As deliberations and rebuttal abound in the Microsoft trial, and the U.S. moves closer to defaulting on its United Nation bills, important issues like First Amendment rights are being blatantly sacrificed in schools. "What is this world coming to?" you ask. "Why is the dollar a better-known symbol of America to those around the world than the flag will ever be?"

When schools "recommend" that all students participate in the Pledge, there is no doubt that good intentions are at hand. The intentions are implemented to give students a love for their country and promote patriotism, and administrators feel as if they have saved us from ourselves. We are being 'righted' - a dose of morality must keep the evil away, so to speak.

However, required recitation of the Pledge goes against the very freedom of thought found at the heart of the U.S. Constitution. After all, the Bill of Rights is about freedom - not about forced shows of patriotism. Shouldn't it be in the hands of students to decide how to pay respect to their country?

Freedom of speech is guaranteed to everyone by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The United States Supreme Court says that students and teachers do not lose their freedom of expression when they enter the school. You cannot be punished for refusing to salute the flag, rise, or say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ironically, the influential force behind the adoption of the Pledge of Allegiance was not patriotism, but capitalism. In 1923, attempting to promote an $8-a-month pension for veterans, Francis Bellamy helped write the "Flag Code." It made a debut across the nation on October 12, 1892, as part of a Columbus Day promotion. More than twelve million students swore their allegiance to the flag that day.

However, because of the Pledge, more than flags were purchased from the magazine which printed the words. In a way, school children everywhere unknowingly made a Pledge to capitalism, as well as to a symbolic cloth.

Additionally, a 1954 act of Congress added the words, "under God." The change was made as McCarthy, who nearly destroyed American freedom with his overzealous hatred for what he called "Communism," watched on. In other words, the part of the Pledge with which the most offense is taken was only added as something of a pacifier for the general public in this time of great stress.

Surprisingly, in the first 50 years of its existence, the government did not officially recognize the Pledge. That, however, didn't keep schools from using it. As late as 1943, many states required the Pledge of all students. However, following a lawsuit brought by the Jehovah's Witnesses, 51 years after it was written, the Supreme Court gave students the option not to participate. Now, students can be excused from participation on any grounds they deem worthy.

If the point of the Pledge is to make students feel loyalty and appreciation for our nation, it fails miserably. Mindlessly repeating poems doesn't give a student an appreciation for poetry, and memorizing the parts of a speech doesn't create an inspired writer. Why, then, would repeating these words of loyalty reward students with an inherent love of their country?