Pledging Allegiance or Independent Thinking? Are Kids Being Taught What to Think About the American Flag—or How to Think?
The first time I watched a student remain seated during the Pledge of Allegiance, a hush fell over the classroom that felt larger than the room. Fourteen years old, soft-spoken, new to the district, he simply folded his hands in his lap while the rest of us stood. Two students looked at me. One half-rose, unsure whether to follow the ritual or the friend. It wasn’t a crisis, but it was a test, and not of loyalty. It was a test of whether a public school could hold space for
For Freedom of Expression: How the Flag Unites Voices Across America
I have crossed the country enough times to know that the flag shows up where you least expect it. It rides behind a rusted motorcycle somewhere outside Moab, snaps off the stern of a lobster boat at dawn, hangs above a volunteer firehouse that looks small enough to fit inside its own garage bay. I have seen it painted on plywood after a storm, when the stoplights are still dark and the grocery coolers hum like generators. I have watched kids drape it like a superhero cape u
Free Expression in Classrooms: Inclusion or Ideological Gatekeeping?
Walk into a public university lecture room in 1996, you can basically no doubt see a small American flag close to the whiteboard, perchance the kingdom flag, and a few motivational posters. Visit that equal classroom right this moment, and the walls tell a extra tough story. The American flag may be there, or it might probably had been replaced with a rotating gallery of identity or social movement flags. In a few areas, lecturers have been instructed to take down Pride and
For Freedom of Expression: How the Flag Unites Voices Across America
I have crossed the country enough times to know that the flag shows up where you least expect it. It rides behind a rusted motorcycle somewhere outside Moab, snaps off the stern of a lobster boat at dawn, hangs above a volunteer firehouse that looks small enough to fit inside its own garage bay. I have seen it painted on plywood after a storm, when the stoplights are still dark and the grocery coolers hum like generators. I have watched kids drape it like a superhero cape u