Posted on 06/28/2005 7:23:53 AM PDT by zlala
I can't understand the logic of such a requirement.
Again, that one condition is AGAINST THE LAW.
I will agree that the time to question this would have been at the initial discussion. What I question is: Where is the thought process of thinking a student can write a paper about God w/out writing about God.
As far as this being news...it's a cultural thang....
I'm astonished that this took place in California.
It is blatantly illegal to censor the word God in a paper from a publicly-supported community college.
Unlike a private college, her First Amendment rights apply.
That's correct, but her paper wasn't "censored." She just got an F for not following instructions (stupid as those instructions may have been). She wasn't prevented from writing it; in fact she was expressly given the option of keeping it as it was and getting a bad grade as a result.
> her First Amendment rights apply
Do they? Hmm. I suggest you take a look at any of the Ten Commandment threads: you'll find LOTS of people who will happily point out to you that the first Amendment says that *Congress* is barred from censoring this or that... not state court houses and the like. The first amendment does not mention community colleges.
I e-mailed the guy. This is his response.
Subject: Re: Why? (I Will Be Gone Until Fall)
I am having recreation. I hope you are the same. I will be gone until the end of August.
Happy Trails,
Michael Shefchik
Figures you'd show up here to take the other side.
> Where is the thought process of thinking a student can write a paper about God w/out writing about God.
Non sequitur. The paper topic was about *religion* and government, not *God* and government.
Astute point.
Where's the ACLU?
I'd like to read the paper
Michael Shefchik = dumba#* moron
Did you read the article? The only thing she had to do to "fix" her paper was to get rid of the word God. That is what the review board said, but she refused to do that.
Considering she pulled a C despite getting an F in this paper, she obviously was doing well in the class prior to this.
She is not a moron.
And, according to the article, the only condition on the paper (and I believe her...college papers are usually quite open-ended) was page length and NOT to use the word God.
That stipulation is in violation of the law, as community colleges are taxpayer-supported and it is illegal to disallow religious writings in such institutions.
Not only that, does he wish for her to re-write history so as not to "offend"???
I'm sure Hitler would be proud of the way this teacher re-writes the Holocaust.
History may not always be pretty, or what we would have liked - but it always happened!
> Figures you'd show up here to take the other side.
The "other side?" You mean the side that says "If you've agreed to write a paper on topic X, and instead you write on topic Y, you'd be well advised to expect a lesser grade?"
The first amendment does not mention community colleges.
Hey, be careful -- there are hundreds of people on this site who will take that argument seriously.
That was my first reaction, too.
No, the side that has a cobb up its ass about the mere mention of God in any context.
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