How’s this for irony:

The Vanguard School Board of Directors has overruled its own institution’s decision to tread on one of its student’s first amendment rights.

Jaiden Rodriguez, 12, was told last week he wouldn’t be allowed back inside his Colorado Springs classroom until he removed a Gadsden flag patch from his backpack.

Named after South Carolina’s Christopher Gadsden, a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, the image of a coiled rattlesnake and the phrase, “Don’t Tread on Me,” is synonymous with the colonist’s unity and devotion to pursuing their independence from Great Britain.

But according to a Vanguard School teacher and administrator, the flag was an offensive symbol somehow connected to slavery and the slave movement. The standoff cost Jaiden three days of instruction time — and tossed a lot of egg onto the faces of the K-12 institution.

On Wednesday, the school district released a statement confirming the error and reaffirming the student’s right to have the patch on his backpack.

“The Vanguard School recognizes the historical significance of the Gadsden flag and its place in history,” the district acknowledged. “This incident is an occasion for us to reaffirm our deep commitment to a classical education in support of these American principles.”

In January of this year, best-selling author Jordan Peterson was told by Canada’s College of Psychologists of Ontario to undergo re-education therapy for his very public statements, not on professional psychology and science, but politics and culture. The Canadian College of Psychologists holds Peterson says things they don’t care for and feel they have the duty to fix his beliefs. Peterson took his case to court because the College’s order threatens his professional licensure.

The Ontario Divisional ​C​​ourt dismissed Dr​.​ Peterson’s claim in late August and upheld the College of Psychologists’ demand. The court’s ruling admits its concern is “language used by Dr. Peterson in public statements” made in 2022. The nature of these statements?

The Court explains Peterson’s words were “degrading, demeaning and unprofessional.”

So the author and wildly popular commentator must undergo, at his own expense, a “coaching program” directed by the Canadian College of Psychologists so that he might “reflect on, and ameliorate [his] professionalism in public statements.”

Peterson responded to the ruling by saying, “Bring it on” in a social media post, telling his fellow citizens, “If you think you have a right to free speech in Canada, you’re delusional.”

Peterson stated he will make his forced re-education process very public so that everyone can see exactly what he is being subjected to, explaining “we will see what happens when utter transparency is the rule.”

According to a national poll released by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, 67% of parents report “overuse of devices/screen time”  is one of their biggest health concerns for their kids.

As our colleagues at Plugged In and on our parenting team regularly caution, screen time is a tricky issue to navigate for many families. On one hand, children need to understand and use technology to navigate our modern world. On the other hand, parents fear excess screen time negatively impacts their child’s development and mental health.

Some effects of screen time are easy to understand and catalogue, like how blue light from screens decreases kids’ sleep if viewed before going to bed. These physical effects are important to understand, but much of screens’ power lies in the way they construct our society.

Screens, regardless of content they’re showing, can teach children to value the superficial and crave the immediate. Parents can only combat these messages when they understand how they’re communicated through our technology-saturated culture.

Here are a couple things for parents to consider as you monitor your children’s screen time:

Entertainment is King

Screens can teach people to value entertainment above all else.

In 1985, famed cultural critic and scholar Neil Postman published his book Amusing Ourselves to Death analyzing the effect of television on American society.