Are you in the mood for some good
reading? The other day I was in the
Guidance Office looking for guidance when I saw an unassuming three page
packet. Having nothing else to do, I
picked one up and began reading. I
learned that the name of this little manual is the Student's Rights and
Responsibilities Bill. I thought to
myself, "my, what a great place is La Follette, that I can simply walk
into my guidance office and learn my rights as a student. But wait, why must I pursue this information
on my own? Why isn't this information in
my handy handbook issued to me at the beginning of the school year? I ought to read this!" So I read.
Soon I realized why our School Board may not want students realizing what
we are actually entitled to. Right away
in the Preamble, it states "students have the responsibility to respect
rights of all persons involved in the educational process and exercise the
highest degree of self-discipline in observing and adhering to legitimate
rules." The first thing I thought
was "WOW! That sounds great! The School Board really trusts me as a
free-thinking individual to respect people and be respected. I love this school!" But wait.
Before we all stage an "I love Cheryl Wilhoyte" love-fest,
let's take a look at what these "legitimate rules" are, particularly
as they apply to freedom of speech, expression, and something they like to call
"material disruption of the educational environment."
The first item on the list is literature,
specifically a student's right to post it.
It reads "Students shall have the right to post any literature of a
non-commercial nature without prior censorship or approval by the
Administration or School Board in any designated posting area, provided, however,
the designated representative shall be accorded the right to remove posted
material s/he considers obscene, libelous or will cause material disruption to
the educational environment." Let's
stop and think a bit. I have the right
to post whatever I want so long as my Administrators agree with it? Whose rights are we really talking about
here? Well, I began to think and it
occurred to me that maybe my Administrators and School Board representatives
aren't so concerned that I express myself however I like. But, I can see their point; after all, I
probably wouldn't want fifteen hundred students posting whatever they wanted to
either. They might start to see the
world outside these walls.
I proceeded reading. The next civil liberties violation I came
across is stated as such: "Students shall have the right to wear buttons.
. .and other symbolic expression provided these expressions are not obscene,
libelous, or cause material disruption of the educational environment." So if I, Joe Student, am actively pro-life
and I want to wear a button with a picture of an aborted fetus, I can't because
someone is offended? Isn't that the
point of democracy? To believe in
something no matter what other people say and being able to voice an
opinion? Am I expected to compromise my
beliefs because someone doesn't agree with me?
I hope not.
Next on the list of Administrator's--oops,
I mean student's--rights is clothing and conduct. According to our elected school officials, we
the students have "the right to choose (our) own dress, conduct, and
personal appearance, insofar as (it does) not substantially disrupt, pose a
clear and present danger to school operations, present an obscene appearance,
or endanger health." Well,
lovely. Perhaps I'm just reading this
wrong, but it seems to me that this bill of rights says that (paraphrased)
"students can do what their administrators deem appropriate." Personally, I'm insulted that the School
Board and our Administrators, the very people that are supposed to be helping
us become intelligent, free-thinking adults, really give themselves the right
to make me change my clothes or remove symbols of my beliefs because it may rub
someone the wrong way.
It's getting to the point where the WASPS
downtown who have a very small idea what the students are really thinking make
decisions for us on basic fundamental things, like our dress and expression of
beliefs. Isn't the whole preamble of
this bill saying that they trust us to be responsible to make our own choices
with respect for others? When we arrive,
or when any group of people arrive at a place where a student can't dress
himself without fear of administrational reprimand, things need to change. Where I think we need to be, whether it's
Libertarian or purely Utopian, is at a place where unless I'm infringing on a
person's rights and abilities to live as they desire, as long as I respect them
there's nothing wrong. If Mr. Man (or
Woman) sitting in his (or her) office doesn't like my shirt, DON'T LOOK AT
IT! What makes his (or her) opinion more
valid than mine? What our Administrators
ought to be doing is not to restrict rights but to empower individuality, work
so a student can post literature to educate other people without prior consent
from anyone. Whether someone posts
literature that I agree with or not, at least I can choose a position and stand
with it. As it is now, most everyone
just walks to class, mutes out the teacher, walks to the next class and so on. If I was to read a pamphlet in the commons
that encourages pot smoking, I may or may not agree with it, but the
information is there for me to see and I can decide whether I want to smoke pot
or not, whereas now, the information isn't even there, so I either get to find
the information myself or remain ignorant.
If public education is supposed to be about anything, shouldn't it be
the opportunity for me to learn what I wish with the support, or at least
passive non-support, of my educators?
Now, about that "material
disruption" stuff. The generous folks
downtown have bestowed upon me the sacred privilege of wearing what they see as
appropriate, behaving as they see appropriate, and just generally being
appropriate. For example, tee-shirts and
other clothing: When I see someone with a tee-shirt advertising something, I
think "Oh, that person likes beer, that person likes Marilyn Manson, that
person likes having no fear and that person likes his Big Johnson! Great for
him!" But not once have I ever thought
"That tee-shirt makes me want to skip school, cause unrest, drink beer
with Marilyn Manson or fearlessly play with my Big Johnson!" You know why?
IT'S ONLY A SHIRT! The same thing
applies to hats. If I wear a hat and
someone decides to try to beat me up because of it, isn't there a bigger issue to
deal with than hats? Aren't our elected
officials perhaps examining the wrong problem?
I, a partially educated 17-year old, has never thought things like that,
but apparently our college educated Administrators do, or at least think so
little of us that they expect us to.
They seem to think that a shirt or a poster or the way I conduct myself
will cause such a furor that the school can't continue to function. They seem really wrong to me.
Don't get me wrong. I have great respect for our Administrators
and I know that they have very difficult jobs to do. They didn't write the Student's Bill of
Rights, but they do have some room to move under the established rules. Why not take the whole issue to a vote? Why not have the students decide what we want
and don't want in our school? Isn't that
conducive to "Success for All" and our basic system of Democracy?
Oh, just a few asides: Kudos to Dr.Jenkins
for writing a piece for the last issue of The Lance. Whether you agree with him or not, at least
one of our Administrators took the time to voice his opinion and let the
student body know a little bit about him.
Boo hiss to the St. Valentines Day massacres that happened a few weeks
back. I can think of no better way to
get the friendly gun-toting police officers--excuse me,"Educational
Resource Officers"-- out of the halls of La Follette than a few good bare
knuckle brawls. I'm also just a bit
curious about the awards convocation (party) last month. Do our grade principals really know so little
about us that they can't pronounce our names correctly?
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