STAFF-ED: Looking for red flags

TEACHERS WHO HAVE HUNG up Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ and national flags as symbols of support and inclusivity in their classrooms may soon be ordered to remove them. Pressure from parents, school boards and proposals such as Miami-Dade County’s H-7 bill have spearheaded this flag-banning movement, despite the fact that these flags provide immeasurable educational value.

If a teacher wants to display solidarity with a group in their classroom, they can put up certain flags, such as LGBTQ+ pride flags. Doing so is a helpful gesture that can foster positive effects in students, such as creating a welcoming space in an environment where they may experience bullying, which is constructive to their mental health, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

Additionally, flags of different countries are often on display for educational purposes and to share different cultures. Education in certain topics, such as geography and world history, would only harbor narrow perspectives if flags from different nations were no longer allowed in the classroom.

“Having flags from other countries hung up in classrooms helps promote cultural awareness and understanding, as well as allows for international students to feel included,” freshman Alejandro Monroy said.

A motive for the recent flag-banning movement is to keep classrooms politically “neutral,” as stated by the recent H-7 bill in Miami Dade County. However, this flawed logic is oftentimes targeting LGBTQ+ pride and BLM flags, which many parents have deemed as tools of indoctrination, according anything. It’s just my way of saying ‘Hey, you’re welcome here,’ to have a flag up,” GSA sponsor Tracey Barrow-Schoenblatt said. to Education Week. However, these flags are only showing support for marginalized communities, not displaying any partisan ideologies.

These attempted bans primarily stem from irritated parents and politicians, who threaten administrators and teachers with lawsuits for displaying their flags. Many teachers will be faced with no choice but to remove their flags or face the possibility of losing their job, as stated by the H-7 bill. Through putting this pressure on hardworking educators because of some fabric rectangles, the flag banning movement does more harm than good.

“I feel the need to let anyone who enters my theater know that this is a safe space, that everyone is welcome regardless of gender, sexuality, race, religion,

Many parents rally behind the flawed ideals of the item H-7 that was considered in Miami Dade County Public Schools. Eulalia Jimenez, leader of the Miami chapter of the conservative parents-rights group Moms for Liberty, asserted that the flag policy would be put into place to remind the school board that schools should not be used to impose political agendas on children, according to the Miami Herald. In reality, these flags’ purpose is to promote diversity and to expand education.

Fortunately, the school board has moved away from the H-7 bill, permitting inclusivity throughout Dade County classrooms. However, considering these bans shows school boards are willing to uphold the archaic concepts of bigotry in schools, despite the threat to students’ educational experience.

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