Why is the flag banned in school class pictures?
 

I've heard Newt on the radio twice this week talking about a school in Santa Rosa, CA, which would not allow an American flag in the class picture.

Some of the beloved members of the teachers union snatched flags that the kids had brought.

Goddamned communists! :mad:

"I can no longer sit back and allow... Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy... to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids!" -- Gen. Jack D. Ripper, from Dr. Strangelove: Or How I learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb.

Gee, to listen to you guys, you'd think there's a commie behind every Bush...

Oooops...

I mean Rock.

I don't get it.

-Rudey

Its like that movie with Frank Sinatra and Denzel Washington. I bet someone gets shot sometime soon.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in648931.shtml

Senior in New Hampshire is told he can't use his chosen senior picture for the yearbook because he has a shotgun.

http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2...age648930x.jpg

You can say anything you want, as long as it's what we tell you to say.

i don't know anything about the flag thing. i'd be interested to learn why they can't have flags.

but with regards to the gun...you gotta be kidding. with all that is going on with school violence like columbine, and they're going to have a kid pose with a gun? no way. i don't care how innocent the picture it. it sets a precedent. how can you say no if you've said yes once in the past? you can't. you have to stop it before it starts.

What precedent does this set? It's not like he's got an assault rifle and dressed in a black trenchcoat, he just got his senior picture that shows one of his hobbies.

It's called the second ammendment-- get used to it.

So people who have pictures posing with guns escalates to students shooting everyone up in a building?

-Rudey
--Right

Yes. And hair dryers should also be banned because they look like guns.

well, that, and they can lead to really big hair

Well, shoot. That would have knocked out about 1/4 of the senior pictures in my hs graduating class.

More info
 

Gingrich backs Calif. teens in flag flap


Santa Rosa, CA, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- California teens defying a high school's ban on flags in class photos got a boost from Newt Gingrich, the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat said Monday.


Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, met with 10 seniors from Sonoma Valley High School, where two students have been suspended after refusing to surrender American flags during the class photo session. A third faces the same fate.

"It's such an amazing story and so out of sync with what's going on in the rest of the country," Gingrich said during a 30-minute meeting.

The students said officials told them the class picture wouldn't be sold, and none would be taken next year.

"Anti-flag control. That's fairly Looney Tunes," Gingrich said. "In the middle of a war the idea that you'd say 'no' to students about the American flag is strange, to say the least."

School Superintendent Kim Jamieson denies the students' allegation that the ban on flags was imposed in response to the appearance of a Mexican flag in last year's senior photo. He said the school simply wanted a photo without props after four years of students displaying flags.

Isn't there some statute somewhere that you must have an American flag at a public meeting of any sort? At least, that's what I was told when I asked why we have an American flag at church.

As for the student with the gun, if he was wearing fatigues & holding an AK-47 in a firing stance, I'd have more troubles with it. This is a country kid, and he shoots skeet. He's using proper shotgun etiquette (the rifle is such that it can't fire & is pointed towards the ground). This is hardly comparable to Columbine.

I don't understand the whole concept of posing with ANYTHING, be it your gun, your pompoms or your saxophone...I would think it would make the yearbook look really busy and crowded unless they crop the pics to just show everyone's face. We could get pics done elsewhere but the one in the yearbook had to be a traditional shot by the official photographer.

Our church directory photos even contain "things that are special to you". I happen to agree with you, it makes the book looks busy.

As for the flag thing.. if they said no props at all, then that's different than saying "any prop, just no flags". It sounds like the school administrator who was interviewed said "no props".

As for the gun thing... I guess I'm old fashioned, but what ever happened to senior pictures being young men and women dressed in their "Sunday best" in a conservative head and shoulders pose for the yearbook? Back in my day, if they weren't all standardized, same amount of head and shoulders, head facing the same direction if turned, or straight on if not turned, they all had to be the same. There was one shot that was "the yearbook shot" and the rest were up to you to purchase. The school picked the yearbook shot though. It was necessary to win any of the yearbook awards because they looked for a professional uniform appearance. I hate these casual senior pics of kids in jeans, or sports uniforms, etc. Of course, that's totally my opinion and I'm sure many will disagree. I'm traditional in some ways.

Dee

Cosign

I agree with my sister! I was surprised when I read that the kids were allowed to choose their senior pics. At my school, the grad pic that appears in the yearbook also ends up in the class composite that is in the alumnae hallway. We got to pick the picture that we wanted in the yearbook (as well as those we wanted to buy). We also had a "Wall of Shame" in our sitting area where we can post our ugliest shots-LOL

Ok, by that rationale, all high school libraries need to purged of any books that might have the word, or reference any word, related to guns. That goes for dictionaries, encyclopedias, archived newspapers, Field and Stream magazines, that's it, it's all got to go.

Seriously, the guy's posing with something that he enjoys doing and appears as if he knows the proper way to handle firearms. I have no problem with it. So, just because their school yearbook allows such pictures his should be included.

As far as the bemoaning of Senior Pictures. They are HS senior pictures. Seriously. I'm willing to bet that people that truly care about having serious photography done are the kind of people that will be then taking pictures for Rush, composite pictures, formal sittings for resumes, COLLEGE graduation pictures, etc.

KS 361

AT least learn how to spell Amendment, for the love of God. And it says "right to bear arms," not "right to have a shotgun in your senior photo."

I actually don't think there's anything wrong with that in the senior photo though, my yearbook has kids with guns, kids with cows, I'm pretty sure mine was with my dog...and like Kitso said, there's going to be plenty of other opportunities to have photos taken.

As for the flag thing - no props = no props, and I doubt these kids carry flags around on a regular basis.

i stand by my belief---no guns.

how would people feel if they looked back at the columbine yearbook and saw those 2 killers posing with their guns? i doubt everyone would be so sympathetic.

i wasn't saying that it was comparable to columbine. obviously it's not. but kids in high school posing with guns is just not cool. we live in a different world than even 10 years ago.

maybe it's because i live in the suburbs--no cows or skeet shooting here. to pose with a gun, or anything else, while in high school is just ridiculous around here. i've never even seen that.

if it's a picture of the skeet shooting team, then by all means hold the guns. but not in a senior picture. it's tacky as all hell as well.

This is a little ridiculous. I grew up in the suburbs, and went to a high school that couldn't have been more like Columbine without being it. My senior year boyfriend, the child of a chemical engineer and a chef, shot skeet at least once a week. He belonged to a gun club, as did most of the other affluent families in our town.

The guy I'm seeing now is an attorney. He belongs to a gun club too.

I'd be concerned if the kid was wearing a trenchcoat and holding an Uzi. This isn't any different than an archer, to me, and I doubt anybody would be upset by a bow and arrow in the yearbook.

Cosign (except the current guy, that is!).

When I was in high school, the coolest guy was Head of the Gun Club, and my best friend had a major crush on him. We both tried out, just to get to know him better. Needless to say, Heather didn't make the cut, but I did.

I still shoot now and again - my brother has a nice range on his farmette - and am still average in the high 90's. We also practice archery. Why do I have the feeling that if this kid had his picture taken with a bow & quiver, there wouldn't be so much fuss?

What the hell are you talking about?!? I've lived within New York City, I've lived in the burbs of Long Island in the "nice section", I've lived in the midwest, I've lived in the mideast, and I've lived in Europe, and I've been exposed to guns throughout and it's not some "Evil thing".

And now you're making it an issue of tackiness? Come on.

-Rudey

We had class pictures Tuesday and in the group picture there was a USA flag and a flag for the state of NY too. Proud to stand in front of it.

Another article:

Link to the article

Notice the following:

and what the hell are you talking about? i live on long island, and i've never seen anyone pose with a gun for their senior portrait. there's no such thing as the "nice section" by the way....95 percent of long island would be considered "nice". i never said guns are evil. you like to put words in people's mouths. i think guns are necessary, just not in a senior portrait with all that goes on in the world.

and yeah, it's completely tacky. just pose. you don't need a freaking prop of any kind. no gun, no rose, no cheerleading pom pom...

everyone has their own opinions. i believe the school is correct in not allowing it. if you feel they're not, then hey...that's your belief.

I still dont' see why the school is getting all uppity about the damn gun. :rolleyes: Heck, the majority of the pics in my high school year book had guns, deer heads, and confederate flags in the background.

No hun, if you don't know what the "nice" section of long island is, then you really aren't in it.

Don't talk about tacky. I find quite a bit of what you say to be tacky. Of course it isn't nice to pass judgements so, really, stop telling people what's tacky and not.

Furthermore, if you can't read, don't be a teacher. I didn't say people in long island pose with guns in their senior photos.

You also didn't say that it was inappropriate. You essentially linked something like this to Columbine and brought up "tackiness". Give me a break and go miseducate your classroom; hopefully those kids will be forutnate enough to have tutors to augment what you're depriving them of.

-Rudey

There is no such Federal statute, except for the requirement to display the flag at government buildings and military installations. Individual organizations may have in their rules and regulations requiring the display of the U.S. flag and/or the flag of the organization.

Example: in the chapter setup for meetings of the Order of the Eastern Star, the national flag is placed to the right of the presiding officer (the Worthy Matron). Some OES jurisdictions (not Texas) add the Protestant Christian Flag to the left of the Worthy Patron.

don't call me hun. it's patronizing.

yeah...there's no nice section. it's all nice. don't know what you're referring to. were you referring to sea cliff? dix hills? west hills? garden city? lloyd harbor? jericho? manhasset? i mean seriously. they're all "nice" and wealthy. i could go on and on. i think someone doesn't know what he's talking about.

and yes, MY OPINION is that it's tacky. if you have a different opinion, great! more power to you. i never said my opinion is right. it's my opinion. get over it and move on.

of course i can read. there you go, making judgements on people. my class is VERY well educated, thank you very much. i'm a damn good teacher. what in the world would i be depriving my students of? the lack of intelligence that you seem to think only you posses?:rolleyes:

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we all come from different areas of the country. with different ideals. and different ways of life. and different lifestyles. no one is right or wrong--it depends on situation and circumstance. what someone thinks is ok in oklahoma or florida will probably be thought of differently in hollywood or beverly hills and vice versa.

Actually there is a big difference from sections on Long Island. Nassau and Suffolk are different. Places like Garden City are a shit hole dependent on mall rats to keep them alive. There is also a reason why a section of Long Island is called the "Gold Coast". So before you say someone doesn't know what they're talking about make sure you know what you're talking about because as it stands you know nothing and are embarassing yourself.

You said it is "tacky as all hell" and not that it would be tacky for you to pose like that. You also essentially linked Columbine to someone who shoots for sport and is in a picture holding a gun. Not only have you passed judgement but you also are not a very good judge and I'm sure these abilities to think and communicate transfer very well into your teaching abilities.

-Rudey
--Mods if this is erased for no reason again, I will repost 5,000 times.

lay off personal attacks, por favor.

rudey,
believe what you may. pass judgement on my abilities if you wish. i really don't care and don't feel the least bit embarrassed. don't know why you'd think i would be....

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i still don't understand why you couldn't have an american flag in a photo? it just doesn't seem rational at all. i wonder if the schools still have flags flying outside the school or if they had to take that down too.