2008 Woodie Awards
No freedom of expression for kids
Sarah Zeeck
Issue date: 3/7/08 Section: Opinion
Our generation sometimes complained about the conditions at our elementary and high schools when we attended them. Now kids complain about quality of food, abrasive teachers and unfair rules all the time. For a while, with reason, this whining has been brushed off. People think kids don't know how good they have it.
Maybe now those kids have reason to complain.
Nationwide, there have been administrative decisions made that have gone over the top. According to The Associated Press, two teenage boys in Oregon were suspended for wearing crucifix necklaces, a kindergartner from Ohio was suspended for sporting a Mohawk and an entire third grade class in Kentucky was searched when an envelope containing $5 turned up missing from the teacher's desk.
The two boys with the crucifix necklaces were punished because the school felt the necklaces displayed "gang-related behavior." The kindergartner with the Mohawk was seen as "disruptive to his peers." Though every child in the Kentucky classroom was searched, both of property and body, the money never surfaced.
Back in the 1990s, kids were allowed to wear their hair however they wanted and - being part of a post-Madonna era - crucifix necklaces were overlooked without another glance. It is also doubtful 20 3rd graders would be patted down when $5 came up missing. The '90s were only nine years ago - what happened in those nine years?
It is arguable that grade and high schools of the nation became more strict and guarded after Columbine. That is understandable, but an entire nation of schoolchildren should not be forced to pay for the poor choices a couple of other children made.
When does it end? Currently, minors have most of the same basic rights as adults. Just as it is wrong to oppress someone based on gender, religious beliefs or race, it is wrong to strip someone of their rights based on age. Nothing justifies this.
Kids are not stupid. They may not have as much education as their older counterparts, but that does not render them incapable of thought. Restricting and oppressing children is just another way to control their thought. This is further proof we are moving into a scary and sadistic Orwellian society full of gray-clad people forced into jobs, nameless and numbered.
Instead of restricting our children from being unique and assuming they are all delinquents, we should treat them as equals. Mohawks and crucifixes should not be alarming and they certainly are not detrimental to learning. If trust is not put into future generations, they won't be able to move on in society and make positive contributions.
The fate of our future is in the hands of our children. There are bigger problems to deal with in classrooms than wardrobe and hairstyle choices.
Maybe now those kids have reason to complain.
Nationwide, there have been administrative decisions made that have gone over the top. According to The Associated Press, two teenage boys in Oregon were suspended for wearing crucifix necklaces, a kindergartner from Ohio was suspended for sporting a Mohawk and an entire third grade class in Kentucky was searched when an envelope containing $5 turned up missing from the teacher's desk.
The two boys with the crucifix necklaces were punished because the school felt the necklaces displayed "gang-related behavior." The kindergartner with the Mohawk was seen as "disruptive to his peers." Though every child in the Kentucky classroom was searched, both of property and body, the money never surfaced.
Back in the 1990s, kids were allowed to wear their hair however they wanted and - being part of a post-Madonna era - crucifix necklaces were overlooked without another glance. It is also doubtful 20 3rd graders would be patted down when $5 came up missing. The '90s were only nine years ago - what happened in those nine years?
It is arguable that grade and high schools of the nation became more strict and guarded after Columbine. That is understandable, but an entire nation of schoolchildren should not be forced to pay for the poor choices a couple of other children made.
When does it end? Currently, minors have most of the same basic rights as adults. Just as it is wrong to oppress someone based on gender, religious beliefs or race, it is wrong to strip someone of their rights based on age. Nothing justifies this.
Kids are not stupid. They may not have as much education as their older counterparts, but that does not render them incapable of thought. Restricting and oppressing children is just another way to control their thought. This is further proof we are moving into a scary and sadistic Orwellian society full of gray-clad people forced into jobs, nameless and numbered.
Instead of restricting our children from being unique and assuming they are all delinquents, we should treat them as equals. Mohawks and crucifixes should not be alarming and they certainly are not detrimental to learning. If trust is not put into future generations, they won't be able to move on in society and make positive contributions.
The fate of our future is in the hands of our children. There are bigger problems to deal with in classrooms than wardrobe and hairstyle choices.
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