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 Current Event at Watuauga High 
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Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:24 pm
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Location: Boone, NC
Last week some thing controversial happened at Watauga High as I was doing an internship there. It was a national day of silence in protest of violence against alternate lifestyles. A group of students decided to participate in this national day of silence and vowed not to speak for the entire day. They wore a ribbon to signify to the teachers that they would not be speaking in class. This was fine, but the the problem came when a few other students decided to protest the national day of silence by wearing shirts that said things like "God Made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve". The students wearing the shirts were given the option of removing their shirts or suspension. Some got suspended. A news crew even came for interviews that day. What are your thoughts on this? Should the students with the shirts be suspended?

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Michael Osborne


Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:28 pm
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Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:26 pm
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Location: Boone NC
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In our nation, there is the freedom of saying what you want. Likewise, you have the freedom to tell that person they are a goober. That is freedom of speech. The tee-shirts had every right the ribbons. Don’t stand for something if you can’t take other people standing for what they believe. STILL: it more than bothers me for people to advocate and prod for violence. I can't stand that the individuals who wore the shirts were doing nothing more than trying to make trouble. I guess this is not a lot of help. I float on either side of this. However; people have rights, like speech, but never a right to encourage violence and hate. I would have not liked to been teaching under that. Again, a school is not subject to the same rules that public places exercise in our nation. The administrators had every right to do what they felt would make the best of the situation.

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Zack Russ


Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:52 pm
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I think that this is a problem that occurs very frequently. Where I went to high school, lots of the students wanted to wear clothing with confederate flags on them. Many of these students saw no problem whatsoever with this emblem or wearing it. However, many of the minority students felt that it was offensive. This was a common problem at my school. The students were told not to wear the symbol of the confederacy anymore, even though sometimes it went unpunished.
But then...we are all guaranteed free speech. Therein lies the problem. Where do you draw the line between free speech and classroom disruption? Should the students have been allowed to wear their shirts? Should the students have been allowed to wear the ribbons? It seems sad and very stupid to me that somebody would have worn the shirts just to piss the other people off, especially if they were trying to promote violence...but maybe violence wasn't necessarily their goal at all. I suppose the solution would be situational. If the shirts caused no real problems...either allow them to wear their shirts or for removal of both the shirts and the ribbons. It seems sad, but each person has to be treated equally, I suppose.


Fri Apr 30, 2004 9:01 pm
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You know, there is no "freedom of speech" in schools as there is in the world outside of schools. The constitution protects students rather differently when they are in school than it does when they are out of school. School is treated as a place where teachers and administrators act "in loco parentis" in the place of parents. And there some strangeness can begin.

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Gayle Turner


Sat May 01, 2004 3:55 pm
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