I am not a lawyer I have no legal license or experience just knowledge gained from spending too much time online please obtain your own legal counsel and do not interpret anything here as legal advice
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) that it is unconstitutional, on principles of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, due process, and equal protection, to compel anyone to salute the American Flag or to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
When I was in high school in Texas, the general belief was that students were required to stand, salute, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. When challenged, staff would refer to "state law", by which they meant the Texas Education Code. This and any similar things in other states are, of course, superceded by the SCOTUS ruling. The section linked was added in 1995 and amended in 2003, despite a conflicting, trumping decision from long before.
Teachers, especially the ones who fancied themselves patriotic, would become angry when students refused to stand, salute the flag, and recite the Pledge. They would threaten to send them to the principal's office "give them a referral", send them to detention, or they would simply take them out into the hallway and scream at them. This went unchallenged, and the few students who found themselves convicted against any part of this ceremony and tried not to participate were quickly cowed. Until then, I hadn't questioned saying the Pledge, thought about what it implied, what I declared of myself by participating. After I saw a teacher screaming at a student who had refused to say it, I found myself considering these things.
I determined that I found the Pledge to be:
I found it false because it claims indivisibility of the nation, and "liberty and justice for all". We are "indivisible" only in that the federal government will forcibly stop a state from seceding. There is no brotherhood, no loyalty. I don't know about you, but I've never met anyone who regards their American nationality as the primary part of their being. Here, if you ask someone what they "are", they will answer with their occupation, their ancestral nationality, or maybe their religion. We're each members of various groups, some of which are mutually intolerant. We constantly seek to reduce the rights of other groups while advancing those of our own. How are we indivisible in any meaningful sense?
Liberty and justice? Don't kid me! Hundreds of thousands are arrested every year for something that harms no one. Police departments have become gangs who protect only their own, beat and kill people when they exercise their right not to be searched for no reason, and in general do whatever they want to us and get away with it. They're even supported in this, with such decisions as that they can withhold evidence by simply saying it never existed and that they never saw the subpoenas for it, and that we have no right to resist unlawful police entry into our homes (Barnes v. State of Indiana). Where is the liberty? Where is the justice? We have only as much of each as someone else decides we should have. I find this bit of the Pledge absolutely laughable.
Despite the First Amendment, the one that says the state is not supposed to prescribe religion, the Pledge still says "under God". Like many other Americans, I don't believe that one exists. I felt quite silly every time I uttered this McCarthyist insecurity. Once I found out that I didn't have to say the Pledge, I would have stopped saying it for this reason alone.
If I loved this country, why would I need to say it every day? I might want to, but doing so would serve only to strengthen my ingrained loyalty, whether deserved or not. The Pledge says nothing that isn't obvious or false; I find no merit in saying it and see it only as a way to instill unwarranted faith and a pleasant illusion.
It's up to you whether to say the Pledge. I implore you not to. Even if you disagree with my points above, agree with everything the Pledge says, and cuddle an American flag to sleep every night, I say that we must exercise this right for the sake of preserving it. If you're a public school student, it truly is up to you to accomplish this. If you don't do it, no one will. If you think "someone else will be the crazy political activist", that's what everyone else will think. This right must be exercised, it must become widely known and respected, and conflicting laws must be challenged and overturned. This isn't for the sake of making a scene or to be rebellious. This isn't to promote my own beliefs about the Pledge. This is so that you, the person sitting next to you, or anyone in the future won't have to go through the things that students now have to go through if they find themselves at odds with the norm.
Until they recognize our right to decide for ourselves, refuse to stand, refuse to salute, refuse to say a single word! Refuse to be sent out of the classroom for refusing to do those things. Refuse to accept a referral. Refuse to attend a detention. Refuse to attend an in-school suspension.1 If they suspend you, take the free vacation.2 Gather your resolve, gain the support of your parents, and continue when you return. Your parents don't support you? You're still your own person. If they expel you, take the free extended vacation and find a school that treats you like the human being with inalienable rights that you are.3
A right not exercised is a right lost, and this right is all but lost because few know of it and fewer exercise it, whether they want to or not. Do this for yourself and for your neighbor; do this for those who will later be in your place; do this to make others think for themselves. Do this that we may someday truly have liberty and justice for all.