we must do this, and therefore they must be safe. Who would harm our children? Certainly not our governments.
Well, it takes only 10 minutes to get the goods on who is profiting, form what and where and what their track records are. Just google H1N1 vaccine and maker. Baxter. Check that patent date: 7 months before "surprising breakout". Now, google Baxter and scandal. After all, should we not check the track record of any company responsible for chemically doping our children? Baxter's track record reads like the third page of the National Enquirer. Unbelievable. Avian Flu spread, governmental misappropriation of funds, toxic overload of soldiers, even the spread of HIV. These are not clips from conspiracy theorists, these are articles documenting irrefutable events. Of course, with Donald Rumsfeld on your side, you can get away with just about anything. Even harming our children. Don't believe me, ask a Tuskegee Airman.
So, no vaccines here.
Now we are in a scramble for knowledge here, and all of us are into it. Today we went supply shopping, for notebooks and such, and also for some books from the book store. We got a really great human anatomy book with a big skeletal puzzle, a poetry collection with audio CD, and I got a book I have been waiting for, A guide to shrubs and trees in Missouri Wildlife. We also connected with St. Louis Homeschool Network and planned a trip for Thursday into the city to meet up with some of them. Alright!
As for tomorrow, we are starting with our daily Yoga and heading out for a walk along the river, sketchbooks and field guide in hand.
Hey. It's Sara. I mentioned not knowing of any farm sanctuaries, but you may want to call The Wildlife Center of Missouri ( http://www.mowildlife.org/ ) and see if they have anything to offer. It seems any of their planned programs are for older kids, but maybe if you had enough people you could set up something anyway? Just something to think about since it seems your kids love wildlife and nature. I'm looking into volunteering there now, so if I find out anything more that would be helpful I'll let you know.
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