[FoxNews] High school students weren't standing for Pledge of Allegiance until they read Carr's novels
Bestselling author Jack Carr, who served the nation for 20 years as a Navy SEAL sniper and military leader, learned of an unusual story during his most recent book tour — and shared the details exclusively with Fox News Digital.
He was speaking in Franklin, Tennessee, in mid-May to a crowd of people about his new novel, "The Fourth Option," when a high school teacher approached him afterward to relay an anecdote.
More than half the students in the Mississippi teacher's class, the educator told Carr, were remaining seated during the Pledge of Allegiance each morning.
Dismayed by that, the substitute teacher, Kelly McGinnis, of Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood, Mississippi, said that when he asked his students why they weren't standing for the pledge, many struggled to explain their actions.
"Very few would speak up," McGinnis told Fox News Digital.
"Quite a few said their parents had served [in the military], and they had [other] family members who had served, but they just felt like the way the country was at this time — they didn't agree with some of the politics and policies," he added.
McGinnis said he decided to start conversations with his students.
As part of those talks, he introduced them to books by Carr, the former Navy SEAL whose popular thrillers include deeply embedded themes of service, sacrifice and patriotism woven through the narrative storylines.
McGinnis said he was drawn to Carr's work for those reasons.
"It seemed like his message was one of patriotism and the sacrifices that people, not only in the military but average citizens, were making for the common good," McGinnis said.
He made Carr's books available to his students — and encouraged them to give the stories a try.
As more students became familiar with Carr's work, McGinnis said he began noticing changes in both the classroom discussions and the students' behavior.
"Not only were a lot more of the kids standing [for the Pledge of Allegiance], they were encouraging others to stand," he said.
"A lot of the kids were coming around to saying, 'I really don't know why I wasn't standing,'" McGinnis added.
Both Carr and McGinniss said they believe the attention around America's 250th anniversary this year may be encouraging students to think more deeply about the nation's history — as well as the sacrifices for freedom made by previous generations.
"Maybe, even subliminally, they think, 'Oh, 250 years of this experiment called America, and all this sacrifice that let me be here today in this classroom and have options available to me as I go [from] high school and possibly [on to] college or a trade school — whatever I'm gonna do as I move forward,'" said Carr. "It's essentially, ‘Hey, I won the lotto by being born in the United States of America.’ And maybe hearing that over and over again this year — and you don't hear it every year — it's natural, I think, to reflect on those 250 years in this case, and maybe just have a little more awareness than usual ahead of the Fourth of July."
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