Number 2 Pencil

Bet the school artist had a field day illustrating this article

Here's a question for the Devoted Readers of N2P - would any article on this topic be inappropriate for a high school paper? Or are there degrees of inappropriateness here?

Some Noblesville High School students say they are being censored after the superintendent of Noblesville schools decided that the school paper will not be allowed to run a controversial article on oral sex. Superintendent Dr. Lynn Lehman said the piece was not appropriate for publication in the Mill Stream, the school's paper.

The article had been placed on hold earlier this month after Noblesville High School principal Anetta Petty said an oversight committee needed to review it before publication. "I think it's well written and in context, I don't think that this subject would offend people," said Jill Gingery, the paper's editor-in-chief.

I'd like to point out to Miss Gingery that everything will offend someone, as the recent Mohammed cartoon controversy makes crystal clear. Often, the point with information in a school newspaper is not whether it's offensive - or, rather, that shouldn't be the point - but whether the article/speech has any educational value. If it's merely prurient - or if, as one student is quoted saying, it doesn't tell students anything they don't already know - then why should the school allow it to be published?

Where the school taxes go

Polipundit can't figure out why some Georgians believe that there's enough education-related funding to go around:

More than 11,000 undocumented Hispanic residents were living in Dalton in 2000, according to Census Bureau figures. Latino children now make up the majority in Dalton city schools. Many graduate from high school and meet the requirements to enroll in a state college or university. This fall, more than 50 undocumented high school graduates enrolled at nearby Dalton State College.

If some Georgia lawmakers get their way, future graduates won't have that option. Senate Republicans said last week that they will make illegal immigration a top priority in the upcoming legislative session, supporting proposals that would bar undocumented residents from receiving taxpayer-funded services in Georgia.

Let me get this straight. For all this time, Georgia's taxpayers and legal residents have been picking up the tab for students whose parents immigrated illegally? And we're supposed to feel bad that the free ride is now at an end?

Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), a co-sponsor of the legislation, said he hopes the law will discourage illegal immigrants from coming to Georgia in the first place.

"We cannot feed, clothe and educate everybody in the world," Johnson said Friday in a telephone interview. "We have limited resources. Money doesn't grow on trees. Having people here using up our limited resources is not fair."

Exactly. No one's picking on legal immigrants, and the article also makes the point that it's the parents to blame here, not the students. Certainly, my local high school has a problem with illegal immigrants, and I bet it's not a coincidence that my property taxes are sky-high. Polipundit tries to keep the comments on the topics of security and tax issues, but the discussion devolves into the usual race-baiting.

Keeping mum on the Pledge

The recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools has now been deemed unconstitutional:

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." Karlton said he's bound by precedent set by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in 2002 that it was unconstitutional for the Pledge to be recited in public schools.

The Supreme Court threw out that case, ruling that Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow had no standing to bring the legal action. Newdow objected to the words "under God" in the pledge. Newdow brought the second case to the federal court -- this time, representing unidentified parents and their children.

I'm no lawyer, or expert on legal opinions, but plenty of bloggers are.

Instapundit: "Karl Rove must have arranged this."

Jim Lindgren: "One shouldn’t confuse what should or shouldn't be in the Pledge with the question whether mandating the Pledge enacts a state religion. It obviously doesn’t."

Eugene Volokh: "Whatever you think of the merits (remember, I'm talking here about the politics, not the merits), the public seems solidly against courts' striking down the saying of the "under God" Pledge in public schools...highlighting this issue in the public's mind thus helps strengthen the case for conservative [Supreme Court] nominees."

Eugene Volokh (again): "Students aren't legally required to say any of the pledge, but the theory, which has pretty substantial foundations in the Supreme Court's precedents, is that they are in any event psychologically coerced, since omitting the 'under God' will expose them to opprobrium from their peers."

ScotusBlog: "A federal judge in Sacramento...ruled that it violates the rights of public school children in three California districts for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day -- so long as the phrase "under God" is included. The judge did not strike down the Pledge with that phrase in it, but merely barred its recital in the three districts."

Howard Bashman: "Here we go again...I predict that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will disagree with U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton's decision...Of course, if I am incorrect, then public schools within the nine States and two Territories located within the Ninth Circuit should no longer be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. "

Parents, what's your opinion?

Bush vs. Kerry: The Yale Years

An amusing political and educational commentary from the Boston Globe:

During last year's presidential campaign, John F. Kerry was the candidate often portrayed as intellectual and complex, while George W. Bush was the populist who mangled his sentences. But newly released records show that Bush and Kerry had a virtually identical grade average at Yale University four decades ago.

In 1999, The New Yorker published a transcript indicating that Bush had received a cumulative score of 77 for his first three years at Yale and a roughly similar average under a non-numerical rating system during his senior year.

Kerry, who graduated two years before Bush, got a cumulative 76 for his four years, according to a transcript that Kerry sent to the Navy when he was applying for officer training school. He received four D's in his freshman year out of 10 courses, but improved his average in later years...

I always thought those who criticized Bush as a dumb "C" student were being ridiculous (especially now, it seems, if they voted for Kerry). It is amusing, though, to note that French class is where Kerry got one of his highest scores. And this comment further underscores the silliness of judging someone by their grades in the 1960's:

Gaddis Smith, a retired Yale history professor who taught both Kerry and Bush, said in a telephone interview that he vividly remembers Kerry as a student during the 1964-1965 school year, when Kerry would have been a junior. However, Smith said he doesn't have a specific memory about Bush.

Based on what Smith recalls teaching that year, Kerry scored a 71 and 79 in two of Smith's courses. When Smith was told those scores, he responded: ''Uh, oh. I thought he was good student. Those aren't very good grades." To put the grades in perspective, Smith said that he had a well-earned reputation for being tough, and noted that such grades would probably be about 10 points higher in a similar class today because of the impact of what he called ''grade inflation."

Somehow, I doubt the description of Bush as a "B" student would help MoveOn.Org raise much money.

Conservative vs. liberals in public schools

N2P Devoted Gadfly Brian H. sent along a link to an article about the conservative activists' drive for more balanced K-12 education:

...An aggrieved faction of conservative high school students and parents appears eager to take up the cause:

• ProtestWarrior.com has equipped 160 high school chapters and about 100 individual students with materials to publicize, for instance, whenever a teacher "tries to shove his ideology down someone's throat."

• A group known as Christian Copts of California has distributed 5,000 booklets in Florida and California this year denouncing a seventh-grade world history section as an "attempt to engrave Islam in the minds of ... children."

• Parents and Students for Academic Freedom formed in August 2004 to give parents a forum to address "the one-sided teaching and partisan indoctrination in our nation's secondary schools." The group urges school boards and legislatures to adopt the same speech-restricting principles that its parent organization (Students for Academic Freedom) urges at the college level...

Some observers envision liberal and conservative families lining up in pursuit of separate educations. Because ideological policing of the classroom may prove impossible, support could grow for vouchers for values-driven education, says Michelle Easton, president of the conservative Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute in Herndon, Va.

Support could increase for homeschooling as well - in fact, it already is.

Smart kid, caring parents, bad decisions

Wizbang! reviews a Boston Globe article about a Massachusetts valedictorian who can't afford to attend any Massachusetts universities. Sounds like a real sob story - until you read further and realize that Juliano Foleiss is an illegal alien, and is thus not eligible for in-state tuition. His parents came here five years ago on tourist visas, and have stayed illegally ever since.

Wizbang!'s response is pretty pointed:

The Glob story makes this seem like a great tragedy, but refuses to point the finger of blame squarely where it belongs: on the Foleisses. They chose to come here under false pretenses, lying about their intention and filing false documents with the government. They broke the law even before they came to the United States, and have been breaking it on a day-by-day basis ever since.

Juliano, I'm sorry that you feel you're being punished for nothing -- or for your parent's actions. But every day since you turned 18 (the article doesn't specify his age, but I'm presuming he's 18 now) that you haven't turned yourself in as an illegal alien, you've perpetuated their initial crime...

And one more question, Juliano: let's presume that you did qualify for in-state tuition and went to a Massachusetts college. Once you get your degree, what will you do with it? As an illegal alien, you can't work legally in the United States. Do you want the US to forgive you your illegal status, or are you asking the taxpayers of Massachusetts to subsidize your education so you can go back home to Brazil and work there?

I recently posted about my local high school, who is also getting squeezed with students who are illegal immigrants. It was just a matter of time before a high-profile illegal emerged as a valedictorian, I suppose.

The right to speak up

Two students who were suspended in the '60's for wearing black anti-war armbands to school are now hitting the trail, informing today's students of their constitutional rights:

John and Mary Beth Tinker are back in a classroom in their hometown, once again wearing black armbands and drawing attention to a war. Now in their 50s, the siblings are living symbols of constitutional rights for secondary school students. In 1965, they and a handful of others were suspended for wearing black armbands to their public schools here to protest the Vietnam War. The Tinkers and another student, Christopher Eckhardt, took their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where in 1969 they won the landmark ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District that wearing such an armband in school was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment as long as school was not substantially disrupted.

Alyssa Mowitz, left, and Caitlin Sims speak with John Tinker at Central Academy. He is an activist for peace as well as free-speech rights.
—Photo by Steve Pope“All of us are concerned about the war in Iraq,” Mary Beth tells a group of about 90 middle and high school students at Central Academy, a public magnet school where students take Advanced Placement courses and other specialized offerings.

Her brother is more direct. “We’re in the middle of a war that many, many people think is illegal,” he says about the U.S. military operation in Iraq. He will say several times in four public appearances over two days in Iowa last month that while Saddam Hussein was “a bad guy,” the war is all about controlling resources such as oil.

Let's hope the students learn from this that they have the right to speak out in support of the war as well.

I don't want to hear about it, thank you

Another school confronts a free speech issue - or is it?

Two Winona High School students have found themselves in hot water with school officials. Why? Because after Carrie Rethlefsen attended a performance of the play "The Vagina Monologues" last month, she and Emily Nixon wore buttons to school that read: "I [heart] My Vagina."

School leaders said that the pin is inappropriate and that the discomfort it causes trumps the girls' right to free speech. The girls disagree. And despite repeated threats of suspension and expulsion, Rethlefsen has continued to wear her button.

The girls claim the buttons provoke discussion about women's rights, and are perfectly happy that some boys plan to wear "I Support Your Vagina" buttons, but let's be honest. There are going to be much more racy buttons appearing out there, and it'll be interesting to see how the school deals with this - obviously, not all speech is protected under the First Amendment, and schools can certainly ban pins/t-shirts that discuss body parts.

It'll also be interesting to see whether another situation like this will develop when buttons like, "My Penis is Better Than Your Vagina" and "Shut Up About Your Vagina," inevitably emerge.

Requiring the pledge

The pendulum swings back: Now students are fighting for the Pledge of Allegiance to be made mandatory once again.

A child of two immigrants is leading a charge in the General Assembly to require our children in state schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance...Apex [NC] sophomore, Julian Quesada is on a mission, pushing lawmakers to pass legislation that would require students to recite the pledge. "I think it will instill in their minds a sense of national self preservation which I think might be lacking in this country as a whole in the youth of America."

Quesada has no shortage of patriotism. He is a first generation American taught to honor his country from his Costa Rican father and Argentinean mother, Adriana Quesada. "We've always instilled in him, both our boys, you don't take things for granted. This is a privilege to live here."

This fascinating sentence is included: "If the law passes...if the pledge goes against your religious beliefs, the law [will be] structured that those students would have a choice." Which is going to start up the whole "Under God" brouhaha again, but I suppose that's unavoidable.

(Via Dissecting Leftism.)

Sounds like Teresa just opposes teaching kids to read

Best of the Web gets off two irresistable jabs at the Kerry camp today:

As if the conflicting polls of "registered voters," "likely voters" and "national adults" weren't confusing enough, now we have a pair of surveys of American children that show contradictory results:

Apparently kids who read favor Bush, while those who watch TV prefer Kerry. Hmm, whose parents are more likely to vote?

Heh. Meanwhile, Teresa Heinz Kerry ingratiates herself with public school teachers, and shows her oh-so-empathetic side for the work teachers do every day:

From a USA Today interview with Teresa Heinz Kerry, the opinionated ketchup heiress and philanthropist:

According to her White House bio, Laura Bush has worked as a public school teacher and librarian. Does Teresa not believe these are "real jobs"?

Double heh. And don't miss Joanne's citing of John Kerry's "nuanced" comments on NCLB.

Update: Teresa realizes her mistake:

"I had forgotten that Mrs. Bush had worked as a school teacher and librarian, and there couldn't be a more important job than teaching our children. As someone who has been both a full time mom and full time in workforce, I know we all have valuable experiences that shape who we are. I appreciate and honor Mrs. Bush's service to the country as First Lady, and am sincerely sorry I had not remembered her important work in the past."