What?? Teacher Barred From School After Making These Patriotic Remarks

The left’s poisoned roots are embedded deeply into our public school system, as you already know by now. But even with that in mind, it is shocking to see just how bad it has become. So bad that when a Missouri substitute teacher praised his students for respecting the Pledge of Allegiance, the school decided that he was no longer welcome to work there.

Jim Furkin was teaching freshman English at Parkway South High School in St. Louis when the time came to recite the Pledge. As Furkin told local news station KTVI, he thought nothing of shining an appreciative spotlight on those high-schoolers in his class who stood for the ritual.

“The PA announcer says please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance,” Furkin recalled. “I say ‘let’s go.’ The kids get up – 24 kids in class and 22 got up. I say, ‘thank you very much, all of you that participated. I appreciate that. I’m sure all of those families that lost loved ones so we could have the freedoms we have today would appreciate that, too.’ That’s what I said.”

That was apparently enough. After a student in Furkin’s class filed a formal complaint against the teacher, claiming he felt “bullied” by Furkin’s speech, the school informed Furkin that he would not be back to teach classes at Parkway South again.

Furkin went to the district at last week’s meeting and asked them to reconsider his ousting.

“I just think that I would try to convey something like that to the kids who just take everything for granted,” he said. “That flag is not to be taken for granted, in my opinion. It is our symbol of freedom.”

Once the story hit the headlines, Parkway Superintendent Keith Marty released a statement saying that the Pledge incident was not solely to blame for Furkin’s removal.

“While we cannot share details of individual personnel matters, we would not recommend that a substitute teacher be restricted from a school simply based on a single isolated incident such as this,” the statement said. “Several factors, including prior concerns at other schools, would be taken into consideration before making a recommendation.”

Perhaps that’s true and perhaps it isn’t, but the fact that the Pledge incident would even be a matter for consideration – minor or not – is an outrage. Students not only have the option of sitting out the Pledge, they’re also exempt from criticism? What kind of landscape of free expression is that, exactly?