Does anyone else find the Pledge of Allegiance to be kinda creepy?

It's funny, because when I was a kid it was just something that you did -- we never really thought too much about it. But as an adult, I find it to be somewhat creepy for the same reason: why would we pressure first graders, who probably don't even understand all the words in the pledge, to declare their allegiance to their country 200 times a year? Doesn't this just teach them that things like pledges and, for that matter, speech aren't really about making a choice and expressing that choice, but rather saying and believing whatever it is that the people in charge are compelling you to say or believe?

When I looked on Wiki and saw that the original pledge used the Nazi salute, my jaw dropped.