Research Paper

The following is a paragraph from the introductory pages of a research paper I wrote the first summer of my Teacher Corps experience: "There are two major relevant court cases, both involving Jehovahs Witnesses, that lead up to the current debate about the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools raging in the aftermath of the 2002 case Newdow v. Elk Grove Unified School District (Newdow). The first is Minersville School District v. Gobitis (Gobitis), which was argued in 1940 and ruled that it is in fact constitutional for school districts in America to require the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, even if it infringes on the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion. The second is West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (Barnette), which was argued in 1943 and ruled that while it is constitutional for school districts in America to recite the pledge (and, practically speaking, all school districts did), it was not in fact constitutional to require every student to participate." The full text can be downloaded in its entirety as a .doc file at the bottom of the page. I have chosen to include this piece in my coursework selection because it reflects my belief that it is necessary for all citizens to be aware of and reflect on the legal philosophies that contribute to their manifest culture and society (which naturally includes American public school systems), especially when the immediate relevancy is not entirely clear. When government tacitly permits injustice in the guise of social normalcy, someone must be able to see beyond this; the culture of a public school, like any other culture, cannot change for the best if its denizens live in ignorance of its failings. For example, I had a specific grievance at my own school once when a group of Gideons was distributing New Testaments at the front door of the school, which was certainly not legal and probably not moral. Even if someone else had thought that perhaps there was something wrong with the scene, no one certainly thought enough of it to take action. I was quite an unpopular character for a time for having complained and spoken out myself, but ultimately it was for the best if it never occurs again. I believ that Teachers must affect social change and work for social justice, an impossible task if they do not understand what social justice entails and looks like.

David Jones's Professional Portfolio

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