maybe these schools should pay back the feds for all the money spent to educate students that passed only to get left behind due to others actions.
just a thought.
Power is like, so awesome.
>>American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Edward Yohnka said Galesburg’s policy raises no red flags as long as it is enforced equitably. “It’s probably well within the school’s ability to control the decorum at an event like this,” he said.<<
The shouters should have yelled pro al-Qaeda slogans, that way the ACLU would’ve been on the spot filing suits on their behalf.
Apart from the idiocy of punishing someone for someone else’s actions, I honestly had no idea where my H.S. diploma was within a month after I got it. Just another piece of paper.
The education system is an embarrassment.
I’m surprised the ACLU guy said that he thought their policy was ok here. I thought the ACLU generally is in favor of anarchy and free expression of any type. I’m very surprised that an ACLU person would be concerned about the decorum of a graduation ceremony. I’m surprised that an ACLU person would not immediately jump to conclusions about the race of the people involved and charge discrimination.
School officials in Galesburg, a working-class town of 34,000 that is still reeling from the 2004 shutdown of a 1,600-employee refrigerator factory, said the get-tough policy followed a 2005 commencement where hoots, hollers and even air horns drowned out much of the ceremony and nearly touched off fights in the audience when the unruly were asked to quiet down.
“Lots of parents complained that they could not hear their own child’s name called,” said Joel Estes, Galesburg’s assistant superintendent. “And I think that led us to saying we have to do something about this to restore some dignity and honor to the ceremony so that everyone can appreciate it and enjoy it.”
In Indianapolis, public school officials this year started kicking out parents and relatives who cheer. At one school, the superintendent interrupted last month’s graduation to order police to remove a woman from the gymnasium.
“It’s an important, solemn occasion. There’s plenty of time for celebration before and after,” said Clarke Campbell, president of the Indianapolis school board.
Playing the race card. Poor victims.
Public schools are about creating large groups of easily controlled people. This is just one little hoop they hope to make these kids jump through. Smells like a lawsuit.
That diploma would just get stuck in a box somewhere inside a few months anyway.
Crass displays have no place at graduations and other solemn events. And, unfortunately, they're becoming more common.
I understand how disruptive the audience can be. When I went to my niece’s graduation at a Catholic school I didnt hear her name called because someone behind me had one of those air horn cans. In the gym, with an air horn, it was loud and obnoxious. But to withhold a diploma isn’t right either. She earned her grades and the diploma fair and square. Seems like there has to be a balance and a way to be fair to conduct cermonies. But it seems like people nowadays don’t understand how to be formal and proper no matter where they are. Cheering is appropriate at a football game, not at a graduation.
These are students of color. We should all be cheering that they completed high school. With all the pressure on these kids to not "act white", they've truly accomplished something that their loved ones have a right to be proud of.
When I graduated from college, I ORDERED my parents and girlfriend not to cheer for me. So they didn’t.
Afterwards, one of my favorite profs said that she felt bad for me because I didn’t get any cheers.
APf
That’s just their culture.................................
Something similar happened at a recent high school graduation in the Chicago suburbs. A local high school locks its doors exactly 5 minutes before the ceremony begins, with no exceptions. They’ve been doing it for several years; everyone knows about it, and both grads and their families are reminded of the policy. Still, several graduates and family members were locked out this year. They were interviewed by the local news and were highly indignant. Everyone interviewed was either black or hispanic.
That would be far more fair than not giving these graduates what they earned because of the actions of others.
If the people cheering really are disruptive, have them removed. However, unless the graduate is acting disruptive, the school has no justification to punish them.
If they can't figure out that it isn't reasonable to punish someone for the actions of others, then they have no business administrating a public school. Fire them.
This even happens at Catholic Schools, and the way our older sons' school handled it was to put the Graduation Ceremony immediately following Mass. They STILL have to make the announcement, before it starts, to hold the applause until ALL have received their diplomas, and even then, there will be some who will not do as requested.
That announcement WASN'T made at our son's law school graduation, and you can be sure that SirKit and I cheered for him when he went up to get that diploma!
There is very little dignity anymore, and in fact, dignity and class is ridiculed as being "uptight".