.. or free speech
If you're going to give kids an assignment to write a speech on "democracy" and there are topic areas you want them to steer clear of — like, for example, controversial topics, or topics that some parents might get into a tizzy over, even if they are fitting for the subject — then you better lay those parameters out before you give the assignment.
Otherwise you end up looking like a jerk. As demonstrated here.
Reshared post from +David Badash
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NYC Principal Bans 5th Grader’s Winning Gay Marriage Speech
A New York City elementary school principal has banned a fifth-grade student from delivering a speech he wrote, examining gay marriage, to the rest of the school.
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I thought adults were supposed to be, you know, ADULT about things like this.
Are we condemned to be children forever?
Bahaha. The principal only brought more attention to the issue by clamping down on it, just like the school lunches in Scotland thing. Good jerb.
All sorts of lessons being taught to kids here. Unfortunately, the principal's are not very good ones.
They don't often appear to be, +Dave Hill.
It's not like 5th grade isn't the time when kids start having Family Life Edcuation, anyway. And I seriously doubt the kid's speech had any reference to sex at all. I wish they'd include the full transcript.
I honestly can't think of a better example of democracy in action today that would be directly relevant to kids that age.
Absolutely, +Dan Perkins.
The problem, I strongly suspect, is not that the speech was inappropriate (as it won the competition), but that the principal was frightened of public/parental brouhaha from some quarters if it went forward.
+Dave Hill Fear, while natural, is something people need to get over. If you let them walk over you for crap like this, it's going to happen every time.
People need to grow up and tell people who complain to shove it.
Dave, there is no such thing as free speech in schools and there really never has been (the SCotUS has stated this many times). School papers are regularly censored and so on, so this is just par for the course. If you want free speech in schools, then you need to start an amendment stating such, but it won’t pass since most parents are more than happy to have their kids speech restricted.
@BD – I’m not questioning whether the principal in this case has the legal authority to do as he did — it’s whether it was the right thing to do, for the right reasons, and taught the right lesson to the kids involved.
Actually there have been some positive cases (not sure if they’ve gone to SCOTUS, but I believe they’ve reached state and federal levels) regarding free speech via dress, i.e., when can the school say, “You can’t wear a t-shirt that says that.” The general (if vague) rule is unless it’s causing a disruption in discipline, or unless it’s in violation of a uniform code, it can’t be banned. Of course, that requires either deep pockets or someone like the ACLU coming in and taking an interest in the case to back it up.
School administrators (leaving aside all questions of how their personal beliefs enter into it) tend to be highly political creatures, and shrink away from anything that will torque off the school board, the superintendent, or parents. Especially the latter, since that then involves countless phone calls and angry people in their office, not to mention complaints at school board meetings.
I'm not saying it's right (it definitely isn't), but that's the sad reality, +Logan Cate. So if there's any sense that something is going to stir up a vocal segment of parents, principals will tend to vote for "order" and quash it.