Posted on 06/15/2017 8:12:49 AM PDT by Morgana
FULL TITLE: Principal withheld diploma from senior class president who refused to read school-written speech and instead read his own remarks at graduation
A North Carolina high school withheld a diploma from a graduating senior who refused to read a commencement speech prepared for him and instead read his own written remarks, it was reported on Thursday.
Marvin Wright was permitted to write a speech and read it at last Friday's graduation ceremony by virtue of his being the senior class president at Southwest Edgecombe County High School, according toWRAL-TV.
'I really worked hard on this speech,' he said.
But on the day of the ceremony, he says he was told by school administrators that he could not read his own speech.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“....... for all of the sacrifices you have made for my two siblings and I.”
My two siblings and ME! A speech should be written with correct grammar. Troubling no one caught this mistake, especially a teacher.
I agree with the school in a way. He should take out the thanking his mother part. She shouldn’t be singled out. Save that for his own party.
Just give a Holla for Allah.
He should take it as a badge of honor...
I’d have let ‘em keep the piece of paper; don’t amount to a hill ‘o beans and just as worthless. Never was a part of any hiring paperwork/etc.
Glad he stuck to his guns and stuck a finger into the Socialist eye. Hope he goes far and keeps up the same.
Nope, not hyperbole at all. The local school was designed by an architect noted for his prison designs.
It looks it.
I know one who refused to give the speech. So there was no speech.
School was upset, but the young lady stated she would not give a speech written by someone else and pretend it was her own.
Young people coming up show willingness to take on corrupt liberal elites - - there IS hope.
That’s not new. Happened to me in 1969. I was the salutatorian speaker. Was threatened that if I didn’t change two lines of my speech I wouldn’t be allowed to speak.
I changed it
I don’t think this rises to lawsuit level, and if they do sue, there’s no big payday because there’s not that much damage. Foremost the kid got to read the speech. That’s the first amendment issue disposed of.
The excuses that he did not meet some deadline, and read the speech off his phone, are obviously crap. But the principal drove to the kid’s house to personally hand his diploma to him, and the superintendent called and apologized. In other words, they realized fairly soon they had screwed up and mitigated the damage. Other school districts would double down on stupid. Thankfully this one did not.
Kudos to the kid, when faced with a quick decision at the podium, he made the right one.
The officials only added a line and it was a line supportive of volunteering in the community. It did fit into the speech, as my son was advocating giving back to your country, so my son kept their line in. If the officials had done what these guys did, my son wouldn’t have given their speech either.
This young man refused to be a shill for leftist indoctrination! GOOD FOR HIM!
The Naval Academy will be getting a fine young man.
It isn’t going to change. The enemies of Jesus Christ are firmly in control of the government school system. The foolish and/or ignorant who willingly send their children there to be programmed, despite having the ability/resources to do otherwise, are reaping what they sow.
Oops.
I thought it said Naval Academy.
He is enlisting, and sounds like he will be great.
Or she could have simply punctuated every sentence with "I can't even pretend these are my sentiments"..."it says right here in the speech that was written for me"..."or so I've been ordered to say"..."not my words, but"..."unlike what I wanted to say"..."You can ask me later what the truth is"..."The principal censored what I thought here"..."not at all what I believe"...
“Wright’s speech was longer and more personal, with references to his religious faith, his family, and his memories from school.”
This is a segment from the actual article and lets the reader know there were things said in the speech that were not identified in the article. We don’t know what he said.
We do know he was directed to use the speech he was given during rehearsals. We don’t know why. But he made the choice to challenge authority and force a showdown. The only reference to why his speech was not unacceptable was handed out by an unknown source, supposedly at the school. We do not know if he pulled anything out of the speech he wrote in an effort to meet part way as it is possible some of the material that was in the speech was unacceptable. The readers do not have a copy of the speech he wrote, only part of what he said.
This is not a challenge to free speech. That could have been handled differently. This was a challenge of authority between a student and the school. And within that scenario, they have reason to punish. Although they could have come up with something a little less dramatic like take away his class president’s position as being a leader is apparently not within his perception.
They gave him his diploma. And a, probably, sarcastic apology. But he was also wrong for doing what he did.
rwood
My Grand Daughter gets static from her school mates for being a Trump supporter. Being the Evil Katie she relishes combat.
Just don't try than once you join the Navy. Apples and oranges...
The Navy, with an excess of justification, comes down really hard on people who don’t follow an order no matter how stupid the order. People who tend to think for themselves don’t do well in gov’t organizations.
Just mail me my diploma.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.