Classroom Flag

by Kathy McCarthy

Throughout history, we’ve marked our territory with a flag. Whether an invading army is planting its flag on its newly acquired spoils, or a man on the moon is claiming an entire planet, flags announce our presence.

In classrooms throughout the United States, our nation’s flag is a common sight. Occasionally, a classroom will have a full sized flag, but more often it will have a classroom flag. These flags measure two feet by three feet, and are the perfect size for getting noticed in a classroom without overpowering the room.

Visually, flags are a subtle reminder of who we are as a nation or as a state, and by extension who we are as a people. We learn our identity in many ways. Our parents teach us how to develop our morals. Our friends teach us how to develop our social skills, and our schools teach us how to develop not only our brains, but also our citizenship.

Our flag has come to symbolize our country’s freedom, which we can easily take for granted if we do not stop and remember from time to time that our freedom did not come easily. Our flag reminds us to pass this important information down to the next generation with the hopes that they can understand the past and continue to forge the future.

We are all citizens of a great nation. Even with all of its faults and shortcomings, our nation is amazing. We take care of our own, and we take care of most of the world as well. Are we perfect? Not by a long shot, but we keep trying.

Our flag reminds us that even though we are not perfect we are still great, as a nation and as a people. And whenever you see a flag in the classroom, that is what our children are learning. Without any words, it is just something that they will know