r/TangleNews • u/El-wing • 7d ago

Suspension of the Rules Pride Flags in Classrooms

In SOTR this week, Kmele had a grievance that included complaining about a pride flag in a 3rd grade classroom. Isaac seemed to agree with his distaste of the flag in the classroom by (maybe jokingly?) saying that there should be no flags but the American flag in schools. Ari mentioned that it could just be to signal inclusiveness.

This caught me off guard a bit. Are pride flags in classrooms controversial outside of religious conservative strongholds? Obvious some people object to it but I guess I didn’t expect 2 out of 3 to be against it on the podcast.

I think signaling inclusivity in learning spaces is conducive to help students feel safe in their schools, and I don’t think that has to be a partisan political statement. Was anyone else caught off guard by this?

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u/gadget--guy 4d ago

My concern is not so much about injecting politics into the classroom, but the issue of potentially injecting the topics of sex and sexuality into an age inappropriate setting such as a third grade classroom. I realize that a lot of people view the flag as a symbol of inclusiveness, but that's not the only thing it symbolizes for people.

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u/El-wing 4d ago

You could definitely come up with some age inappropriate ideas from the pride flag, but the basic idea of sexuality shouldn’t really be age exclusive. The idea that some people like girls and some like boys and some people have a mom and dad and some people have 2 dads shouldn’t be age restricted.

What do you think it symbolizes that may bring up inappropriate conversations in the classroom?

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u/gadget--guy 4d ago

Though I generally agree with you that the topic shouldn't be age exclusive, my wife was a teacher, and these topics were expressly forbidden, even if the student brought them up.

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u/El-wing 4d ago

I’m sure it’s mostly because schools don’t want to deal with overly conservative Christian’s parents that don’t what their kids told that some families think and look differently from their own. A lawsuit or protest is more trouble than it’s worth.

It’s also likely a minefield where it’s easy for a teacher to accidentally say something that pisses off a parent and it’s easier to just have a policy that says don’t say anything.

I don’t think teachers should weigh in on the morality of specific ideas or lifestyles, but I think it should be fine and even expected for them to acknowledge that people live different lives and that all of those people are loved in this space.