Teacher MagazineMarch 1, 2007
By Steven Saint
Eric Hamlin never dreamed that his first day at Carmody Middle School wouldbe his last. But the principal’s ultimatum was spelled out in writing: Remove all foreign flags from the 7th grade geography classroom or face disciplinary action.
Believing flags help students become more informed world citizens, Hamlin ignored the order. The next day, before students arrived at the Denver-area school, the principal gave him five minutes to pack up and leave the building.
Administrators cited a Colorado law prohibiting foreign flags on public property, even though the law includes an exception for a “temporary display of any instructional or historical materials.”
Hamlin says he resisted the order because the administration seemed more concerned about potential parent complaints than curriculum.
“I had a Mexican flag up,” says Hamlin, noting that hundreds of students at neighboring schools had held pro-immigrant marches last spring. “It wouldn’t have been an issue if it had been the flag of Denmark or Greece.”
The incident won Hamlin a reprimand and one day’s paid administrative leave. He sought a transfer to a different Denver-area middle school and within two weeks was displaying foreign flags in a new classroom—this time without controversy.
Hamlin isn’t the only one who got in trouble this year for his teaching methods. Kentucky social studies teacher Dan Holden was suspended for five days after he burned small U.S. flags as a springboard for an essay he assigned to his 7th grade students. (A district spokesperson says Holden was suspended because burning the flags created a safety hazard.)
Texas art teacher Sydney McGee was let go after a parent complained about a field trip to the Dallas Art Museum, where students glimpsed art depicting nudes. The district claims the dismissal was performance related. Read
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