67 Comp II Reflection 3 – “Reflection on an Instagram Post about the Abolition of the Pledge of Allegiance”
Isabelle Teague
Reflection on an Instagram Post about the Abolition of the Pledge of Allegiance
I had initially chosen a different topic for my research-supported essay but changed my subject to why the Pledge of Allegiance should be removed from public schools. This change stemmed from my wanting to rebut a nationalistic family member after having a political “discussion” with them. As I thought more about the subject, I recalled instances in high school where I got in trouble for not standing for the Pledge due to being tired in the morning. At first, the whole process of writing my research essay was motivated by getting a grade and looking for legal justifications for why the teachers who scolded me were in the wrong and I wasn’t. However, as I did further research, I read some articles discussing instances in which other students around the US have gotten into legal conflict with their schools for refusing to stand for the Pledge for reasons more noble than mine. These injustices cemented my opinion that the Pledge should be abolished and spurred me to complete the essay. To persuade others of this position, I made my remix an Instagram post focusing on the religious violations of the Pledge with secondary school students being my target audience.
For the remix project, I chose middle and high-school-age students for my audience. I chose this age group because they are the most affected when it comes to the Pledge of Allegiance in schools. For many students, standing for the Pledge is a practice of compulsion, not one of their own volition. Students in this age group are also more likely to question the systems in place, making them the prime audience to convince whether the Pledge should remain or be removed. My audience choice also ties in with my choice of genre, Instagram. Instagram is a popular social media outlet that is widely used by my target audience. Due to Instagram’s popularity, I feel my remix would be more successful than on any other social media site.
For the format of the remix, I focus more on how the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First Amendment regarding religion. I decided to focus on the religious aspect because there was too much information to cover in the original essay. I attempt to appeal to the audience’s pathos and logos in the remix. For pathos, I begin the remix with a controversial title to garner attention. I then end the remix with an emotionally based statement. Everything else in the remix was done to appeal to logos by attempting to format the information simply and cohesively. I ended the remix with a reference slide, providing the links to where I got my information and how I came to my conclusion. I felt that adding a reference slide would make the remix more trustworthy. The reference slide also serves to encourage the curiosity of my audience and to entice further reading on the subject.
My overall goal with the remix was to bring attention to and encourage students to stand up for their rights. Hopefully, as students become more aware, the Pledge of Allegiance will be removed from schools. The first step to removing the Pledge from schools is to eliminate the policies in school districts that mandate that students must participate in the Pledge and to notify school administration that they cannot make a student participate if that student refuses to. I think the students themselves would be capable of taking that first step. If a significant portion of the student body protested the Pledge, the change would commence. Schools cannot suspend everybody.
