Many students start their school day by reciting the pledge of allegiance, but Monday, two students at a local high school who protested because their school did not say the pledge every day.

West Virginia and Ohio have different policies when it comes to reciting the pledge in schools.

"I think it should be mandatory," Dave Meadows, a civics teacher at Parkersburg High School, said.

Meadows agrees with West Virginia's policy that the pledge of allegiance is to be recited every morning by every school.

"The very first words are good morning staff and students. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance," Ralph Board, Parkersburg High's principal, said.

In Ohio, the decision is left up to the local school districts.

And Monday at Warren High School, two brothers, Robert and Kenneth Grady chained themselves to the flag pole to protest their school not saying the pledge every day.

"It teaches citizenship. This country was founded on people that gave up their lives so we can be free. We can be free to speak our minds. We can be free to say our own beliefs," Board said.

But not all beliefs go along with the pledge of allegiance; therefore, in West Virginia, not all students are required to recite it.

"We have students that stand and choose not to and that's fine. One interesting thing is the foreign exchange students, watching them as they stand and kind of nervously move around and that's something that we don't often consider," Meadows said.

A reminder that Americans' freedom of choice, a concept so envied by others around the world may be just as important as the pledge that most Americans know by heart.

Principal Dan Leffingwell of Warren High School where the two students protested says that not saying the pledge every day was just a misunderstanding and that it is now recited on a daily basis.