For Parkway schoolers, the Pledge of Allegiance is a daily occurrence. Because of this ritual, students like senior Laura Rein were surprised to learn that many of their classmates were abstaining from the recitation.

“I learned recently that people weren’t standing,” Rein said. “Standing is kind of my default when I would go to baseball games, it’s just something I thought everyone did. You take your hat off and pay your respects. When I learned that people weren’t standing, I thought, ‘well, that’s interesting, I wonder why they’re not doing it.’”

Rein stands and recites the Pledge of Allegiance every day and believes all students should have the option to choose whether to stand or sit, though she may not agree with those who do not.

“I have the opinion that no one should be forced to pledge their allegiance to something. That’s something that each person chooses for him or herself. I wouldn’t want anyone to force me to stand for the flag. I don’t look down on people who don’t stand, I’m just curious because I feel like the good in this country outweighs the bad and I feel like the flag represents so much of the good in that it’s something that unites us. I believe in the ideas that this flag stands for and the freedom of that.”

Like Rein, senior Jonny Yazdi believes that students should stand but should not be required to stand.

“I don’t think it should be a requirement because, just like I preach other amendments, I preach freedom of speech and I understand that it should go both ways, such that, if I want to stand, you shouldn’t tell me that I shouldn’t be standing and I’m not going to tell you that you have to stand,” Yazdi said.

While Yazdi is supportive of the United States’ current political administration, his reasons for standing are not political but familial. 

“Even if we had a president who I didn’t like, I’m still going to root for the country because, as a citizen, I don’t want it to fail,” Yazdi said. “It’s also pledging allegiance to the country that’s given my family so many opportunities like my grandfather who came over here from Iran. We’ve been successful here so I’m thankful for that.”

Like Yazdi, Rein believes that politics and the Pledge of Allegiance are unrelated concepts.

“I think just because I don’t agree with an administration is not a reason to disrespect the flag,” Rein said. “Under Obama’s administration, I felt like my religion was under attack because they were making laws that required health care that I didn’t feel like I needed. I still respected what was good in this country and I didn’t hold a grudge against the nation.”

Rein believes that standing for the Pledge of Allegiance is a way to show respect to her country and its history which she believes is made up of more good than bad.

“I’m just trying to support all the good that’s in this country, what it was founded on, this idea of freedom and independence and not being controlled,” Rein said. “It would take decades of deviation from our founding principles to cause me to turn against America. That’s basically what it is. Disrespecting the flag, which is a symbol of America, is disrespecting America. It’s one thing to stand in respectful silence, but it’s a whole other thing to disrespect the flag and everyone who’s fought for the good in this country. There’s an important distinction.”