There is something seriously wrong with education when a schoolteacher -- a 35-year veteran -- is reassigned new classes based on something his students did. But that's exactly what happened in the Shoreline School District when a teacher, also adviser to the school's literary magazine, was reassigned after a student's poem was published with profanity in its title in the literary magazine.
The Seattle Times published a lengthy report on the font page of the local section of its July 18 edition. Update July 20: Susan Paynter, a columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, chimed in, too, adding some clarifying details to the situation.
Now, the school district snatched up all remaining copies of the magazine and shredded the page in question and dumped its instructor. Nevermind that there had been profanity in past magazines or that there was profanity on other pages of this same volume. Nevermind that the students' learning experiences in making the content decisions is as close to the real world as possible. Nevermind that the students had a valuable forum for expression, an outlet for the confusion and uncertainty that troubles many teens regarding their bodies and lives.
It might have been an excellent opportunity for the school to teach about the impact of the written word. Maybe to help guide students into a more tasteful decision in the future. No, the district shredded thousands of pages and dumped a veteran teacher because of a few complaints.
It's just not right to punish an educator, someone whose advice was likely to let students make decisions after consideringthe outcome, in this harsh way. The message to students is that they need not take responsibility because someone else will. They really don't have freedom of expression, at least not if someone calls the school. Instead, the school missed a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the value of ideas and how mature people can differ and then reach a compromise without flexing administrative muscle.
These days in schools, that administrative muscle is an all-too-common appearance, something turned to before it should be. The teacher has filed a grievance with his teachers association, and I hope he will be successful in overturning his reassignment.
-- Wenatchee, Wash.
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5 comments:
One small clarification. It's my understanding that this is not the schools "literary magazine", but a culminating senior project for which there are no guidelines, policies, etc.
I don't think he has been reassigned, but I think he's in danger of losing his stipend and advisor's job and that's what the union is grieving.
If I learn more (or if I find out I'm wrong on any of this), I'll add it ASAP.
If you know something, please send it along. Susan Paynter's July 20 column in the Seattle P-I, linked above, indicates it is the official lit mag. My sources also tell me it is the lit mag -- otherwise, why would the school pay to reprint and why would the student poet have talked with her editor?
Even if this were a senior project, a student would still have free expression protection under the First Amendment and the Washington state constitution and education laws. In fact, if the speech is not school-sponsored (part of a class), the student has slightly more rights.
-- L.
OK, more checking I should have done sooner. The school's own Web site lists "Imprints" beneath the newspaper. It's on the main page under "Publications."
People could submit work online, too.
At this point, it seems official to me.
-- L.
Why? With all the school shootings where is the protection? Do you think a kids not going to shoot up a school because it's against school policy to bring a gun there?
We can't protect against everything. But, if a weapon is available, people might opt to use it, and I would prefer that school situations that cause distress not have a gun as a solution.
-- L.
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