A teacher in Karelia punishes a seventh grader for coming to school in a hoodie with a U.S. flag

In Lyceum No. 1, in the city of Kostomuksha, in the Republic of Karelia, a teacher forced a seventh grader to sit with his back to her for an entire class period because he wore a hoodie in the colors of the American flag. The boy’s father, Aleksey Kulikov, discussed the events with Mediazona.

Says Kulikov, the number 62 in star-striped fabric is sewn onto the hoodie. The family bought the item in Finland “long before the special operation.”

Class had just started, [the teacher] came into the room, saw this sweatshirt – and, as the saying goes, it was like a red flag before a bull. She stood [my son] up and said, “Go to the back of the class, sit with your back to me, and stay there so I don’t see this flag for the whole lesson.”

According to Kulikov, the teacher had previously told her students that she “once taught [current President of Ukraine Volodymyr] Zelensky [in Kryvyi Rih] and he’s an idiot.”

The school’s director confirmed that the incident happened, and that the teacher had come from Kryvyi Rih several years ago. The director noted that the teacher “is taking it very hard that the Americans started all this [war in Ukraine],” but admitted that she had “behaved incorrectly,” and expressed the hope that she will apologize.

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