"The Virginia Senate moved one step closer yesterday to requiring every public school student in the state to pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag each morning, sparking lively debate among students and educators in classrooms across the region.

An 11-to-3 vote in favor of the bill by the Education and Health Committee came after the bill's sponsor, Sen. Warren E. Barry (R-Fairfax) pulled back from a requirement that would have penalized students who refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance unless they had a note from a member of the clergy. Such a narrow exemption, conceded Barry and Attorney General Mark L. Earley (R), was potentially unconstitutional.

The bill, as it is now written, would allow students with any religious or philosophical objection to reciting the pledge to sit out. Those students also would not be forced to stand, as Barry's original version required.

There was spirited discussion among committee members on how teachers and principals might define what suffices a philosophical objection.

Any way its sliced, some educators said such a law would be a logistical nightmare.

'It's just another thing distracting the school day,' said Steven Moore, a U.S. history teacher at T.C. Williams.

'I'm not sure it will be effective, but we might as well give this a shot,' said Jim Chalker, a physics teacher at Wakefield High School in Arlington who supports the moment of silence. 'I would like to see more devotion to country.'

To take effect, the measure, SB1331, now needs approval in both houses of the General Assembly, which last year approved a bill--also introduced by Barry--requiring students to observe a daily minute of silence in the classroom.

Some schools are still trying to make the minute of silence run smoothly, and many students and educators across Northern Virginia said yesterday that they were surprised to see another state-required ritual headed for the classroom.

'Ah, man, not again,' said Geovanny Gutierrez, 16 as he stood outside T.C. Williams High school in Alexandria. 'We already have that moment of silence. The pledge is something little kids do. We shouldn't have to.'

Moniesha Allen, 16, a T.C. Williams junior, said she supports a mandatory pledge, but she's unsure if students will cooperate. 'I think we are less patriotic. Maybe this could help,' said Allen, who was discussing. the issue in U.S. history class. 'But during that moment of silence, so many people are talking.'

Ray Anderson, Principal at H.B. Woodlawn School in Arlington, said there are real problems with students talking and giggling during the moment of silence.

'I guess this legislature wants to take us back to the fifties, and there are good things and bad things about the fifties,' said Anderson, whose school includes grades 6 through 12. 'I always hate to impose a behavior on someone and then have them mock it. That's my issue. Will it get people to be more respectful, or will it further weaken those ties to our country?'

The pledge bill, if approved by House and Senate, would make mandatory a practice now left to school districts, many of which require it under school board policy but don't enforce it.

Barry, 67, a former U.S. Marine, made an impassioned plea yesterday to his committee colleagues to bring the state into the classroom once more to bolster patriotism. Love of country simply isn't what it ought to be, he said, describing a vast generation gap he said he found in many Northern Virginia schools, where students often sit out the salute.

'You can't just say you don't feel like it,' Barry said. That just doesn't sit right.

That interpretation drew protests from civil libertarians, who said the Supreme Court's 1943 ruling allowing Jehovah's Witnesses to opt out of flag salutes guarantees that the government cannot deny a child's First Amendment right to abstain.

The debate "that preceded the 27 to 9 vote [by the Virginia Senate] for the pledge bill provoked emotion exchanges. Sen. Warren E. Barry, the Fairfax Republican who sponsored Senate Bill 1331, told his colleagues that he has agonized over what he perceives as a profound generation gap between young and old. Not only do many students fail to recite the pledge in class, but they also do not seem to care what it means, he lamented. 'The flag is but a piece of cloth,' Barry said, 'but it's a symbol of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. A lot of these kids are saying, 'I just don't feel like it,' and refusing to say the pledge.' His six minute speech included an account - taken from memoirs of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) of his years as a prisoner in Vietnam - of a captured Navy pilot who sewed the American flag in his prison cell. Several Democrats who voted against the bill said that forcing a child to recite the pledge is not the way to pass on the traditions the flag celebrates. "I married a Marine, and my husband found in Vietnam,' said Sen. Linda T. 'Toddy' Puller (D-Fairfax), who said her late husband's war injuries were so severe that 'he ultimately died in service of his country.'  Lewis B. Puller, Jr. [in the foreground], Richmond, Virginia - 1992 'But - and he would back me up on this - our country needs to inspire people who want to be patriotic. This is not how to do that.' Her husband, Lewis B. Puller, Jr., lost both legs and parts of both hands to a land mine in Vietnam. In 1994, he shot himself to death. Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) said she had reflected deeply on where she learned her patriotism. 'I learned it in school, by reading history, by visiting other countries that are gettingg beyond totalitarian govenments,' she said. 'I'm concerned that what we're trying to do is a quick fix for a very complicated problem" (Lisa Rein, The Washington Post, January 31, 2001).  (floor) 01/30/01 Senate: VOTE: PASSAGE (27-Y 9-N) YEAS--Barry, Bolling, Chichester, Colgan, Couric, Edwards, Forbes, Hanger, Hawkins, Maxwell, Mims, Newman, Norment, Potts, Puckett, Quayle, Rerras, Reynolds, Ruff, Saslaw, Stolle, Stosch, Trumbo, Wagner, Wampler, Watkins, Williams--27. NAYS--Byrne, Houck, Howell, Lambert, Lucas, Marye, Puller, Ticer, Whipple--9. RULE 36--0. NOT VOTING--Marsh, Martin, Miller, K.G., Miller, Y.B.--4.

Even students and parents who like the idea said the pledge should be a very clear choice.

At a Starbucks in Prince William County, Deena Powell, who said she grew up in a 'very conservative, military family,' said that allowing time to say the pledge is fine, as long as students can easily opt out.

'If you respectfully don't want to take part, then don't take part,' Powell said. 'I wish everyone would say it, though.'

Her daughter, Lauren Powell, took a stricter view. 'I think it should be mandatory,' said Lauren, 15, a sophomore at Garfield. 'I stand up every day and say it. Why shouldn't everyone else?'

Other students, however, said they can't be forced into feeling pride in their country. Several also said they worried that the pledge has religious overtones since it was modified in 1954 to add the words under God.

Standing in the hall of Loudoun County High School after drama class, Brian Torres, 16, a junior from Sterling, predicted that students would leave class in protest just as some have done for the moment of silence.

'It's an invasion of our privacy, it breaks the Constitution, and it violates our rights.' Torres said. 'There could be walkouts if it's passed, like they did for Vietnam.'

Several immigrant students said they won't mind saying the pledge, even if they aren't citizens. But they said it should be clear that the pledge is a choice.

'That's what is so great about this America,' said Bezhan Hamdard, 16, a T.C. Williams student who is from Afghanistan, but most recently lived in Pakistan, where students were forced to stand outside if they didn't pledge allegiance to the countrys flag every day.

To become law, the bill must pass the full Senate and House by the time the annual legislative session ends Feb. 24 and be signed by Gov. James S. Gilmore III" (Emily Wax and Lisa Rein, The Washington Post, January 26, 2001).

If you have comments about this bill, please send them to george@loper.org where the most representative will be posted on my web site with full attribution.

To date, comments have been received from Harry Tenney and Martha Wood.