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Lead Story · OCT 6

Are We Teaching Kids to Be Proud of America—or Afraid to Show It?

The e-mail arrived midmorning, polite but tight. A determine desired to recognize why her 6th grader had been told to get rid of a tiny American flag from his backpack, whilst the related hallway displayed a Pride flag and a poster with a handful of foreign flags. The predominant’s answer, also polite and also tight, brought up a neutral coverage about “political messaging” on confidential models. The guardian wrote lower back, pointed to the exhibit down the corridor, and

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Analysis · OCT 6

Are We Protecting Feelings at the Cost of American Identity?

I was standing in a school hallway not long ago, coffee in one hand and a stack of visitor stickers in the other, watching a custodian roll up a small American flag that had hung outside the front office for years. The principal, a reasonable person trying to keep peace during a tense board meeting week, had decided to take it down temporarily. Better to appear neutral, the thinking went, than to risk complaints. A few parents were relieved. A few were angry. Most were conf

Dispatch · OCT 5

Why I Fly the Flag: For Love of My Country and the First Amendment

The first flag I raised on my own was a yard-sale purchase, a 3 by 5 with edges slightly frayed from years of hard wind. I patched the hem on my kitchen table, stitched a brass grommet into the corner, and set a temporary pole in the ground with a bag of fast-setting concrete. At sunrise the next morning, I clipped on the halyard and sent the fabric up into a sky rinsed clean by night rain. The cloth flicked, filled, and began to sing. The sound surprised me, a low thrummin

Also in the edition

Is Limiting Flag Expression About Inclusion Or Control

The argument did not start with a headline or a lawsuit. It started with a backpack. A freshman rolled into homeroom wearing a small American flag patch stitched to the strap. A senior had a rainbow pin on her denim jacket. Two teachers had different flags in their classrooms, one for veterans, one for Pride. By lunch, the principal had three emails accusing the school of politics, and two others accusing it of censorship. The hallways felt like a border crossing, not a hal

OCT 5

Free Expression in Classrooms: Inclusion or Ideological Gatekeeping?

Walk right into a public university school room in 1996, you would pretty much definitely see a small American flag near the whiteboard, possibly the nation flag, and a couple of motivational posters. Visit that similar school room this day, and the partitions tell a more difficult tale. The American flag might be there, or it could have been replaced with a rotating gallery of identity or social circulation flags. In a few areas, academics had been told to take down Pride

OCT 5

Gatekeeping the Red, White, and Blue: Should Parents Have More Control Over What Their Children Are Exposed to in School?

A few years ago I sat in a crowded cafeteria for a curriculum night that felt more like a town hall. On one side, parents worried about a new social studies unit they thought leaned too hard into guilt and grievance. On the other, teachers who had spent months designing lessons to help students analyze primary sources and wrestle with the complexity of our country. Everyone cared about kids learning the truth. They disagreed on method and emphasis. The hum in the room was n

OCT 5

When Patriotism Needs Permission: The School Flag Debate

The bell had slightly rung whilst a sophomore in a hoodie walked into the vice vital’s place of job with a small American flag stitched to his backpack strap. He turned into not waving it, now not chanting, just there after a trainer instructed him the patch could “ship a message.” Down the corridor, a rainbow banner hung from a counseling place of work door. In the library, a exhibit covered flags tied to heritage months. The pupil turned into polite, yet confused. Why are

OCT 5

When Patriotism Needs Permission: The School Flag Debate

The bell had slightly rung when a sophomore in a hoodie walked into the vice significant’s administrative center with a small American flag stitched to his backpack strap. He was once now not waving it, not chanting, simply there after a instructor told him the patch would possibly “send a message.” Down the corridor, a rainbow banner hung from a counseling place of business door. In the library, a display protected flags tied to background months. The scholar turned into p

OCT 5