Tonight we saw a fifth grade play at Autumn's school-to-be. There were three acts. In the first act, several students read DARE essays; though studies have raised doubts about DARE's efficacy, I just thought it was weird to listen to fourth and fifth graders joke about roach clips.
In the second act, the students reenacted the Seneca Falls convention on women's rights, with remarkably well-spoken students portraying Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and others; the story is so instructive because of how radical the idea of women's suffrage seemed to those characters, played by girls and boys who might otherwise take it for granted.
The third act moved me most. The students played immigrants attempting to enter the United States at Ellis Island, begging for a chance to make their lives as Americans. This resonated with a post I read earlier today about the Pledge of Allegiance arguments at the Supreme Court, comparing the Pledge with the Citizenship Oath. (Montana's schools, sitting in the Ninth Circuit, currently cannot lead their students in the modern "under God" version of the Pledge.)
Whatever the constitutional merits of the Pledge, I think the Oath is a finer expression of patriotism. Even the proponents of the Pledge argue it is only "Ceremonial Deism", whose words do not so much unite a nation as leave it sufficiently undisturbed. (David makes a related point at billingsblog.) The Oath of Citizenship, on the other hand, binds its takers to the United States under the principles of our Constitution, which run far deeper than the colors of our flag.
As the "under God" debate comes to a conclusion in the Supreme Court, Congress is considering revising the Oath. So when you've had enough of debating the Supreme Court's contorted Establishment Clause jurisprudence as applied to the Pledge, take a minute to read the Oath and consider what it really means to be a citizen of the United States.
Swearing allegiance, or love, in public supports our intention with the crutch of social scrutiny. Maybe we should all swear an oath like the new citizen's when we reach majority. It could imbue the value and responsibility of citizenship in many. However, we must still decide every day with our active intellegence to do as we swore, and how best to do so...
Posted by: win | March 31, 2004 at 05:22 PM
Amen to that.
Posted by: Anthony | March 31, 2004 at 06:09 PM