A display of international flags at Gainesville High School will be moved from its location because school district leaders worry it will become an anti-immigration meeting spot, according to board Chairwoman Lee Highsmith. The Gainesville school board plans to discuss moving the display tonight during a scheduled meeting with the City Council.
The exhibit, called “The Avenue of Flags,” flies outside in front of the high school. The school board chairwoman said it likely will be moved to the school’s cafeteria. “The flags were put up with the intention of celebrating the diversity and unity of our community, but we’ve got some indication that they should be moved inside,” Highsmith said.
“Lately there has been a lot of heated discussions about immigration and illegal immigration in the community,” Highsmith said. “We don’t want the Avenue of Flags to be a place where people have a demonstration. We don’t want to create a situation where some outside group may use the Avenue of Flags for their own political purpose.”
The display was organized last summer at the superintendent’s suggestion to pay tribute to the high school’s increasingly diverse student body, according to a newsletter from the high school’s PTA.
So I guess the lesson to be learned here is that if you’re afraid someone’s going to misinterpret your message or coopt it for their own, fall silent. Great teaching there, folks.
The donated flags represent countries doing business in the Gainesville area or nations to which the students have connections, according to the PTA newsletter that appears on the high school’s Web site. Highsmith said an American flag stands taller than the other flags.
Many high school students said they liked the display, Highsmith said. “I’ve also heard from just as many people who don’t like it,” Highsmith said. “I’ve heard from the other side, such as veterans who only want the American flag flown.”
Board members discussed moving the flags during a retreat Saturday. “It’s a needless controversy that takes away from our primary purpose of educating children,” board member David Syfan said.
Because, of course, controversy has nothing to do with education. We shouldn’t teach anything controversial. Nothing controversial is worth learning about.
School board members discussed other flag displays for outside the school. The display would change about every three months. They suggested a display of historical American flags and school pennants designed by students. Highsmith said the district also will add a POW-MIA flag to the exhibit.
Perhaps we could have flags of local colleges. Flags advertising sales at the local mall. Flags of favorite TV shows. Flags by the bushel, flags by the pound …
Feh.
(via Obscure Store)
Dibs on the Green Acres flag!
We’re so worried about hurting our children that we will do anything to protect them. As a wise decrepit old fool once told me, “Parents are so willing to protect their children the illogical sometimes seems rational.”