Posted on 05/08/2002 1:11:25 PM PDT by NativeNewYorker
KIRTLAND, Ohio -- What if a class assignment forced you to choose between getting a passing grade or following your moral values?
NewsChannel5's Kareen Wynter reported that one student decided to fight it, but it almost cost him the school year.
Many students dream of graduating school with high honors, but this student said that he has little to look forward to in his final weeks.
"It's a moral issue I have," he said. "I pay tuition to come to this school. I shouldn't have to defend my moral issues."
A class project in criminal justice turned sour for the college senior, who we'll call Ian.
The assignment was to wear a pink triangle around school for the day as a symbol of gay rights and then write about the experience. Ian confronted his teacher.
"I asked 'What if a student were to feel uncomfortable with this -- would there be an alternate assignment?'" he said. "She said no."
He, in turn, got an F and faced expulsion.
So why wasn't the student offered a backup assignment? Lakeland administrators said that it is part of classroom policy.
"I think if the situation were easy, it wouldn't have been part of the curriculum," said Barbara Grano of Lakeland.
Still, faculty members said that they didn't break the rules.
"Absolutely, this student had an option," she said.
When NewsChannel5 spoke with Ian later in the day, his teacher had given him an apology note that read, in part, that the requirement was waived.
Ian said that he doesn't think things would have been resolved had NewsChannel5 not gotten involved.
"I appreciate everything you've done," he said.
His mother was happy, too.
"I was thrilled," she said. "Here's a young man who stood up for himself, and it worked."
Professors at Lakeland said that there's a list of things you can and can't challenge in the school's handbook.
However, I would side with the kid who didn't want to wear a pink triangle. It's a free speech issue. What if the requirement was for the girls to wear a bikini and see how they felt being oogled?
I think this is a modern day "Black Like Me" thing; the only difference is that the author of "Black Like Me" choose to do it, but required to do it.
Congratulations!
You win the all time "stupid post" on Free Republic of all time.
Unfortunately, the alternative assignment involved a guy named Frederick, a large bottle of Mazola oil, and flowers.
What would your position be, if a teacher had told all her students to wear a Confederate Flag t-shirt all day, and report on the experience?
The assignment opens a student up for physical attack by knuckle-draggers, though. Very interesting assignment, but not something that should be forced on anyone. They should have been able to wear the provocative symbol of their choice.
Or kill me.
Or maybe it was the Bermuda Triangle?
... Regardless.
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]
.... Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Who cares? Now go away and get a life. And maybe someday you too can learn to live with others.
Hell, the word "D'oh" was added to the Oxford English last year.
Take that Lakeland...
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