Your thoughts on Students wearing or displaying confederate flags or symbols

I'm now teaching at a high school out in farm country after teaching inner city for a long time. Since it's only 15 minutes from the downtown of a good sized Midwestern city, I don't really consider it rural, but there's a definite country vibe to the place. Demographic breakdown is 85% white, 10% Latino and 5% black. Most everyone comes from families that are lower middle class: lots of blue collar dads and moms who work retail or at nursing homes.

Everything has been great so far, but I hit a problem today I'm not sure quite sure how to handle or if I should handle at all. (When I say it was a problem, I mean it was a problem for me on a philosophical level, nothing else.)

A 15 year old white (male) student came to class wearing a t-shirt and belt buckle both emblazened with the Confederate flag. He is a nice kid and not disrespectful to me or others. He does not loudly espouse any political views or act in a racist manner. My sense is, he doesn't really understand the message he is putting out there. Or he does understand the message and is doing it to be provocative, but not mean.

Regardless, by choosing to wear clothing with the Confederate flag on it, this boy is sending a message of hatred to all of the minority students in the school. I'm not sure if he understands that. I know that many people like to claim that displaying that flag is simply an expression of their Southern roots. This isn't the forum for that discussion.

What I'd like to hear are your thoughts on how I should proceed or if I should proceed at all.

On the one hand, I'm a teacher and it's my responsibility to help students navigate the transition from childhood to adulthood. Much like I would take a child aside and explain to him quietly that it is inappropriate to use the term "colored" anymore, perhaps that's what I should do here.

On the other hand, I don't want to open a can of worms, either. A lot of people are itching for a fight over semantics and, in the end, it's just one kid with a t-shirt. If I bring it up to him, who knows where it will go? Next thing I know everybody's wearing it just to make a point and I've created a big problem out of nothing.

Thoughts?

Submitted September 20, 2017 at 09:20PM by MaxwellFPowers http://ift.tt/2xp2D6D