And lets also not forget how blind patriotism took over the hearts and minds of otherwise good Christian people in 1930's Germany and look what eventually happened.

Get it?

Let's get serious - legislating something does not make it patriotic.
A Flag is only a flag representing a country - nothing more or less. It only represents what the viewer wants it to, the U.S. flag is both a positive and negative symbol - depending on perspective of those viewing it. (Same with all flags and symbols)

"Again, patriotism is love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it---displaying the American flag represents these concepts. Get it?"

I thought I "got it" until I saw a kajillion American flags on gas-guzzling Hummers driven by corporate flaks who had never stepped foot anywhere near a military base, while our men and women in uniform were dying overseas trying to protect our oil interests.

That's when I stopped being able to "get it." Sorry, freedom guy--a lot of the people who love the country and are willing to make real, genuine sacrifices for it don't drape themselves in the flag.

Get it?

The flag may represent our values but one of our values isn't to force patriotism upon people, and cause them to resent this nation yet that is what men like Allen Christensen want. Christensen said, "This started off because a friend of mind did a little bit of research on college campuses and he couldn't find anybody who could tell him what the Constitution was, let alone what was in it � and these were college students."

My response is that Allen Christensen is a liar. I don't know of a single college student who couldn't tell us what the Constitution is. It is one thing to claim that college students don't know what is in the Constitution and entirely another thing to claim that they don't know what it is. People have a tendency to forget things but they don't forget what the Constitution is. That said, this retarded bill doesn't serve any real purpose. We should be focused on revising our educational system so that our elementary, middle, high and college students are able to answer pertinent questions about the Constitution. How about sponsoring a bill that makes sense Mr. Christensen? I know that isn't something you understand.

Forced patriotism is fascism.
Next will be Hitler-youth types emerging.

I left teaching in Utah in 1985. One of the main reasons was the legislature's lack of pro-education efforts. I taught the intermediate grades and my first day of teaching I faced 44 students in my classroom, one in a wheelchair, fortunately we hired another teacher. The next four years my average class size was between 36-39 students. This is ridiculous! Research has proven that smaller classes with more one-on-one and small group instruction is the most effective method of instruction. Twenty-three years later I read that the Utah Legislature is still more self-serving and concerned about other things than the education of its students. Requiring a flag in each class will not improve much of anything. Has anyone asked the legislators who will pay for the flags and hardware to install them? Here's to the future of education in Utah . . . get rid of some of the deadwood legislators and elect those who will enact laws that will "truly impact" education.

For a man who was smart enough to become a dentist, he surely doesn't really know what goes on in the world around him. Elementary students recite the pledge daily, secondary students once a week. As much as I model, discuss, and encourage, I still have students who obviously just go through the motions because almost everyone else in class does. Yeah, peer pressure. Well, I guess that's something. Wish I had a little extra money to pay for a field trip so my students could do a service project and learn that one way our country can be great is the help that we can offer to each other. Oh, no, that's right. If I spend time on something like that, my students might not pass a test high enough to make AYP - sure hope that near-sighted law gets changed soon.

dont they bigger problems to solve

Utah, being the reddest state in America would like to distinguish itself as being the holiest and most patriotic of all.
But in this attempt people from the outside see nothing but a facade as their system of government is theocratic and fascist and this peculiarity will insure the existence of an unpenetrable Zion Wall that only serves those in power.