Analysis

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

Oct 9, 202616 min read

Read Pledging Allegiance or Independent Thinking? Are Kids Being Taught What to Think About the American Flag—or How to Think?

Signal

Who Decides Which Flags Are Acceptable A Look At School Policies

Walk into any American school and you can read the culture from the walls. A United States flag in the front of a classroom. A student’s backpack with a Pride pin. A poster with the state flag next to the school mascot. Last season I visited three districts in one month. In the first, a teacher had quietly taken down a small rainbow flag after parent complaints. In the second, a principal removed every non‑official banner from hallways after a fight over a Thin Blue Line st

Oct 8, 202618 min read

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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 6, 202615 min read

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Review

Faith and the Founding: Can a Nation Remove God from Public Life and Stay the Same?

A few Septembers ago, I spoke with a high school principal who kept a small ledger of “hard calls” on the corner of his desk. The pages held incidents that did not fit tidy boxes. One entry read, “Senior prayer at flagpole, 7 a.m., no staff present, parent complaint.” Another, “Benediction request for graduation, declined, board split.” He flipped between them and sighed. “I want students to feel free,” he said, “and I want every family to feel welcome. Some days it feels l

Oct 4, 202617 min read

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