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The e mail arrived midmorning, well mannered but tight. A mum or dad desired to know why her sixth grader had been advised to eliminate a tiny American flag from his backpack, whereas the identical hallway displayed a Pride flag and a poster with a handful of overseas flags. The valuable’s resolution, additionally polite and also tight, mentioned a impartial coverage approximately “political messaging” on personal presents. The discern wrote returned, pointed to the monitor

The e-mail arrived midmorning, well mannered yet tight. A discern sought after to recognize why her 6th grader had been told to get rid of a tiny American flag from his backpack, when the related hallway displayed a Pride flag and a poster with a handful of overseas flags. The vital’s resolution, also well mannered and additionally tight, mentioned a neutral coverage about “political messaging” on confidential gadgets. The mum or dad wrote again, pointed to the display scre

A top faculty vital advised me whatever thing I nevertheless contemplate anytime a flag debate flares up. After every week of irritating discern emails and college students arguing in the halls, she took down each and every nonrequired banner inside the development, together with physical activities pennants, a global languages flag wall, and a small Pride flag in the counseling place of business. She left one: the 3-by using-five American flag pinned to a corkboard behind

There is a familiar moment in many American schools and city halls. A microphone flickers on, a room fills with people from every corner of the community, and someone wonders if a brief prayer, an acknowledgment of God, or even a quiet nod to shared moral ground belongs here. Sometimes the prayer happens, sometimes it does not, and often the person with the microphone has no idea what the law actually says. The result is a steady drift toward silence, not always from hostil

Walk right into a public college school room in 1996, you'll nearly really see a small American flag near the whiteboard, maybe the country flag, and several motivational posters. Visit that related lecture room this day, and the partitions tell a extra problematic story. The American flag will likely be there, or it can were changed with a rotating gallery of identity or social move flags. In a few puts, instructors were told to take down Pride and Black Lives Matter image

Around 8:05 a.m., the hallway outside a middle school cafeteria sounds like a soft orchestra of chairs sliding and zippers closing. The intercom crackles, students rise, some place hands on hearts, a few stand with arms at their sides, a handful keep their seats. The Pledge of Allegiance still happens in many American schools, but the scene no longer looks uniform. In one classroom, the pledge is daily and dutiful. In another, it is optional and quiet. In a third, it is gon

Every September I watch a new wave of kindergartners stare up at the American flag, tiny right hands hovering over tiny hearts, eyes unsure on the first Pledge. Some whisper along, some mouth nothing, a few look at their teacher for cues. By October, patterns set in. Most children follow the ritual exactly, a small number opt out quietly, and one or two ask the kind of piercing questions that make adults hold their coffee tighter. Why do we say this every day? Why that flag

At a school board meeting in a town where everyone knows the color of the football field’s bleachers, I watched two neighbors argue about a library book neither of them had read. One was worried her fourth grader would stumble into ideas he wasn’t ready for. The other, a retired social studies teacher, talked about a student he’d once had who found, in a book, the language he needed to ask for help. Both people cared. Both wanted the school to do right by children. And neit