[Griff]

The rules vary by district and maybe by state. A number of schools I subbed at replaced the pledge with a recording of the National Anthem, no standing required. My brother teaches in California and his building doesn't bother.

I guess to the Christian fundementalist the schools already feel like re-education camps. Isn't the primary purpose of Prussian style mandatory schooling, to break the kid away from his roots so he's a more useful tool of the state? As a whole, schools do ere to the side of promoting the dominant local religion, which I oppose, but there are also cases where children and teachers are prevented from expressing their beliefs, like the little girl whose teacher prevented her from saying grace before lunch. What I'm trying to say is tolerance must go both ways and coercion from either side is unacceptable.