Owen J. Roberts seniors sport their controversial T-shirts that describe their high school years. Hoffman photo.
Posted on 06/09/2002 5:00:23 AM PDT by 2Trievers
| A sort of "Red Badge of Courage" for Owen J. Roberts High School seniors whose collective high school experience was highlighted by a seemingly endless construction project. But when what they viewed as censorship entered the picture, these seniors weren't laughing. "We did it as a joke; the only thing that made it so serious was their reaction," said Sara Pruskowski, one of a small group of graduating seniors who came up with the idea for the T-shirt that generated an administrative flap not likely to be forgotten anytime soon. "Morgan (Vaughn) and I had the idea of coming up with an original class T-shirt. A discussion came up about it, and just as a joke, someone said we should make a T-shirt about how much we've been through together as a class," she said. "The idea caught on, we printed up some fliers with our design, and the next thing we knew, everyone wanted one," said Pruskowski. Vaughn enlisted the help of others, including a few parents. The result is a T-shirt that might raise a few eyebrows, but will, and has already, drawn many chuckles. "We ended up ordering 200 T-shirts, and they all sold out. We had to order more," said Pruskowski. "We sold numerous T-shirts to teachers, secretaries, janitors." Teachers? "Some teachers just appreciated it for the joke it was intended to be," she said. But when Owen J. Roberts High School Acting Principal Elaine Eib reviewed the T-shirt after only hearing about it, she didn't smile -- at least not initially. She took the shirt to Superintendent Karen Florentine, and both administrators told students that while the T-shirt wasn't a bad idea, some extensive editing had to be done. The shirt district administrators found somewhat distasteful is a simple white shirt printed all in red. On the front is the "Class of 2002" split right down the middle with a screw. "The first thing (Eib) said was the whole front had to come off the shirt," said Pruskowski. The back of the T-shirt features a litany of phrases that represent moments and incidents that at the time the seniors found frustrating, but that now make them laugh. The list -- detailed under the heading "Nuts and Bolts, Nuts and Bolts, We Got Screwed" -- contains memorable sayings like: "Upside Down Speed Bumps," "What's a Cafetorium?" and "I can see the teacher's lips moving but all I can hear are bulldozers" -- all poking fun at various annoyances both students and staff have endured during the high school reconstruction project. Those things were not offensive, Florentine said Thursday afternoon -- shortly after lifting a ban on students wearing the T-shirts at senior Field Day, which the seniors had planned all along, and which they were initially directed, in no uncertain terms, not to do. It was the logo, and other phrases administrators saw as inappropriate, disrespectful or uncomplimentary to the district -- sayings like "Who's principal this week?" and "Four years of High School at OJR and all I got was asthma" -- that Florentine and Eib said had to go. "The students certainly have the right to freedom of expression, but I guess it's also the school district's right to determine, according to our dress code, those articles of clothing that would be distracting to the educational process," Florentine said Wednesday, before the Field Day T-shirt stalemate Thursday morning. "Any phrases on the T-shirt that could be considered denigrating to the school district, I believe, are destructive to the school environment," she said. Anyone caught wearing the shirt would be disciplined, Pruskowski said she and Vaughn were warned. But the students found the administration's editing of the T-shirt design "unacceptable," she said, and the resolve of many seniors to wear them only grew stronger. And so students began to plan how they would wear their T-shirts -- under other shirts, inside out -- to school for Field Day Thursday without being stopped before arriving at the Red Knights Field on Route 100, there to show off the T-shirts. As late as Thursday morning, as students prepared to pile on buses to be shuttled to the field a short distance away, things appeared to be at a stand off. School administrators remained firm -- no T-shirts. The students were just as determined. At the last minute, however, there came an announcement -- Florentine had called on Eib and advised her to let the seniors wear their shirts. Victory for the seniors was sweet. And Florentine and Eib were glad it hadn't come down to having to punish seniors in their last days at school. So why the turnabout? "I don't know that it was a change of heart," said Florentine Thursday afternoon. "I guess every school district expects their senior class will engage in some activities to mark the end of their high school career, and I thought there really was no purpose to making an issue of it. No one wore them on campus, so there were no problems," she said. On Thursday, members of the Owen J. Roberts graduating class got to wear their T-shirts to Field Day. After school, the shirts all went home, likely tucked away with other high school memories. But there was something else the seniors -- who graduate next Thursday at Ursinus College -- will also take with them as they head out into the world. "I think we all learned that if you really believe in something, I mean really believe in it, you have to stand up for it, regardless of how those in authority might feel about it," said Pruskowski. "Isn't that something they've always tried to teach us, anyway?" |
Owen J. Roberts seniors sport their controversial T-shirts that describe their high school years. Hoffman photo.
You'll have to catch me first! LOL &;-)
Worth repeating.
"I think we all learned that if you really believe in something, I mean really believe in it, you have to stand up for it, regardless of how those in authority might feel about it,"
Now, there is a life lesson that many Americans have not learned. I hope to still be alive when we take that profound little thought to Washington, DC and every state capital!
And show them, in no uncertain terms, who really is the Master!
Hurry before they bring out the Cheerleaders!
ROTFLMAO!!!! Does this silly woman realize how stupid she sounds? Probably not. Typical educationist bureaucrat- it's all about having a nice environment and good pay and bennies for the staff- and the students can go jump in the lake. (Also, NONE of these people ever have a sense of humor. Pompous, arrogant, and generally drawn from the bottom quintile of their college class).
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