To ban or not to ban?

Oh, America the beautiful. How merciful the white stars and red and white stripes fly. Recently, the principal from St. Francis High School banned an image of a burning flag from the school paper from the fall school play.

This seems to be a pretty debatable topic. The flag is the greatest symbol we have to remind us what we, as Americans, stand for. Burning it is a disgrace to our country. But what about if it's a prop used in a play?

The paper and a national expert on school-newspaper censorship say he (the principal) had no legal right (to ban the image) because officials have always let the students make their own decisions and because that’s even spelled out in the school district’s written policy.

In addition to the school's policy, if the high school has allowed such a play to be performed then the picture in the paper should go hand in hand with the play. The principal has jumped the gun too soon.

If burning the flag was a main part in the play, then the photographer did a good job capturing the main action that summarizes the theme of the play. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to be an American, but these students clearly weren't trying to deliberately create shame on our country. It's a play--probably a play with a good moral behind it, since it was allowed to be part of a school function.