When the teacher tells the kids that it's time to recite the Pledge, they begin but she immediately interrupts them to ask them if they understand it which, of course, they don't. This is, as mentioned in an earlier post, what inspired James Clavell to write this story. In one way, the teacher is right: the children should understand what they are pledging to. Of course, her aim is not to educate and inform, but to undermine the children's beliefs and limited understanding of the world and replace them with state-approved opinions. This is what is behind her urging the children to deface the flag by cutting it up. Think about how we treat our flags: there are rules for flying them, and folding them. We drape them reverently over the coffins of our war dead. In other words, they exist as something beyond a piece of fabric... they are a symbol, a physical representation their country. So when Teacher suggests to the children that they should cut up the flag so that they can each have a piece of it, she's denigrating its importance as a symbol, reducing it to just a piece of fabric, a cheap souvenir to be casually taken down, divided and handed out. And, as they lose respect for the symbol of their country, so too does their respect for the country itself become diminished. Again, the teacher presents this as a treat, handing the scissors to one little girl and telling her that she can make the first cut because it's her birthday. She then gets all the children involved, who clamour, laughing and excited, to help cut up the flag and then throw the flagpole out the window. The scene is a little mob-like; it's always easier for people to participate in a transgressive act- which they would never do on their own, of their own initiative- as part of a larger group, egged on by an authority figure. Johnny is the only hold out, saying uneasily that he doesn't think it's right to cut up the flag. He has an inkling that there's something wrong about this even if he can't articulate why. It's also obvious that it's uncomfortable for him to alone refuse to participate: he sits alone and isolated at his desk while all of the other students gather around Teacher, laughing and happy.
Within half an hour, the children have been brought about to question their faith, family, and country, and The Children's Story ends with Teacher ominously- and approvingly- contemplating a world where everyone is taught exactly the same State-regulated things, and dissenters are carted off for "re-education". In my final post on this short story, I'll wrap this up with a discussion of how I think James Clavell's work can be applied to Western society today.