Right out of the box, there’s the story coming out of South Carolina of a high school teacher who thought it would be a brilliant idea to take out an American flag on stomp on it in front of three classrooms of students. Now, I know some will cry out that this is a freedom of speech issue and that the teacher was well within his rights to do what he did. Yes, we do cherish our first amendment rights in our country. But, we also cherish the fact there are consequences to an individuals actions. In this case, in the middle of an uber patriotic community (a military base just miles away), this teacher managed to offend just about everybody who has heard of this story. There is no discernable lesson that was advanced either. As some reports indicate, this teacher has a reputation of being offensive in many other ways. Here’s the bottom line. Yes, on your own time , in your own way and with your own flag, you are protected to do anything you want. But, when you are a public school teacher with a curriculum that you are required to follow and you take a school flag and desecrate it in front of impressionable students then you’ve gone too far. Word has it the school is pursuing termination. We’ll see if it actually happens. Lastly, let this be a reminder that parents need to keep up on what is taking place in the classroom. You achieve this by communicating with your son or daughter and paying attention to homework assignments and corresponding with teachers on a regular basis.