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Posted on 05/10/2009 11:01:19 AM PDT by wastedpotential
Tyler Frost, 17, a senior at Heritage Christian School in Findlay, Ohio has been suspended for attending a prom with his girlfriend because the Findlay High School’s prom allowed dancing and music. This Taliban-like ruling is based on the Christian school’s policy that forbids dancing, rock music, hand holding and kissing.
Principal Tim England says that Frost was supposed to receive his diploma on May 24 but will now receive an “incomplete” on his remaining assignments. He absence will be hard to miss: he is in a class of four students.
England further threatens that, if he learns that Frost “is involved with alcohol or sex” at the prom, he will be expelled from Heritage. Frost’s family is planning a lawsuit against the school.
Much like the recent case involving a Christian college’s suspension of a porn star, the case raises the right of religious institutions to enforce their moral code. The school describes rock music as “part of the counterculture which seeks to implant seeds of rebellion in young people’s hearts and minds.” It also forbids physical contact between girls and boys in grades 7-12. England stated “For the parents to claim any injustice regarding this issue is at best forgetful and at worst disingenuous. It is our hope that the student and his parents will abide by the policies they have already agreed to.”
He may have a point. Like the Taliban, these Christians reject music, dancing and other modern habits. I find them perfectly medieval but they have a right to run a school according to their beliefs so long as they meet the state requirements and regulations. If Frost finds the school to be in the dark ages, he and his family should not support such a place with their tuition dollars. Notably, Frost asked permission to do to the prom and England signed a form allowing him to go, but threatened that there would be “consequences” for his decision. England noted “In life, we constantly make decisions whether we are going to please self or please God. (Frost) chose one path, and the School Committee chose the other.”
While by no means as extreme in their measures or subject matter, other schools have been allowed to discipline students for their statements and conduct outside of school, here. Schools have also punished staff and teachers for outside activities viewed as inappropriate, here.
On its website, the school issued this statement:
. . . at the beginning of the school year, every family must sign a statement of cooperation.
Students in 7th through 12th grades must also sign it. It doesn’t say that you have to agree with them, but that we will all abide by them. What kind of a school would we be if we suspended a policy because it was convenient to do so? That would not be a Christ-like response. Jesus did not avoid trouble. He made statements such as, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:6). His statements didn’t make Him popular with the world. Can we expect anything else? The verses that I have thought of throughout this day are Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Wow! I can build up a whole lot of rewards in heaven today, and so can you.
I graduated from this school and live about a mile away. I don't send my kids there, but to a different Christian school, precisely because of these policies. That is why I think the teen and the parents are disingenuous when they say they had no idea this might happen.
I agree. I think the policy is not-my-style, but it is a private school and the parents and child agreed to the rules.
They thought they would receive a free ride!
private school...live by the rules or go elsewhere
this is like the Grove City College Homosexual Porn guy thread yesterday
Why is it even an issue in a country that generally honors "Kosher for Passover," feeds Gitmo detainees special menus, even, going way back, served fish sticks for school lunch every Friday to respect (I guess ) pre -Vatican II dietary restrictions?
Yes, private schools have the right to be idiotic.
Yeah, that was truly ridiculous - why are you going to a Christian college if you want to pay your way as a gay porn star? Hello?
Yes, they have the right, but I agree with you - parents should be in charge of their kids until they are old enough to think for themselves. I don’t think a school or government should try to usurp that role.
It is done often and totally on purpose it is to constantly put in the public view a condemning viewpoint for all to constantly feast on so that when ANYTHING comes up and a Christian is involved (especially in things related to law and government) they are already maligned and the whole framing of the argument no longer requires facts...just hatred for Christians.
Now, before anyone goes off on me re-read it carefully...I am NOT at all addressing the merits of the school, its rules, the student mentioned or anything else...just the liberal rat from hell who wrote the article.
I agree
It does remind me of a joke
Q: Why are Baptists opposed to sex standing up?
A: Could lead to dancing.
Somehow I don't see the Taliban of being big enforcers of contracts.
Spent my freshman year at Baylor in 87. Don’t know if they still do, but at the time, dancing on campus was forbidden.
I agree - there is no valid comparison to the Taliban. This is a private school deciding to punish a student for breaking its rules. This is not being pushed on the general populace against their will at gun point.
The only reason I posted something from Turley here was I was surprised he is not offering to sue the school pro bono for the parents - which is what they are trying to do.
I think it if were me and I was already suspended, I’d to the other two things and get expelled too!
Buncha nuts...
The form is only a statement that the student attends such and such a school and is in good standing. It is required by the other school hosting the prom for anyone attending as a security measure. The principal initially refused to even acknowledge this, effectively not letting him go, but the teen pointed out what it was asking, and he signed it, leaving the decision up to the kid with full knowledge of the consequences.
Again, I think it is a little strange that the current administration treats it this way, but they are entitled to discipline the kid (within reason) for breaking their rules.
While the school has the right to set their own rules, they are going to have a really difficult time proving that their student was involved with alcohol or sex at the prom.
Don't go there Mr. England or you will loose a big lawsuit.
Well, he was caught on tape last night holding the girls hand going into the prom (the story led the 11:00 news in Toledo last night if you can believe that), so I am sure he will have further repercussions.
There is rock radio station that is threatening to protest across the street from the school tomorrow, holding their Monday morning broadcast there. One website reported they were going to have Footloose type dance competitions as well going on. Also, if the kid decides to show and make them suspend him from the school, the cameras will be rolling. Talk about a circus.
*
Without Christ, all of us are in the same boat as Turley at the judgment. Great point.
He is going to get an “incomplte in the rest of his assignments. Dos that mean that he will still graduate but hat his grades wil suffer? Or that he will not graduate? If he will not graduate and will not get a diploma why would he possibly give a damn if they expell him?
Seemed odd at first, but “no PDA” is common in many military schools.
AS much as I hate to agree with the school; the point is clear. Going to this school is a privilege, not a right. He signed a contract, stating that he would abide by the rules, he made a choice - and now there are consequences to pay for his choice.
If this goes to court, and it probably will, I certainly hope the school wins. Like you, I would never send my kids to this school - for their value system is not mine; but I respect their right to set their own limitiations.
He’s Jewish, but I suspect that he considers himself “secular”. Most of the secular Jews I know are atheists who maintain a cultural identification with their Jewish heritage. You would be surprised how much they fear Christians due to historical European and (to a lesser extent) American) anti-semitism.
I have a highly pro-Zionist friend who sent her children to private Jewish grade schools and was very big on Hebrew School and celebrating the various holidays. However, she does not believe in God nor has she ever voted anything other than straight Democratic Party. We have discussed politics and religion a lot and although she is a bright person, some of her myths about Christianity and conservatives are truly astounding.
In the above post, I was referring to Jonathon Turley, of course.
The article was quite clear -- "He may have a point. Like the Taliban, these Christians reject music, dancing and other modern habits"
If the reader takes that to mean all Christians, then it is the reader's own prejudice, not the writers. The writer is making a comparison - albeit a straw man argument.
And as unfortunate as it is, there a very large number of folks who equate "Taliban" to some of the more (restrictive?) Christian and non-Cristian sects found here in the US.
Still a free country, the kids shudda left at the beginning fo the semester if he wanted to party like it was 1856.....
Frost’s grandmother paid for the schooling. He lives with his step father and mother, not his father. It is his father’s mother that paid for the schooling. They accepted the schooling due to it being a wholesome environment, good education and that sort of thing, but the step father is not a professing Christian at all.
You're making my point for me somewhat and I hope you see this. The writer making a comparison...then you go on to say that his argument is justified...Not at all. Even the most restrictive legalistic Christian sects in this country do not even come close at all to what the Taliban are. For anyone to even suggest reveals a lot. They want to harness the hatred for the Taliban in your "comparison" The prejudice is that of the writer for he makes a purposeful and not-so-casual link from one group of people who, though misguided at times and a group I would never find myself in, to being just like a group who cuts hands and heads off for offenses. The taliban are a vicious sect of the worst on this planet...you can not have intellectual honest to compare them to Christians as this man is doing...Unless, of course, your doing it with another purpose in mind...and THAT is what I am pointing out.
They will give him a diploma after graduation once he takes his final exams. Academically, he won’t be hurt.
All he has to do is wait for the drunk driving or under age drinking arrest.
My guess is that the kid can go two weeks without being popped for DWI. After that, the school has no standing.
Thank you for explaining the ‘need’ for a principal’s signature (to allow the boy to attend his girlfriend’s prom at her high school).
The parents did infact agree to abide by the rules of the school when they signed on. This public venting does neither side any good. Reasonable people would work out some sort of solution (that did not involve media notification) but that allowed the boy to finish out the school year (with some sort of loss of priviledges) and then take his transcriot and move onto a different school.
Both side appear to have dug their heels in, and are just making this more problematic. Than it needs to be.
guess the family has money to burn. shame too. there are better ways to waste ones money, then on lost causes.
Not my cup of tea but last time I checked (about 5 mins. ago) it was still a free country. The school seems to be making their point of view crystal clear. Pretty hard to buy that the parents and kid didn’t know which end was up.
Doesn’t sound like this school will stay in business long. It could only attract 4 students for this year’s graduating class, and at least one of them (with his parents’ blessing) is not actually willing to abide by the school’s rules, and got caught and won’t graduate.
The parents shouldn’t waste their time suing, though. It’s a private school, the rules were put in writing in advance, case closed. High school diplomas are unnecessary anyway. Virtually all colleges worth attending don’t actually require them. And if he’s not going to college, he can just take the GED to qualify for any job that requires a high school diploma or equivalent.
“Spent my freshman year at Baylor in 87. Don’t know if they still do, but at the time, dancing on campus was forbidden.”
My frosh year at BU was 1987 as well. I remember having to drive up to West to the dancehall there to go dancing. the policy has changed since then, though.
I guess that kind of consigns Jews to hell then, since they don't believe in Jesus.
Look wastedpotential ,
In showbiz ya need a gimmick a sthick.
If your thing is to become a gay porn star,
what better sthick than going to a Christian college.
In this day and age it would be a resume enhancer.
Maybe run for office as a democrat.
get a life!
It is a shame much of Christianity is either caught up in antinomianism like the liberal churches or caught up in hyper-legalism. The liberal churches, so-called, are promoting sodomy and this, I presume, fundamentalist school gets in a legalistic fury over a boy and his girlfriend holding hands!
“There is rock radio station that is threatening to protest across the street from the school tomorrow, holding their Monday morning broadcast there. One website reported they were going to have Footloose type dance competitions as well going on. Also, if the kid decides to show and make them suspend him from the school, the cameras will be rolling. Talk about a circus.”
Considering the free-sex pushes at our public schools today, this Christian school may find itself with a lot more than 4 graduates if this publicity keeps up.
There are still some parents that would like their kid to get an education when they go to school...and nothing more.
And you mean ? I am Jewish and I hold the beliefs I was instructed to adhere to.
For fun, read the book Folk of the Fringe by Scott Card. You may then see where other folks might be coming from.
BTW - straw man fdoes not = justified.
You are correct in that the Taliban are a bad, even rotten lot. You should also ask yourself - how did they come about, and how did they gain power? Nature, as they say, abhors a vacuum - political or otherwise.
Words mean things.
My problem is that I tend to take folks at their literal writing - and try to not read into their words, my views.
For my own shame, I often fail at this.
Happy Mothers Day.
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