<Your experience, where the teacher apparently announced that it was not mandatory, is very different from mine: I was told to do it.

I sure seemed mandatory -- but then there were never any arguments about it. We were told to rise, face the flag, and recite the Pledge -- so we did, no problem.

A large part of the "mandatory", though, can be found in Steve's response, and I have to disagree with him here. Peer pressure most certainly is a requiring factor in a person's psyche. Kids, and adults as well, generally enjoy the path of least resistance, which would be to simply go with the flow. Now, if the flow involved the entire class objecting to the Pledge, this too would be the path of least resistance -- for a while. Of course the ratio would be different than the teacher saying it was time for the Pledge and receiving 100% cooperation. If the students chose not to recite the Pledge, there would be a number opposing the idea of revolt. This could likely be accounted for with "home training", as well a developing personal philosophy of life governing rules of conduct. Not everybody enjoys offensive behavior.

Dan