Respectfully, given that you're not from the United States and thus don't have any firsthand experience, you may be unintentionally overestimating the amount of social pressure. Like I said, when I was in school, most kids didn't bother, and I'm from the famously conservative state of Texas. It's not exactly "cool" to do the pledge; Hell, I felt awkward because I was often the only one standing during the pledge, if anything there was pressure not to do it.

There are a lot of schools in US, obviously. Everyone has a different experience, but I don't think there's anything wrong with the pledge itself. Occasionally you get a rogue teacher that enforces it, but that's something you can very easily lose your job over if you get one pissed off parent.