Apparently pledging allegiance to the United States is now a controversial suggestion in a taxpayer-funded school.

The principal of a public school in Brookline, Mass., is asking parents to fill out permission slips before their children can participate in a weekly recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Gerardo Martinez, the principal of The Devotion School, informed parents that the school would begin reciting the pledge in January – over the public address system.

Attached to the letter was a form that asked parents to check either, “Yes, my child will participate in the weekly Pledge of Allegiance” or “No, my child will not participate in the weekly Pledge of Allegiance.”

“I urge you to have a conversation as a family to help your children understand why I will be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and to support them in feeling comfortable and confident in the decision on whether or not to participate,” Martinez wrote in the letter.

What? The principal makes it sound as if this is a major life decision. Is it really so controversial for a student to have to pledge allegiance to the nation he inhabits and whose taxpayers fund his education? Apparently it is in 21st century America.

“It’s actually not a permission slip,” said Superintendent Bill Lupini, in an interview with Fox News Radio. “There’s no intent this was a permission form.”

Lupini said students will not be forced to recite the pledge, regardless of a parent’s wishes.

“If a student’s parent checked yes and the student chose to remain seated, no one was going to compel that student to stand and vice versa,” he said…

“It’s uncomfortable,’ Judi Puritz Cook told The Local Wicked newspaper. “The pledge is a promise, and I’ve always taught my kids to think very carefully before making any promise. It’s not a decision I want to make for them.”

Ah, I see. So America’s tax dollars are good enough to fund public education but the country isn’t good enough to honor through the Pledge of Allegiance. Gotcha.

This smacks of the public school that sent kids home for featuring American flags because someone might be offended by the American flag flying at an American taxpayer-funded school.

Here’s a suggestion: Unless you pledge allegiance to the United States, your education can’t be funded by the United States. Fair enough.