[ViscountPenguin]

This has been a thing in the USA for a long time hasn't it? Iirc, they have (legally not mandatory, but functionally mandatory) pledges at the start of every school day right?

[dghlsakjg]

Some schools do it some don’t.

Participation is never mandatory and retaliation or forcing the pledge is an invitation for an expensive civil rights suit.

[tombert]

Wait, which schools don't do it? I've never heard of a school not doing it. Are there states that don't do the pledge?

Even if it's not strictly "mandatory" there can be substantial pressure in conservative areas. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47095381

[rkomorn]

They never made me say it but they did make me stand while the other kids did. That said... that was more than three decades ago.

I was only 9 the first time it happened but even back then it felt really weird.

[throwaway27448]

It is certainly not mandatory. There's simply enormous social pressure to be a state toadie.

[vkou]

> This has been a thing in the USA for a long time hasn't it?

Yes, and it doesn't make it any less cult-like.