Role Models: Now First Graders are Kneeling for the Pledge

Ten or twenty years ago, we used to have a lot of cultural discussions about the responsibility of sports stars and other celebrities to be good role models for America’s children. Those discussions have largely fallen by the wayside in recent years, along with a whole host of conversations we should probably be having. There ARE no cultural concerns anymore, according to the left. Everyone just acts the way they act, and it’s not your business to tell them what to do. That is, as long as they are acting in accordance with their “group,” be it Hispanic, black, gay, etc. If they are acting out of alignment with that group, then they are obviously to be shunned and mocked.

But we digress.

The point is, we shouldn’t forget that – even if we can no longer talk about it in any functional way – that sports stars like NFL players ARE still seen as role models by America’s youth. That’s disturbing enough given the felonious records of many top stars, but we won’t even get into that right now. It’s simply instructive, given what happened in a Pasco County, Florida first grade classroom this week.

From the local news affiliate:

At school on Monday, a local first grader went down on one knee during the Pledge of Allegiance, he was then told by his teacher to stand up and stop it, in front of all his classmates. His choice came after countless NFL players took a knee during the national anthem on Sunday, setting off a storm nationwide, sparking discussions in homes across America.

That boy’s mother is speaking out because of a text message she received from her son’s first-grade teacher about the incident.

The text message read:

“I just wanted to let you know that this morning when it was time to do the Pledge of Allegiance, (your son) went down on one knee. I knew where he had seen it 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. I know its a sensitive issue but I wanted to make you aware. Thanks”

And that was the end of that, right?

No, of course not. The child’s mother is UPSET because she apparently thinks that HER KID was in the right, here!

“What [the text message] said to me was that him taking a knee was the exact opposite – [That] he was disrespectful of the county, he was being disrespectful of the flag… And we don’t teach that,” the mother told the news. “She told him right away, based on what he told me, to stand up and to stop it… That’s not her right.”

That’s not her right! That’s not her right???

You know, forget about NFL players as role models. We have parents who think that teachers don’t have the RIGHT to tell their kids what to do in school. Parents who think that kneeling for the national anthem is not disrespectful to the country. It’s just…baffling. Where do these people come from? Where are they going? Where is our country going?

We shudder to think.