I grew up in NorCal and we were certainly taught the history of the pre-Republic and its eventual statehood. My mother's family settled in California when it was a Republic as did my father's in Texas when it, too, was a Republic. I grew up in one former Republic and now reside in the other.
As far as this incident goes, it is fair to say that not all school administrators are competent and they often make less well thought out mistakes with unintended consequences in their attempts to avoid conflict or the perception of unfairness, and then creating that of which they were trying to avoid. Additionally, they just as often either do not explain themselves very well or their actions are not entirely explained correctly in the news media or by organizations and individuals challenging a decision.
That being said, having the kid take his flag off of his bike and securing it safely to prevent its theft or such during the school day is not necessarily an anti-American request.
And so it goes...
Richard's $.02
