OPINION: Are Confederate Flags Trouble in Idaho Schools?

I don’t spend much time pondering Confederate flags.  There are a few I see around town.  Sometimes flying alongside the Stars and Stripes.  Having been raised in the north and in a town that was home to abolitionist James Pond (he was awarded a Medal of Honor for service in the Civil War) the flags of the Confederacy were something we saw in movies and when traveling.  I don’t get any emotional reaction.

Some people equate the best known Confederate flag to a swastika displayed on the banner of Nazi Germany.  It’s a bad experience in their lives. 

People I’ve met who wave the Confederate standard aren’t generally racists.  Or, at least not locally.  They carry or fly it as a symbol of their own rebellious personality.  And, no, they aren’t looking for secession or civil war.

I’ve been unaware there are schools where it’s acceptable but I’m not surprised.  Too many teachers and administrators have a lot on their plates and a crowded school board meeting with angry parents draws a lot of unwanted attention.  If you send a kid home because someone is offended by a symbol on a t-shirt you’ll have angry parents.  If you don’t send a kid home and someone is offended by the shirt you’ll have angry parents.

A teacher from Nampa is writing at Idaho Education News.  She simply wants a policy in place banning the flag in all its forms.  I’m willing to listen to her argument but I gather from reading her essay she’s also unhappy her school didn’t address the mob that invaded the U.S. Capitol.  You’ve got children in class six hours a day and at some point there may not be time to address politics and current events.  Maybe this is an area where parents talk to their kids.  Too many people working in education believe they need to take over the roles of Mom and Dad.