School T-Shirt Wars, Part MCXLVI: Kids can't wear U.S. flag shirts on May 5

Cen-KY, we used to have kids vandalize schools all the time. Right before graduation they would spray paint on a rival school's wall, or do some stupid shit that cost people time and money. Not harmless shit, but shit that cost money to fix.

Well 10 years ago we put down the edict that if you vandalize the last month of school you don't walk. A School Board member's kid got caught, and the Board held fast. The kid didn't walk.

We have not had any vandalism at the end of the school year in 10 years.

You tell them the penalty going in. It is their choice to risk walking. Not ours.

 

Is walking that big a deal to kids? I only walked because my parents insisted.

 

It's not a big deal to everybody. I didn't care. If I had insisted on not bothering, my parents would have gone along with it.

 

Agreed.

Too many times, kids do stupid things late and think because they're about to graduate, there are no penalties for their actions.

Bravo to your administration.

At the same time, you think the flag kids would have purposely worn the flag shirts if they knew prom/graduation was going to be yanked that swiftly? I don't think the kids would have.

But the flag kids didn't know that unless it was some vague rule, considering the school district honchos aren't exactly in full support of supposedly correct vice principal.

Now if the school had sent out a text/e-mail/letter and said any pro-American/anti-Mexican demonstrations specifically on Cinco de Mayo would have harsh penalties - such as yanking graduation and prom - I'd lean more on the VP's side instead of siding with the flag kids. Even if the kids were being jerks.

So instead, the school gives off the perception that its Mexican students are willing to get physical over T-shirts, you've become a punchline and a PR nightmare, someone may lose his job and possibly have a lawsuit brewing.

Yeah, I'd say they handled it perfectly.

 

So if you move to the US and are offended by the US flag, why did you move here in the first place?

 

Thank you for answering, Double J. And I'm not even gonna speculate what your Arabic might be in English

 

اتمنى لك يوما طيبا = Have a Nice Day

 

With all due respect, Tony, I don't think the students are offended by the flag per se. Wear those shirts any other day of the year and it's just another day.

In the current climate, these students just innocently picked Cinco de Mayo to wear the shirts and show their "patriotism?" Bullshit. They were looking for trouble, and they found it.

Real patriots don't have to wear a shirt to prove their patriotism. These kids just wanted to be dicks.

 

I apologize to everyone for carrying on arguments in this thread, keeping it on the front long enough for old_tony to notice it.

;D ;D

 

Kids are jerks every day. All over the country.

Doesn't mean the VP has to wrongly threaten them with prom and graduation.

Doesn't make national news, either.

The border patrol kids mentioned in a story linked above haven't gotten nearly as much ink/publicity/air time as the flag kids. Personally, I think a border patrol shirt on Cinco de Mayo would have been more offensive than a flag shirt.

One school knew how to handle it.
One didn't.

Guess which one is taking the heat now.

 

Mind you, it's the fighting that would get the penalty of not walking. Wearing the shirt is fine.

Some high school boys have the dial have the dial set to dickhead almost every waking hour.

 

I don't buy it. They obviously owned the t-shirts already. How many other times have they worn them? That never gets asked or answered. I simply don't buy that that one day was the only day these kids ever wore those shirts. And even if they did, good for them anyway. Completely and entirely within their rights. It's never a bad day to honor your country and be a patriot.

Like I said, if the Mexican students hate America so much that they're offended by the the U.S. flag, then move back to that "great" country you couldn't wait to leave.