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Lead Story · OCT 7

From Pride to Permission Slips: How Schools Shape National Identity

Walk into ten public colleges and you may see ten various relationships with the flag. In one, the Stars and Stripes hangs at the back of a whiteboard, a bit of light, nevertheless anchoring the room. In yet another, the American flag has been pulled all the way down to fix a broken mount and not at all again, at the same time student-made banners for clubs and cultural celebrations fill the wall. In a third, simplest the authentic kingdom and country wide flags are allowed

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Analysis · OCT 7

Tradition Under the Banner: Are American Flag Rituals Preserved in Schools—or Phased Out?

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

Dispatch · OCT 7

Is Patriotism Being Redefined—or Quietly Discouraged—Through the USA Flag Debate?

A few months ago I walked into a suburban community center that had recently been renovated. The lobby looked like a tech startup, all glass and greenery and abstract murals. What it did not have was a flagpole. I asked the director, a thoughtful woman who had run youth programs for twenty years, why the big American flag that used to stand near the registration desk was gone. She sighed and said the board wanted the space to feel “neutral.” Not everyone shares the same vie

Also in the edition

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

OCT 7

Why Do Some Expressions Get Labeled “Inclusive” While the American Flag Is Branded “Offensive”?

A few summers ago, a parks director in a midwestern town told me about a Fourth of July email chain that spiraled. A volunteer asked if the community center could hang a row of small American flags along the lobby windows. Another volunteer, a veteran, offered to do it himself. A third voice chimed in with concern that someone might complain. Nobody had complained yet. But the possibility hung over the thread like a thundercloud. The director, who had a mile-long to-do list

OCT 6

When Did Pride Need Permission The American Flag In Our Classrooms

The first thing I noticed when I stepped into Ms. Porter’s ninth grade English class was not the rows of battered novels or the whiteboard tattooed with quotes. It was the absence. The patch of sunlight in the corner where a little American flag once stood had only a thumbtack and a faint square of unfaded paint. One kid asked where it went. She answered with the soft weariness teachers learn with time: we are keeping the room neutral. That word has been working overtime

OCT 6

US Flag Restrictions: Preparing Kids for Reality or Policing Belief?

A few years ago, a high school principal I know faced a problem she never expected to put on the agenda: pickup trucks with beach-size American flags whipping across the student parking lot every morning. Some kids cheered. Others felt intimidated after a week of lunchroom arguments about immigration and protests during the anthem. The principal met with student leaders, asked drivers to scale down the flagpoles for safety and tone, then took heat from parents who accused h

OCT 6

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 6