Round and round we go. I ask the question Why not?
Good question: Let's put it in a specific CONTEXT.
You're wearing an American Flag t-shirt and bandanna to the Puerto Rican day parade in New York. Why not?
Context 1: You're hanging with your friend and his Puerto Rican grandmother, singing, dancing, eating, enjoying the celebration of culture.
Context 2: You and three friends (all dressed like you) are standing off by yourselves, eyeing everyone else with distain.
In which context are you likely to get your ass kicked?
If the four stooges at Live Oak high had been hanging with their Mexican-American friends, working the Spanish club booth, cheering the dancers and Mariachi band... their shirts and bandanas would have been invisible.
But as described in the story, they were sitting off by themselves when several students approached them and asked why they chose to wear the flag bandanas and t-shirts.
The moral: Three wrongs don't make a right.
1)The students who approached them were wrong to do--just leave it alone. Don't give them the satisfaction by feeding into their trollish behavior. And don't be so thin-skinned.
2)The school was wrong to send them home. A wise administrator would have asked them Why? And when the boys came back with "patriotism" b.s., he could have pressed them a little further, let them know he's not fooled... but then send them back to 5th period. If there was a fight, then most schools will send both parties home. Parents have 0 recourse.
3)Lastly, the four boys didn't break any rules. Didn't violate school policy. They were just being dicks, plain and simple. Trying to push some buttons, get a reaction from other students.