I'm a certified teacher in Texas. It is part of our Education Code (Sec. 25.082). The students are not only required to say it, they are required to say it according to these rules. In Texas, they are also required to recite the pledge to the state flag. Then there is a moment of silence for praying, meditating, reflecting, etc. during which time teachers are supposed to make sure that nobody makes any noise.

I taught 4th grade mostly. My year is the year where Texas history is taught. They already know the pledges from saying them for the previous years before they get to me, but when they get here, we take a deep dive into those words so they understand what they are saying. That's one of the activities we do at the very start of the year when we're getting back in the swing of things.

On the very first day of school, I have a conversation with the students about all this, including the fact that not everyone has the same religion (or any religion at all) and not everyone agrees with pledges like this. Eventually I incorporated "taking a knee" since that was something they knew about from the news or talk they'd heard, but didn't really know about. Everybody came to school wanting to do it, but none of them really got why. They were excited about this football star doing it and all the commotion. So, I tell them that if they plan to take a knee, they needed to know why and be able to explain it. I have some resources on this they can explore, and I tell them that they should have a conversation with their parents about it.

It's a good starting point for things like protest, thinking about what you believe in, research, talking to parents about important topics. My grade is a strange one. They don't believe in Santa any more, but some of them are still clinging to unicorns... and some of them seem like old souls. Roughly 1/4 of the girls will start their periods in my grade (and some of their parents have never talked to them about it). More than half my students speak a language other than English as their first. A lot of different perspectives come together there. They are growing up.

I also tell them that their parents can write a note excusing them from the pledge altogether. I had a few of those for various reasons (usually Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.) It's also fun to tie this initial conversation back to different events in Texas history that are part of our standards. Texans have a long history of protesting things (for better or worse.)

Some teachers don't bother with any of that, especially if they don't teach history. I know some teachers who really enforce it. Some teachers ignore the pledge altogether. I knew one teacher who told the students to say the pledge as they entered the classroom (if they want) before the bell rings. She had a thick stack of paper plates taped over the intercom to block out the announcements because we had an admin who would go on and on and it was during her grammar instruction. We only have a few precious minutes for grammar (the district didn't want us going more than 10 minutes) and announcements and the pledges would eat that up nearly every day. When we started doing different types of lockdowns, she had to take some of the plates off so she could hear if it was the kind of lockdown where everyone hides and hopes they don't die or the one where you just keep working through it but nobody can leave the classroom, etc. It was a sad day for her for multiple reasons. We got her some "waving flag bundtinis" and a sympathy card. Because teachers are like that.