Although the United States Pledge of Allegiance is a ritual in many schools, research on middle school students’ views about this tradition is limited. Therefore, this grounded theory study included a survey of 100 middle school students on the Pledge with 33 follow-up interviews. Socialization and countersocialization served as the theoretical framework for the study. The data were analyzed via the open coding, axial coding, and selective coding aspects of the grounded theory methodology (Creswell, 1998). The results displayed similar responses based on gender; however, in terms of race or ethnicity, this study showed different results compared to previous research (Rider-Hawkins, 1992). While the majority of the students in this study emphasized loyalty to the nation, this study also emphasized a desire by some of the middle school students ’ to have more instruction about the Pledge.
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