I Pledge Allegiance To The Flag

Elementary school students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Photo courtesy of the Erie School District.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America." This is how we started our school day every day all throughout elementary, middle and high school. After we arrived in our homeroom, the class would recite the Pledge of Allegiance in unison and there was always one kid who was a fraction of a second behind his classmates. And in my case, there was always one kid in the seat behind me pulling my pigtails. 

The one thing that always bugged me was the painting of George Washington. Why was it half-finished? Was President Washington too fidgety to sit for a portrait? If I would have raised my hand and asked this question in school I'm pretty sure I would have gotten an eraser bounced off of my head. 

We didn't have the old desks like the ones in this photo, but I understand that boys took great pleasure in dipping girls' ponytails into the inkwells. Speaking of desks, I got a job through CETA one summer and cleaned at Wilson Middle School in Erie, PA. One of my duties was to scrape bubblegum off of the underside of the desks. It was disgusting. Multi-colored, rock hard miniature stalactites. This was during the era when we used to make chains with bubblegum wrappers.  

Find more fun facts about Erie, Pennsylvania at Old Time Erie