This morning Bobby began our class with a brief discussion on what material he had covered during his tenure at the Pine School. Bobby had indicated that his class was not using a textbook but had just completed an exercise on identifying all 50 states in the US. Bobby did not have a syllabus which would make the determination of a good starting point a bit more challenging. We began a discussion surrounding the recent presidential election and identified some of the topics that were controversial. As a student athlete, Bobby mentioned the recent issue focusing on players in the NFL not standing for the national anthem. I asked Bobby to explain to me what the national anthem really stood for. For that matter, I was curious as to what the American flag really symbolized and added that each state also has their flag. What was their function? I also asked Bobby to assume the role of a veteran or a member of a family who had lost a loved one during a war or armed conflict. The purpose was to encourage Bobby to assume different points of view in examining a given issue or topic.