The biggest problem is that kids are reciting it without understanding the words they're saying or the concepts they convey. When I was a little kid I was just repeating the syllables I was given, with no real idea about what it all meant*. Nobody should take any pledge until they can clearly explain what it means and what it means to them. And obviously a pledge should always be voluntary.

*Same as forcing a kid to go through the sacraments but I digress.

I don't think most kids would pick up on that kind of nuance (or even most adults), but I agree there's a valid interpretation that you're pledging allegience to the Constitution – the Republic – and thus "indivisibility, liberty, and justice". That is: you remain allegiant to the Constitution. But the current pledge has so much wrong with it that it's cult-like.

• Obviously get "under God" the hell out of there. Cold War-era reactionary trash.
• There's no reason to assume from the literal text that what I said is true. Why not just focus on the principles?
• It's a waste of time for kids to recite a dumb pledge they barely understand; granted they can't force you and a lot of schools IIRC don't do that anymore.
• Even if the interpretation is true, why should this specific system of government be so glorified?
• Get it the fuck out of there. It was introduced 100 years after the formation of the US by a Civil War officer as propaganda for children – probably paranoid out of his fucking mind after the South seceded. There's no reason kids can't learn to think for themselves when they're ready to actually understand these ideas.

the way i see it, is that a nation needs some unifying factor, and i much rather it be some positive ideals than the fact that people are just born nearby or have the same ethnicity. That being said, i can see how it can easily be used to drive up nationalism, so i am not fully sure that the way it is, being forced to kids, is the best way