A City Council member, Simcha Felder, and a state assemblyman, William Colton, yesterday launched an effort to help put American flags in every New York public school classroom. They started at P.S. 121 in Brooklyn, where they presented 50 flags, with poles and wall brackets, to a school that had only three.

The city department of education expressed support for the effort. Its predecessor, the old Board of Education, acknowledged in an October 2001 resolution that “many schools do not now fly United States flags outside their buildings, in student assembly areas, and in classrooms.” That leads to the somewhat absurd phenomenon of students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance — “to the flag” — without actually having a flag in front of them. A press release from Mr. Felder claims “hundreds of flags are desperately needed by our public schools.”

In a public school system, there’s nothing wrong with saluting the flag to teach students about the country they live in and to instill some patriotism. It gives them a sense of being part of something larger than merely a classroom or a school or even New York City. It’s right up there with reading, writing, and math. Books in classrooms are more important. But the flag is also important, a part of American history that is worth teaching students about. The public schools in this city have for generations served a valuable function of uniting New Yorkers and educating them as Americans. A lot of the time, this was done in classrooms that had American flags in the front of the room next to the blackboard or aside the teacher’s desk.

Mr. Felder and Mr. Colton have set up a fund in care of the Bensonhurst Redevelopment Corporation to pay for more flags. Checks from businesses or individuals seeking to help with the project may be made out to that corporation, with “American Flag Initiative” on the memo line, and sent to the corporation at 223 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230. The politicians say that the contributions are tax deductible. In a city with lots of good causes, this is only one. And ideally, the city’s schools would be run well enough that things like flags could be paid for out of tax dollars rather than private contributions. But at the moment, with the schools we have, Mr. Felder and Mr. Colton deserve a salute of their own for insisting that every classroom deserves a flag.