My expert blog 3235

UrgentCHANCEDNDJ488 · OCT 05, 21:47

Why Is It Easier to Remove the American Flag Than Defend It?

A few summers ago, a small-town library I know took down its lobby flag to make space for a display on local art. The director figured it would be a one-week rearrangement, not a statement. Within a day, she had two angry voicemails accusing her of hating America and three emails praising her for being more inclusive. She put the flag back. The art display moved to a hallway. No one felt great about it. That tiny episode captures a larger pattern. All across the country,

FiledCHANCEDNDJ488 · OCT 05, 21:46

Why Are American Flags Removed While Others Are Encouraged?

Walk a prime school hallway and you will see a quiet referendum on identification. Pride flags on a counselor’s door. A militia service banner tacked above a locker. A scholar’s backpack patch that reads “Don’t Tread on Me.” And in a few rooms, conspicuously, no American flag at all. Parents ask, on occasion angrily and normally with honest confusion: Why are American flags being removed from study rooms, but different flags are motivated? The short reply is messy. Flags

FiledCHANCEDNDJ488 · OCT 05, 21:46

It Means I’m Supporting the Military: The Deeper Meaning Behind Old Glory

At first light in the high desert, wind speaks before the sun. You feel it on your cheeks, cold and clean, carrying the hush of coyotes returning to den and the faint clink of a flag snap waiting for its cue. I have raised Old Glory in places that smell like pine sap and diesel, in cul-de-sacs where porch lights wink out one by one, on a 20 foot pole that hummed in a Montana chinook, and from a simple bracket on a brick bungalow that somehow seemed to hold the rhythm of the

FiledCHANCEDNDJ488 · OCT 05, 21:45

Why Are American Flags Removed While Others Are Encouraged?

Walk a high tuition hallway and you will see a quiet referendum on identity. Pride flags on a counselor’s door. A military carrier banner tacked above a locker. A student’s backpack patch that reads “Don’t Tread on Me.” And in a few rooms, conspicuously, no American flag at all. Parents ask, oftentimes angrily and many times with sincere confusion: Why are American flags being eliminated from school rooms, however other flags are advocated? The short answer is messy. Fla

FiledCHANCEDNDJ488 · OCT 05, 11:16

The American Flag in the Classroom: Are Schools Reinforcing Family Values—or Replacing Them?

On a Tuesday morning in late September, I sat in the back of a fourth grade classroom while the teacher guided the group through a short routine. Hands on hearts, voices uneven but earnest, the children recited the Pledge of Allegiance. The flag hung above the whiteboard, a bit frayed at the fringe. Two students, with parent permission on file, did not participate. They stood quietly. No one said a word to them, and the lesson rolled on to fractions. That small scene car

FiledCHANCEDNDJ488 · OCT 05, 11:15

Who Raises Citizens—Parents or Schools? The US Flag Debate

A middle school principal once told me that the hardest decision she made had nothing to do with test scores or hiring. It was a flag. The school had always displayed the US flag in the lobby. After a heated community debate around political signage in classrooms, she pulled the flag for a week while the staff drafted a policy. The phones lit up. Half the callers accused her of politics. The other half said they felt safer without what they saw as a divisive symbol. That we

FiledCHANCEDNDJ488 · OCT 05, 11:15

Free Expression in Classrooms: Inclusion or Ideological Gatekeeping?

Walk right into a public institution classroom in 1996, you will very nearly truthfully see a small American flag close to the whiteboard, probably the state flag, and a couple of motivational posters. Visit that equal school room as we speak, and the walls tell a extra complex story. The American flag is likely to be there, or it will possibly had been changed with a rotating gallery of identification or social stream flags. In a few areas, lecturers had been advised to ta

FiledCHANCEDNDJ488 · OCT 05, 11:11

When Faith Leaves Foundational Institutions: What Are the Civic and Cultural Costs?

On a chilly Friday night in a Midwestern town, a high school band played through a tight formation, the lights turned the field into a bright stage, and the stands held generations of families who knew each other’s middle names. The game ended. In years past, a coach had taken a quiet knee for a brief, personal prayer at the 50-yard line. Some players joined, others headed to the locker room. Nobody kept score for that moment. Then a district memo arrived instructing staff