The funniest part of the whole May 5 debacle is the fact that the only place that holiday is celebrated is in the US!  They don't celebrate it in Mexico.

I grew up in San Jose, CA, very multicultural school, and I was always led to believe that it was Mexican Independence Day.  No, merely a day where they beat the French (and they celebrate it? who hasn't beat the French?)  Then the French took them over anyway and didn't leave until the US interceded.

Cinco de Mayo is a Budweiser holiday and most of the people celebrating it have absolutely no idea what it really is.  It was a regional holiday for the Mexican State where that took place and moved into the american southwest.  The simplest solution of course would be for it to go away.

This smells a wee bit like "freedom of expression -- except this time."
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I whole-heartedly agree, but the kids already clearly knew how to use the flag to provoke - and by doing so they learned the ol' "Yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre" lesson.

I also note that students don't have freedom of expression at school.

But having said that - I totally agree with you - in the best case scenario, had this not been pre-planned to shop to talk radio - the school could have turned it into a lesson about how the flag can provoke and how it can be respected, and what various cultural traditions mean, etc.

Let's be clear here - there were plenty American Flags in school that May 5th - no one is upset about the flag in general, it's just some kids who were shopping for a specific reaction, which they got, and then were able to turn into some press. The whole story stinks on ice, but what are you going to do? This goes back to my original point about being dismayed with human nature.

Victor Rodgers wrote: So the American flag is to Mexicans what the Hammer and sickle is to Americans?

No.  Not what that means at all.  Ebert is saying that Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday and that wearing the American flag at school that day showed disrespect.  His meaning is that those same kids wearing the American flag on May 5 should sit at the same table with kids who wear the Russian flag on July 4, a decidedly American holiday.

This smells a wee bit like "freedom of expression -- except this time."

I'm probably the biggest advocate for provocative humor on this board. Howard Stern, "South Park," :Family Guy," etc. There should be no sacred cows and we should not feel shy about mocking anyone and everyone in order to make satiric points or expose hypocrisy.

Nevertheless, as a high school teacher, I also feel that absolute freedom of speech is simply not always appropriate within the confines of a public school campus. If it's going to hurt a student's feelings or interfere with the process of learning or lead to an unsafe environment, then we need to put the kibosh on it. They can express themselves freely out in the real world. (And believe me, I encourage them to do so.) But it would be utterly irresponsible of us not to set certain limits in the classroom.