Should the U.S. Flag Be Banned in Schools?

Claim:   FOX News poll asks whether the "American flag should be banned in America."

MIXTURE

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, March 2011]

Origins:   An opinion poll can't have a "true" or "false" value (as it's obviously an expression of opinion rather than fact), but there are a few points to be made about this particular item:

• The wording of the message (and the poll itself) is misleading without an explanation of the context that prompted it. Nobody was seriously proposing that the "American flag be banned in America"; the poll grew out of a single May 2010 incident in which five students at a California high school wore American flag T-shirts and bandanas to school on Cinco de Mayo:

  
  

  
  The five teens were sitting at a table outside Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Wednesday morning when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two of them to remove their American flag bandanas. The boys complied, but were asked to accompany Rodriguez to the principal's office.

  The five students — Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano, Dominic Maciel and Clayton Howard — were then told they must turn their T-shirts inside-out or be sent home, though it would not be considered a suspension. Rodriguez told the students he did not want any fights to break out between Mexican-American students celebrating their heritage and those wearing American flags.
  

  
  

  The five boys later said that "turning their shirts inside-out was disrespectful, so their parents decided to take them home."

  District officials immediately repudiated the school's handling of the matter:

  
  

  
  In a statement released [the next day], Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent Wesley Smith characterized the incident as "extremely unfortunate" and said the matter is under investigation.

  "The Morgan Hill Unified School District does not prohibit nor do we discourage wearing patriotic clothing," Smith's statement read. "The incident on May 5 at Live Oak High School is extremely unfortunate. While campus safety is our primary concern and administrators made decisions yesterday in an attempt to ensure campus safety, students should not, and will not, be disciplined for wearing patriotic clothing. This matter is under investigation and appropriate action will be taken."
  

  
  

• The poll is an unofficial, non-scientific opinion poll whose purpose is to drive visitors to the FOX News web site. It has no more significance than that, especially as nobody was actually proposing the action that the poll describes.
• As of April 2011, the poll had been running for nearly a year and amassed over 4.5 million "votes," with the "No, the flag should not be banned" option leading at 81.75%.

Last updated:   2 April 2011

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