Posted on 06/13/2011 2:57:33 PM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER
As the grandfather of a recent Fort Benning graduate now at Fort Gordon for advanced training this really sticks in my craw.
Hm, interesting and kinda odd story.
This is not the America of 911 or earlier.
I find that my contempt for the standard education gauleiter only grows as I get older, even long after graduation from the force fed propaganda camps called “schools”.
I can see a problem where if you agree they can do it...then a number of folks will pull out odd-ball symbols to wear...and demand the same respect. High school graduation is for one purpose...walk in and get the certificate and walk out. It’s not a symbol or worth turning into some life-transformation activity.
It sticks in mine also. As the young man said, they enlisted in the military and are putting their lives on the line for our country, they were not trying to wear a sash for some college they’re going to.
I saw on TV the other day a story about a high school honoring those headed to the military, not college or work. They said they were the ONLY high school in the United States, to their knowledge that were doing this. Did anyone else see that?
Why?
The graduation ceremony is just that.....celebrating the students who have completed high school.
It is not intended to recognize future aspirations.
Would you like to see sashes for every college logo for those who have been accepted?
How about company logos for those with jobs?
There are ways to recognize recruits...graduation should not be one.
Psycho Libs in Academia.... They hate the military.
I didn’t waste my time going to mine. They mailed my diploma to me.
Should students be allowed to wear armbands in school?
Yes. I think that would be pretty neat to see the grads that have the foresight to further their education.
And apparently members of the National Honor Society can wear the sash.
Good point and very sensible. It would seem that an exception could be made for the military because of the military's unique contributions, but then where would it stop?
As you said, every odd-ball in the graduating class would then want the same freedom. An anti-war activist might want to wear a "stop all wars" sign around his neck. The president of the drama club might want to go dressed as Shakespeare. Sounds far-fetched, but remember you're dealing with teenagers.
“It is not intended to recognize future aspirations.”
Then why are National Honor Society students allowed to wear sashes to the same graduation ceremony?
High school IS preparation for future aspirations.
Graduation IS recognition of that preparation.
OS
In Tinker, perhaps the best known of the Court's student speech cases, the Court found that the First Amendment protected the right of high school students to wear black armbands in a public high school, as a form of protest against the Viet Nam War. The Court ruled that this symbolic speech--"closely akin to pure speech"--could only be prohibited by school administrators if they could show that it would cause a substantial disruption of the school's educational mission.Personally, I find that ruling out of bounds. The Principal in a school, the Teacher in a classroom, the Captain of a ship, all have close to non-reviewable authority in their decisions over ordinary things of managing the arena in which they operate.
Free speech is NOT the mission of a school. Nor did the would the Founders ever have intended the First Amendment to apply in a classroom.
He's gonna get along real good in the military.
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One of the boys was on Fox and Friends this a.m. He was so polite - he stressed that he did not want to disrupt the ceremony, so he just went to sit with his family.
He showed great class. Too bad the school did not.
That said, SwampSniper, I know you're very proud of your grandson. So am I. Semper Fidelis...
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