Expression in Schools
I think that we all struggle with the line. The line we have to constantly toe at work, at school, and even within our own family, not wanting to go “too far.” The problem becomes of course what is too far? Is standing up for someone’s rights ever going too far?
This article speaks on two situations, while related they really cover two different aspects when it comes to standing up for rights. The first is the case of was of an unidentified girl who went to her principal when she was being harassed for being gay. I will mention right here that the reason the kids were teasing her is never mentioned; we don’t know how the kids knew she was gay. The principal responded by telling her that she shouldn’t be gay and not to tell students that she is.
GO TO SCHOOL, GET AN EDUCATION, IF DONT PERTAIN TO THE CURRICULUM DONT BRING IT TO SCHOOL
At first this makes so much sense. Well if you ignore the god awful grammar it does. School and your private life should be completely separate. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like these people remember what the heck it’s like to actually be in high school. It is the centre of a teenager’s social life. All their friends are there, all their dating prospects are there exploring their newly post-pubescent sexual feelings. The schools don’t exactly discourage this either. There are clubs and sports, not to mention the dances and the big daddy of teenager social events, the prom. All of these are also functions of the school environment, there is already a blurry line and plenty of non-curriculum in the school.
I come to work each day and attend school in oursuit of a masters degree. Neither at work nor at school do I make my heterosexuality an issue. Why must a homosexual make his or her sexuality an issue? And, the obvious here is completely overlooked…neither work nor school is an appropriate venue to discuss one’s sexuality.
The first problem with this is that there is an assumption that sexuality was discussed. Maybe someone asked her on a date, and she said she wasn’t interested because she was gay. I’m pretty sure that anyone can be asked on a date at work as well as school. In fact I’ve gotten more advances in the work place than anywhere else. And quite honestly if a guy pissed me off enough, I would tell them I’m gay just to get him off my back. Then of course that backfires and he asks if he can watch…ug. You see where I’m going with this though. You don’t have to sit there screaming at the top of your lungs “I’m a homo, I’m a homo!” for people to know you’re gay.
Maybe she was on a date completely outside of school and another student saw them out together. Again both school and workplace do not completely cut out social aspects of life. What about the company Christmas party? Everyone is expected to bring their significant other, sometimes even kids. Obviously people are going to get a general idea of whether or not you are gay depending on who you bring.
The second part of the story is about anonymous girl’s cousin. Who upon hearing the principal’s reactions started wearing t-shirts in support of gay rights. No flag pole rallies with a bullhorn, just wearing a t-shirt around school. She was promptly expelled.
Let me get this right. We should be able to support gays, but we’re not allowed to even mention Jesus Christ?
I don’t know where this person went to school but I happened to go to high school in the United States of America and I distinctly remember the class being asked to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance every Monday morning. Come on you know the one, all that controversy about the “One nation, under god.” line, the latter half that was added in 1954. Personally I never stood for it but I just thought it would be rude to pledge allegiance to a country I actually had no allegiance to, being Canadian and all.
There were no qualms speaking about religion in my school. Well the super fundies got a few eye rolls in science class with their “God did it.” answers but overall it was quite a religiously tolerant situation. You could talk about god, and Jesus and Muhammed, and Moses, and Buddha, and Vishnu etc. etc. etc.
If she wore an “I Love Jesus” shirt, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.
I distinctly remember three t-shirts that didn’t receive any complaints from anybody in my school the first two were by Urban Outfitters. The had pictures of Jesus and dear Virgin Mary depicted with sayings of “Jesus is my homeboy.” and “Mary is my homegirl.” Every prep loser needed on of the following to fit in with their prep crowd. They were very similar to UO’s new Hilary Clinton number. No complaints against students saying Jesus was their pal.
The other was a “Straight Pride” shirt. I have no idea the context the individuals had for wearing these shirts so I won’t comment on that. What I will say is that no one was hauled into an office, or asked to take them off, or expelled for it.
To be quite honest neither of these student’s stepped out of line according to any of the public schools I have gone to. The principal however did by making a personal judgment call on the girl’s sexuality. If the school does not wish to have slogans supporting the rights of gays on their shirts then they should ban all slogans on clothing.
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