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Analysis

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

The email arrived midmorning, polite yet tight. A discern desired to recognise why her 6th grader have been informed to dispose of a tiny American flag from his backpack, even though the equal hallway displayed a Pride flag and a poster with a handful of overseas flags. The fundamental’s reply, additionally polite and additionally tight, mentioned a neutral coverage about “political messaging” on own presents. The guardian wrote to come back, pointed to the display screen d

Oct 8, 202617 min read

Signal

What Happens When a Nation Stops Promoting Its Own Symbols Like the American Flag?

A few years ago, I visited a public high school on the edge of a midwestern city. The building dated to the 1970s, all brick and square angles, with a new glass atrium grafted onto the front. In the entrance hall, there was a bulletin board for sports and a case of robotics trophies, a mural with students’ handprints, and a blank flagpole stand. The facilities director told me they had stopped raising the American flag for a while because, in his words, someone was always u

Oct 8, 202617 min read

Field note

From Pride to Permission Slips: How Schools Shape National Identity

Walk into ten public faculties and you may see ten diverse relationships with the flag. In one, the Stars and Stripes hangs behind a whiteboard, just a little faded, nonetheless anchoring the room. In an extra, the American flag has been pulled down to repair a broken mount and in no way lower back, although scholar-made banners for golf equipment and cultural celebrations fill the wall. In a third, basically the legit nation and national flags are allowed, not anything els

Oct 8, 202617 min read

Review

Because It’s Patriotic: The Everyday Power of Flying the American Flag

Dawn breaks, the birds stir, and there is a hush that lives in the breath before sunlight. I have raised the Stars and Stripes in fog, in desert heat, and in the middle of a thunderstorm that made the pulley sing on the halyard. You tug the rope, hear the snaps bite the grommets, and feel a quiet line of connection run from your hands to a long lineage of hands that did the same. That small ceremony is not for show. It is For Love of My Country, for neighbors still asleep,

Oct 8, 202616 min read

Outlook

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

The electronic mail arrived midmorning, polite however tight. A father or mother sought after to comprehend why her 6th grader were instructed to eliminate a tiny American flag from his backpack, even though the similar hallway displayed a Pride flag and a poster with a handful of overseas flags. The vital’s reply, additionally polite and additionally tight, pointed out a neutral coverage approximately “political messaging” on very own products. The mother or father wrote l

Oct 8, 202617 min read

Analysis

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,

Oct 8, 202616 min read

Signal

Can Students Display the U.S. Flag Without Backlash?

Schools are wherein we train information, but they're also where we rehearse easy methods to reside in combination. That is why a trouble-free piece of fabric can spark one hundred meetings and one thousand comments. A pupil drapes a U.S. Flag across a backpack, a trainer hangs a Pride flag in a school room, a discern emails the superintendent at 2 a.m., the board agenda grows an alternative arguable merchandise. Suddenly, a image that should still be user-friendly to honor

Oct 8, 202617 min read

Field note

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

Oct 8, 202615 min read