This school episode, no doubt, sent the "correct" signals to these youngsters, as they learned the importance of substituting their truthful observations about life at their school for carefully monitored ones – as they learned to self-censor and lie.
What happens when youngsters trust their elders and truthfully share their thoughts? In some cases, they are betrayed. Consider what happened when the students of Montachusett Regional Vocational high school in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, believed their teachers. After being assured by these teachers that, if they volunteered to engage in a survey about race relations in their school, their responses would be held "confidential," the students participated. The survey was supposed to be anonymous.
Well, the kids were in for a surprise. Upon completion of the questionnaire, not only did five of them wind up suspended for three days, but they were also interrogated by school staff about their views and beliefs.
Although the Associated Press article about the incident does not give full details of the students' responses on the survey, among the "offending" comments was their belief that minority students were receiving preferential treatment by teachers and that minorities were responsible for fights that had occurred at the school.
Now, a popular device that is used by the multicultural crusaders, in order to shut down dissent, is to affiliate such dissent with possible future violence. One is supposed to believe that every person who has ever held a negative thought about another group eventually does physical violence to members of that group. This is the fear tactic now being used in courts to terminate free speech rights, especially of white nationalists.
In the case of these Fitchburg students, the administration justified the suspensions on the grounds that their written survey responses indicated "behavior causing a dangerous condition." And, further, that the students' observations about the school's favored treatment of minorities were "racist." In other words, to express opinions that are officially forbidden automatically makes a person "dangerous" and a possible threat to others.
It is clear that the school administration had no desire whatsoever for an honest survey, in order to learn what the students were actually thinking. They wanted only another opportunity to intrude their politically correct, multicultural preachments, and to punish any dissenters.
A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the students to have the suspensions expunged from their records. An officer of the ACLU, that has taken on the case, declared that the school district's actions against the students were designed to punish them for their beliefs.
1 comment:
Good morning Elizabeth, and thank you for keeping me on your mailing list. My computer had crashed, and after doing the fix-it thing, I had lost many of my favorites..
Excellent article as usual.
I hope you and yours are well.
Regards
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