Earlier this week, KATU reported on how school administrators in Ilwaco, Washington, are imparting civics lessons to their students.
Well, no. That’s a lie.
They reported on (as the anchor stated) “controversial website MySpace” when in reality their story was on (as I’m stating) “controversial use of the website MySpace.”
The issue? A high school student who moronically posted derogatory comments about a teacher of his on his MySpace account. In response to this, the student was suspended. Oh, and the student’s friends who then came to school wearing t-shirts in support of him got in trouble, too. Oh, and the other students who posted comments to his MySpace post were given “Saturday school.”
According to the superintendent of the district, the matter “moved beyond the realm of free speech.”
Except, of course, it didn’t, because what the student says or writes outside of school isn’t the business of the school or the district.
In reality, what the district has done is teach the students of Ilwaco an important lesson: People in a position of authority over you have every right to punish you for what you say or write. I’m sure the students of your schools will take that lesson with them into their adult lives. So, yeah, thanks for that.
I suppose it’s nice that Ilwaco has a defacto civics curriculum. But, generally, speaking, this isn’t quite the civics they should be teaching.
So, I have my own civics lesson for Ilwaco and its school district. Since I’m not a student of yours, I can say the following and avoid suspension, Saturday school, and whatever else you subject your students to when they engage in free (if idiotic) speech: Fuck you.
