My middle schooler, Tony, wrote the following essay in class last week about why you should be proud to be an American:

Be Proud To Be An American

When people think of the United States of America, they think of many things such as eagles, Thanksgiving and our iconic red, white and blue flag full of 50 bright stars.  Yet, our most important traits as Americans is our freedom and rights that god gave us as human beings, also known as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  What if we had never came up with that concept?  People would be locked away in jail just for sharing their opinions.  Take some time and think about that!

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights protect us in a special way that most of us “youngsters” do not realize.  Take Amendment III for example; because of that Amendment we do not…