I get the impression that he had flags of other countries displayed in the classroom, but the China and Mexico flags for some reason pissed off the wrong dipsh-t in the administration. The lesson for the kids is “Don’t hang flags, hang people!”

it was a public school, right? no free speech.

I hope you’re kidding, joe, but something tells me you’re not. Personally, as a libertarian I feel that public schools are an abomination, a doctrination camp for mediocrity and conformity. However, as a child of poor people I doubt that I would have been able to afford a better education than that which I got in the school system. Nonetheless, our schools should have free speech, and it is horrible to me that they do not.

Personally, I wish we could deport “suspicious” a–es like yourself, but I don’t think anyone would take you. Damn China for making things cheaply! Damn Mexico for having a crappy economy!

This CO law seems retarded to me, but then most laws seem retarded to me. Unfortunately, politicians by and large believe that by passing laws they show how effective and hard-working they are. What really gets the voters stirred is to stand up to those darn furriners and their fellow-travelers in our society and show them that real Americans are xenophobic and dumb as a post.

I’ve known some fine principals in my life; I’ve also known some sorry little martinets who used their position to bully teachers, students, anyone. I wonder which category the principal in this case fell into.

Mexico and China, India and Ecuador increased the most. Maybe students should see the flags of their old countries hung in classrooms and feel proud.

Doesn’t anyone hang art or magazine pictures or what have you where they still learn? It’s just a thing to look at..totally objective..like supermodels and Ferraris.

Besides, those particular countries have great track records vis-a-vis terror, plots, or what have you.

My only thought was that he should have been representing ALL the flags of the world, and not just 3 - Mexico, China, and the UN, on a PERMANENT basis. That’s what got him in trouble.

Simply hanging a flag in a classroom is hardly teaching about other cultures.

And get over your own politics - we’re surrounded by all types of politics, rules, and regulations that are just plain silly every day at work or wherever.

It doesn’t say anything about terrorists or supporting US troops anywhere in the article. Americans have long been obsessed with their flags and flag rules since 1776.

In the USA, a lot of classrooms have US flags - I don’t know if they all do. Hanging other flags in the class perpetually is considered a no-no. The teacher didn’t seem to have a purpose in hanging the other flags, but this is apparently an affront to the US flag.

Just like when you hang your flag and the flag of another country, the etiquette is to hang your flag above the other country’s flag. Rules, rules.

If he could have shown a reason for hanging those two flags, then he may have been OK. As I said before, why just those countries? Why not Canada, which is a lot closer than China. Why not the rest of the world?

What if he had the flag of Palestine or Israel, with no relation to the course material being taught? Would you perhaps wonder if the teacher were able to be impartial? Would you start to wonder about their political leanings?

The schoolroom should be un-political as much as possible. To simply label the school authorities as gestapo wannabes in this case without even reading the article is a little reactionary.

Just exactly what type of subversive stuff does anyone suspect this man of teaching? Can anyone specifically name a reason that these flags represent some form of evil? The last I heard we aren’t at war with either China or Mexico.

Oh wait … got it! China is a Communist country and Mexico is responsible for all those immigrants! Oh, horrors.

There are gestapo wannabes everywhere, I guess.

Could there be a political agenda behind his choice of flags? Why China? Why not Canada? Why not Lebanon, Afghanistan, Brazil, or Italy?

There are posters with all the flags of the world - why did he not display one of these, and maybe make some game like “find the flag” day?

Admittedly, it’s a stupid thing for the school to worry about, but why would he as a teacher want to lose his job over it? I question his motivation.

Okay, people, Law 101 here. The purpose of laws is to ensure a reasonably happy, well-organized society. When laws are made without public consensus, and benefit or please only the person who made them, that is despotism and therefore in violation of the US Constitution. All laws should be based on common sense. If a seemingly arbitrary law must be made, let it be only to prevent accidents that might occur if no rule existed at all (such as, which side of the road to drive on). Nobody’s rights are trampled by making them drive on one side and not the other.

Displaying the flags of other countries in a classroom is not a violation of constitutional law. They are decorations, they are of educational value, they are appropriate to the subject being taught. Therefore, whoever proposed that silly law against foreign flags overstepped his or her bounds, and whoever went along with it without questioning its validity was negligent. It should never have become a state law, any more than the anti-Gypsy codes ond sundown towns should have.

Societies run best with minimal laws based on necessity. When little laws governing every aspect of behavior are implemented, it becomes all too easy for good people to get into serious trouble over nothing, and you wind up with horrible dictatorships like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan under the Taliban, Pol Pot’s Campuchea, Idi Amin’s Uganda, what Somalia’s turned into… the list goes on. Allow one person’s xenophobia of foreign flags to become law, and you may as well let a misogynist run the place and force women to completely cover themselves and not walk in front of men, men to cut their hair a certain way, and anyone who wears glasses and wristwatches to be shot. Because that’s where things go when society is micromanaged like that.

I’ll get off my soapbox now…

and i’m suspicious that the two foreign flags he displayed were china and mexico. that seems like it *may* be politically motivated as china is america’s main political, economic and military competitor, and mexico because of various issues like illegal immigration. let’s just say i’m not surprised a public school teacher wasn’t displaying the flags of canada, great britain, and israel instead…