The Divisive Classroom of the United States

Transgender and asexual pride flags in Classroom 8 at Bitney Prep High School in Grass Valley, California

I opened up the website for Bitney Prep High School, a public charter school that serves students in Grass Valley, California. It is flooded with positive attributes that represent this school well: “engaging staff,” “dynamic internships,” small class sizes, etc. One specific blurb that caught my attention was “respectful community,” and the school expounds, “the Bitney Campus is a welcoming and dynamic space for students to safely express their best selves. All backgrounds and beliefs are welcome.” It caught my attention because I visited the campus a few weeks ago, and it did not welcome my background nor my beliefs. A public school that is funded by our county’s tax dollars needs to be held accountable to have an environment that truly supports all backgrounds and beliefs, an environment that is conducive to learning, and an environment that is age appropriate.

It was a Saturday and the Bitney campus held an outside community event. I walked into classroom number 8 and I was visually confronted with two flags: one a Transgender Pride flag, and the other an Asexual Pride flag. I made my way to another spot in the classroom only to be loomed over by two more flags: one a Non-Binary Pride flag, and the other a Philadelphia Pride flag (the new pride flag giving representation to queer and trans BIPOC). With all of the wall decorations, I was shocked to discover that there was a flag that was absent: the United States of America flag. I am a Christian woman. My beliefs are based on loving the sinner, and hating the sin; they are supportive of the individual, but condone the action. My beliefs work in opposition to supporting these flags that hang on the walls of classroom 8. I am not welcome there, nor are my children, or any other student that carries Christian beliefs. 

Nonbinary flag and Philadelphia pride flag in Classroom 8 at Bitney Prep High School in Grass Valley, California

Following my experience, I visited another website (the California Department of Education), and explored the content standards for the state’s public school system. I discovered that the requirements to be met are English, history/social learning, visual or performing arts, a foreign language, or career education. The student’s learning environment should be conducive to meeting the state’s requirements. Instead, classroom 8 has looming flags that divide, not unite, a group of students. This issue is not a complex one to address as there is a flag that does unite all of us and corresponds to California Education’s content standards–the United States flag. This current learning environment is intentionally set up to dismiss our country all together, and thus someone is irresponsibly extending themselves outside of the state’s requirements of the public school system. Our tax dollars, which we pay as American citizens, are now supporting an anti-American agenda. 

Lastly, a high school’s age ranges are anywhere from 14 through 18 years of age. It is not until the age of 18 that a child is legally an adult in the state of California. A high school that is funded on teaching children (individuals who are NOT adults) should not have sex flags hung around their classrooms. The Pride flags all identify a group of people by their sexual preferences, actions, and lifestyle. The Pride flags inform us of who you have sex with, which is, quite honestly none of my business and certainly not a child’s business. In the state of California an individual must be of 18 years of age to access material that pertains to another individual’s sex life, and yet we have handfuls of children trying to learn history, English, arts, and foreign language under the representation of others’ sexual desires: inappropriate. My emphasis also rests in the verbiage of children; for anyone who argues the term, you will dearly cling to it when discussing the subject of a draft. So let’s take some lessons from Pink Floyd, “(Hey teacher) leave those kids alone.” 

To close, I want to take a trip to the past.  A time in school where all of us students stood next to our desks, laid our hands on our hearts, and said a pledge to one flag:

I pledge allegiance 

to the Flag 

of the United States of America, 

and to the Republic 

for which it stands, 

one Nation 

under God,

indivisible, 

with liberty and justice for all.

Did we pledge to a flag that was perfect? No, because no nation is perfect–because humans are flawed. But, we pledged to a flag that strived for better and had fellow Americans who died for it and for the idea of better. There is unity under the United States flag because it holds the sacrificial belief that we are a nation that strives for better: liberty (the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views), and justice (just behavior or treatment). This unity incorporates the supposed attribute of Bitney Prep’s “respectful community.” The United States Flag should be closely tied into the curriculum of history in meeting California’s high school standards. Thus, the U.S. flag should be conducive to a high school student’s learning environment. To drive it home, we started our pledge to our flag at the youngest age in public education–one of the first actions we learned how to do in our classroom–independently, but united. The United States flag has united children for generations across all beliefs, races, and backgrounds. Why financially support divisive flags in classrooms instead? Because classroom 8 said so.