POLITICS: School Orders Boy to Cover Tee Shirt

If you are a child and in school, you are not on your own time. You are on my time, which I am paying for, and society's time. You are not there to be political, and at your age you know less than anything about anything, so just sit down, get your head out of your oriface, and get busy learning. You are not free as long as you are in the school that I am forced to pay for. No, you can't wear your political statement shirt with the intention to disrupt (no matter what it says) as long as your parents are willing to let me foot the bill for educating you. That is not why we are sending you to school and there are plenty of avenues open away from school to those few children who feel so strongly about an issue that they have to get in someone's face about it right away.

the shirt had a political statement on it, reflecting what a growing percentage of the population feels to be true(sept.12th, he(they) had a 90% rating or something ridiculous as americans ran the 'revenge' program right on cue).
as more and more pieces of the actual reality of society clash with the principles set out in the constitution, the cognitive dissonance of the mass mind increases, causing america to act in a bipolar fashion. manic highs and lows are the norm.
i think this boy 'picked his battle and battleground' very well indeed. the people who engineer the mores of society would have schools be indoctrination machines, in hopes of domesticating the wild spirit of innovation. instead of dynamic learning enviroments with real world connectors in the school, the thought police would have us study only man's past, a place with no 'street sense'. a place harboured in the mind of text and frozen light.
there is no place more approriate than the education system to explore the 'currency' of the human condition.

the idea that this message is equivalent to standing up and yelling in the middle of class is ridiculous. this means it IS okay to stand up and scream NIKE, or TOMMY HILFIGER(kissinger's line of clothing, UGH, PTAGH). i'm sure the vocal infringers of the boy's right to advertise his beliefs would feel fine if his tee shirt read 'the war on terrorism', or 'go get'em, boys', or 'join the marines'.

if you would follow the 'related links', you would find that four american ADULTS have been ARRESTED for the antiwar, antibush messages on their tees. and now dissenting opinion protests are kept in 'pens', far from the intended recievers of the message.
america is becoming anti-freespeech, and y'all better wake up before it's too late.

as for calling someone a liar because you just don't believe that someone could make an antiwar teeshirt twelve years ago undermines your credibility for having any sense of logic.

Obviously any message on any shirt could be considered offensive or distracting. Dallas Cowboys shirt, no way I'm a Eagles fan. Jesus shirt, no because I'm a ___ name your religion. While we're at it no prayer because I'm an atheist and I find it offensive. While I think his parents are encouraging him to wear this to show their disapproval with the present government, the shirt is not patently offensive and should be allowed.



[edit on 22-11-2004 by redhat]

[edit on 22-11-2004 by redhat]

School is not a place for political messages, and much less since it can disrupt the classes. I can imagine if this kid was wearing a shirt saying "All people that voted for Kerry are idiots" or "Kerry is a dumbass" or such comment "against" the left, you would all agree with the school's policy....

It is simple, school is a place where "everyone should be able to get an education," not just one political party...and it surely is no place to make such statements as what the shirt of that kid said. I am sure that the kid can wear that shirt almost anywhere else he wants to.

Statements such as what that shirt have, are meant to bring heated arguments between different political groups. People should be smart enough to know what is appropiate and innapropiate to wear in certain places, and if you don't know the difference be certain that the choice is going to be made for you... The United States of America is a free country "FOR EVERYONE......." Not just one political side...

You all want our schools to become battlegrounds for political affiliations? or churches?.... Any message a kid wears that could bring a "fight" into school is sure against the school's policies. If you are all going to say that free speech is infringed here, next you are going to see kids with all sorts of t-shirts with all sorts of slogans, from "All hispanics should be shot" to "all white people should be beheaded"..... i am certain those are also "political slogans and some people would like to wear them and according to some the U.S Constitution garantees that they can wear these slogans." You can be certain this is on the minds of some people... BTW, I am hispanic, so I included myself there so you will realize I don't agree with the above "slogans"....well some.... Anyways, i am just making a point.


---edited to correct errors and clear some comments---



[edit on 22-11-2004 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Zipdot
We're not talking about people here, we're talking about kids. Kids who disagree with the guy's shirt might get uptight about it and start a fight or an argument or cause other disruptive behaviour. THIS is the bigger picture. The administration is making the student turn his shirt inside-out for the safety of himself and the other kids.

It has nothing to do with BRAINWASHING, left wingers. ALSO, what's up with this kid wearing the same shirt 3 times in two weeks? His parents need to get this kid some new clothes.

Bingo - This isn't about free speech as much as it's about keeping order in a school where a T shirt with whatever slogan or view can cause a commotion and distraction. It's too bad people get so worked up over T shirts, but it happens at workplaces, and in schools. Asking a kid to cover a t-shirt is within the scope of the administration of the school. They aren't telling him to burn the t-shirt and they aren't punishing him for his personal beliefs, but trying to maintain and ordered non-volatile atmosphere in a SCHOOL. And to the original poster: who says this is a crime? The kid was just asked to cover up his shirt - he wasn't charged with anything.

I'd bet the kid was wearing it to GET a reaction of some sort. A slogan is there for people to read, and you and I both know any kind of political message on a shirt these days will just aboout guarantee a response. A response is not what is needed in a school corridor, and too often in schools there is no controlling that response. Sometimes free speech is just plain not good sense - I wouldn't wear a Jesus is a C-word T-shirt to my local Baptist Church and more than I'd wear my Cowboys Forever shirt to a Redskins game. I don't feel my free speech is compromised in any way. Free speech is a different kind of oppression and a different kind of punishment or restriction - not asking a kid to turn his T shirt inside out.

What isn't mentioned is how the school administration became aware of the T shirt to begin with. Did teachers mention it after breaking up fights, was he taunting others or being taunted with it, was he actually IN a fight? If the kid kept wearing it even after he was asked to cover it up, could he just be a real jerk and wearing it to incite a hassle with the administration? I can just think of what my mom's response would be, and where the red mark would end up for me being such a dimwit for continuing to wear it to school.

i'd like to see a tee shirt of bush and kerry sharing a piece of spaghetti.
that kid should really get with the times. stupid kids, so innorant. let's keep them that way.

i have faith people are waking up. maybe even teachers.

apparently, the boy's peers are awake, with the chanting and all. i think you should all try and picture that particular scene in your head. the sound of the new consciousness. fossils will be terrified, but the new breed is dancing with joy.

'the right place' for politics. people ARE politics. ask MTV.

Jmilici said:

They tought me to question. They tought me that there is no greater freedom than to question.

I'm with you on that 100%. There is no greater freedom than to question and to express your point of view without being arrested or worse. In the USA, at least the former USA, there is/was a time and place for doing that. The public school classrooms are not the place.

The other students have a right to recieve an education in an environment free of controversy. T-shirts like that create animosity and have no place in a school. Where are this kids parents. Or are they encouraging this in hopes of a fat settlement from a civil suit? Calling our President, whether you agree with him our not, a terrorist and a tyrant may be OK at a political rally, but not in a school. If its wrong to wear a cross which is a symbol of peace and love, why is it right to wear a symbol of hatred. Or is it that what you folks realy want is to dictate that others accept your point of view. Where exactly is the freedom in that? Why don't we leave the schools to teaching, the hate and division will come soon enough. Let these kids be kids while they can. Teaching them that freedom means you can stomp all over other peoples feelings is just plain wrong. Hate may be legal, but does that make it right? My generation, the 50's and 60's was about love, peace and tollerance. I'll wager this kid is immitating his parents or following their orders. I'll bet he has not got a clue why he's calling the President names. If an adult wants to live a life as an outcast in poverty so be it. But why not let your children have a chance at a happier life.

Why exactly do people assume that a kid has no politcal thoughts of his own that his parents must have put him up to it or hes only doing it to be cool? When I was thirteen I had political opinions of my own and they werent those of my parents in fact they were a good deal more conservative. Besides this doesnt change the fact that if he wore a shirt saying "Kerry is a loser" there wouldnt be a controversy. When was the last time you heard about a kid being suspended from school for wearing a pro-bush shirt its not like they dont exist. I bet if the kid got sent home for wearing a jesus is my homeboy shirt the conservatives would screaming about "out of the mainstream liberals" and the "evil secular agenda to destroy our moral values". The kid was expressing a valid opinion in a legal manner but because its contrary to the official norm its bad!

I'm sorry but I and a large portion of society reject your right wing agenda!

Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

Well people pay taxes for public school, sure, but after joe blow gets all B's, can he support him self with a well paying job or even get a career?
Public school is for learning free from distractions, but in the real work place there are even more distractions, it be better to teach kids to deal with them. School should be teaching kids skills, social skills, self esteem, not facts and what to think.

That kid should wear a tee with a picture of bush now, since they know his feelings, yet his tee makes no mention of opinion ( a good picture of him). That or a giant barcode, the would really tickle their ___.

Text Black

[edit on 23-11-2004 by benevolent tyrant]

Originally posted by dubiousone
Jmilici said:

They tought me to question. They tought me that there is no greater freedom than to question.

I'm with you on that 100%. There is no greater freedom than to question and to express your point of view without being arrested or worse. In the USA, at least the former USA, there is/was a time and place for doing that. The public school classrooms are not the place.

i thought classrooms WERE in the USA. i guess i dint get enuf skoolin.

The school did the right thing. This is not a freedom of speech issue, its more of a local school district dress code issue. If kids were allowed to wear anything they wanted you know how crazy it would get? If a nudist wants to express his/her freedom of speech at school would it happnen. NO!!! Its not a free speech issue.

Originally posted by IBM
The school did the right thing. This is not a freedom of speech issue, its more of a local school district dress code issue.
If a nudist wants to express his/her freedom of speech at school would it happnen. NO!!! Its not a free speech issue.

he wasn't a nudist. your associative tactics don't work in the land of denying ignorance.
he didn't violate the dress code. this is made clear in the article. your smoke and mirror tactics are easily resolved in the land of IGNORANCE DENIED.

if the school objected, they should have revised the code before enforcing any ideology. revising any school dress codes should be done by a balanced panel of administrators, and not by some little napolean wannabe.

and, i would like to reiterate...
there is no better place for politics than school. school's purpose is to better prepare people to survive and deal with the POLITICS of everyday life. politics reflect the populace. the populace is NOT to be a slave of politics.
unless you just wanna brainwash kids. then you definitely shouldn't allow them to think for themselves or EXPRESS themselves.
i'm sure brownshirts would be just fine with all you thought nazis.

Teachers are paid to teach and to control wrong/bad behavior, not the "opinions" of the students. If every child, kid and youth were to act exactly the way MOST teachers wanted them to act, there wouldn't be any distractions for the teachers. Teachers don't like any kind of shift in power or major distractions because they can't deal with it properly, they were taught to conform by stricter parents.

They should have taken the kid to the office and asked him why he's wearing it and if its not to have other KIDS fight over it then they should tell him and his parents of that posibility.

History or some other class a kid doesn't want to take should be replaced with social/inner issues class.
Prepair or Condition, Learn/think or listen/memorize?

dissent is patriotic.
that kid is smart and a wiseass. I only hope his character isn't hammered out of him by the time he's 18. i'd give him a job anyday.

Originally posted by billybob

A thirteen year old boy was ordered to cover up a tee shirt with the words, "The Real Terrorist Is In The White House," written in black on the front, and "End the Tyranny" written on the back.
More and more, we see the curtailing of the right of free speech. The America that is so proudly proclaimed as the most shining example of freedom and democracy, is beginning to resemble a pre-war Germany.

Unfortunate but true.

BTW - Who sells that shirt? My 14 year old daughter and her friends all want one.



.

Originally posted by soficrow

BTW - Who sells that shirt? My 14 year old daughter and her friends all want one.

his brother made it with a magic marker. just wrote on a plain white teeshirt. i think every kid should make one and wear it to school. that would be beautiful.

Originally posted by boogyman
............
When was the last time you heard about a kid being suspended from school for wearing a pro-bush shirt its not like they dont exist. I bet if the kid got sent home for wearing a jesus is my homeboy shirt the conservatives would screaming about "out of the mainstream liberals" and the "evil secular agenda to destroy our moral values".
.............

If he was wearing a pro Bush shirt at school he would be either sent home or told to do the same.... Just like at the voting polls or churches etc, you can't wear "clothing or any other item with slogans of any political side...." The propaganda in that shirt is teaching hatred, and it surely would have started some kind of fight sooner or later. I never in my life wore any t-shirts with political slogans while i was going to school, not even in college and I can't remember any other kids wearing any other slogans either.... and we were not and did not become "machines"....

We did not know each other's political party and no one ever asked, we all thought by ourselves and kept it to ourselves, not because we felt shamed, not even democrats or liberals.... We all talked about school, or girls or other stuff. Even the skinheads kept to themselves and brought no slogans of any type to school.

It seems that we knew then what kids don't know know... No wonder there are so many kids being killed in schools and so much violence these days...

The only political propaganda I was a witness of was from our humanities professor in college, he still seemed to be trapped in the 60s-70s. He would sit in a lotus possition while telling us all about "socialism" and "true communism".... Now that was an attempt at brainwashing...

BTW, I know that the lotus possition is not a socialist or communist thing... but it was a clear message he was sending, he would take that possition usually when he began trying to teach us "the best political party in his opinion, and how no country in the world had truly adopted this ideal form of government...."

when i was in high school i wore a shirt to school that said"@#$% happens" more than once. the times are changeing. and its sad.