See that the standard is kept up (3,3,4)

I believe the answer is:

fly the flag

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'kept up' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'see that the standard' is the wordplay.
'see that' becomes 'fly' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'standard' becomes 'flag' (standard is a type of flag).
'fly'+'the'+'flag'='FLY THE FLAG'

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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