Teacher Reprimands Kneeling 6-Year-Old: ‘We Stand for the Pledge’

A 6-year-old student joined in the high-profile NFL protests of racial injustice by kneeling for the Pledge of Allegiance in his classroom, and his mother says the school should not have publicly reprimanded him. The boy’s mom, Eugenia McDowell, told ABC News that a teacher sent her a text message on Monday, saying her son had taken a knee during the pledge and that she had instructed him to stand to show respect for the flag. McDowell was not pleased with the response because the admonishment encroached on her son’s freedom of speech she said, showing ABC News the text. “I knew where he had seen [kneeling], but I did tell him that in the classroom, we are learning what it means to be a good citizen, we’re learning about respecting the United States of America and our country symbols and showing loyalty and patriotism and that we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance,” wrote the teacher in the message to McDowell, ABC reports. A spokesperson for the Pasco County School District told ABC that the teacher responded to the incident by mouthing, “We stand for the pledge” when she saw him kneeling. The district policy requires students to have written exemption from their parents if they don’t plan to take part in the pledge. The hundreds of NFL players and other people kneeling for the national anthem have been doing so in protest of police brutality and social inequality. McDowell took issue with how her son was told in front of othe...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized NFL protest onetime Source Type: news