“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Recognize these words? You should. It’s apart of our daily routine… literally.

On Sunday, Aug. 28th, House Bill 1750 went into effect. Now all publicly funded schools in the state of Missouri have to say the pledge of allegiance at least once a day. This gives students an opportunity to say the pledge. As per the First Amendment, students aren’t required to stand and/or say the pledge. The bill was sponsored by representative Shane Roden from congressional district 111, in Jefferson County.

The most important contradiction this law provides is that although lawmakers seem to be most concerned with standardized test scores and the education that public school provides, they aren’t entirely invested.

Even though reciting the words takes about 30 seconds, that is time that can be spent learning and increasing our ever important scores. Some schools, like New Haven Elementary School, have had to even change their schedule to accommodate the change.

Although a schedule change isn’t in order for Liberty, we are continuously interrupted during different parts of the day, breaking up independent learning time or note taking. Even during this brief period of interruption, refocusing on the task at hand can be difficult for some students.

Proponents of this law argue that saying the pledge every day is a good thing because it honors our veterans and helps instill the values that the pledge reflects.

Perhaps, we could go back to the original law, that required schools to recite the pledge only once per week, instead of at least once a day. This provides the happy medium between a devoted learning environment and an appreciation of our American values and those in the armed forces. If the law cannot be changed back, I would call upon our school’s administrators to find a consistent time for the pledge to be said, instead of a different time every day. This would minimize interruptions and make the learning environment more productive.