Haza
Bluelighter
It seems today that a lot of controversies you hear about in the news all seem to come from one particular source, Public Schools. We have heard numerous accounts of student/teacher relationships, MCAS, how much discipline a teacher should administer, all the way to the columbine “trend” of school shootings thought the US. Not to mention a various assortment of violence in school. One thing, I personally, have never heard about, until recently, is release of information to the students. Should students, while in school have a right to know of things happening as they happen? Or would it cause problems?
Sept. 11, a day America will never forget. The High School from which I graduated went on with daily business, except for one concern among administrators. The concern was how to keep the students from knowing or finding out about the tragedies while in school. Teachers were told not to speak of it. The Internet was shut down and TVs were taken out of the classrooms.
Though they weren’t supposed to, some students did find out. Whether maybe a call on a cell from a parent to make sure they’re all right. Or if they missed the bus, and on the late car ride to school, radio was broadcasting. It doesn’t matter much how they found out, but they did find out at least a little of what was going on. Upon questioning most teachers or administrators on the on the subject, they were told to keep quiet.
I can see why the administrators would have come up with this solution. First off, if every one of the students knew what was going on then it would be the topic of every class. A math class is not the appropriate place for current events. But with such a significant mark in history, surely math would not be the topic of the class that day.
The students would have learned little about American history, or the biology of a worm, or even about Hamlet, or woodshop. The only relevant matter of subject would be the disaster.
Secondly, if the students knew of the incident, there would be a sudden rush of reality. Most of them would probably leave school, and the ones that did stay, would not be able to concentrate. The tragedy was said to be “The loss of innocence of the new generation.” If all of that information came at me at once, sitting in a classroom, listening on the intercom on how our country was under attack. The impact would make me question what I am doing. Sitting in a classroom, listening to someone talk while, people are dying by the hand of another country. Surely I would want to be with my family at this time. As I am sure that everyone else wanted at that time.
Lastly, Maybe the administrators thought it wasn’t their place to be relaying such information to children of which they were not their own. There must have been parents out there that maybe thought their children were not ready to hear such news. It should be the parent’s decision and not the administration to a public institution.
Well, I am biased on this topic. I too am a student, maybe not of the same school. But still, only about a half year after my graduation of that school I was appalled when I heard of this. The tragedy of New York affected an entire nation. The media is flooded with reports of terrorism; radio overwhelmed with experts on Middle Eastern politics, the Internet, full of theories and prophesies of the end of the world. And the people, everybody seems so much kinder now.
It’s because everyone knows the same thing, we are all in this together, as a nation. Whether you are infant or elderly I am sure you were affected one way or another. It is hard to believe that a public school, a school for the people of a community could try and ignore what was going on and teach a class like it was a normal day. Students in that school are people too, maybe not all of them of the “legal age” but they still have feelings and their own opinions of what was going on. And I can imagine their feelings when they got home, shock, anger, and a sense of betrayal from people they are forced to trust. The people that they give six and a half hours a day, 32 and half hours a week and not to mention work they do at home, led them to believe it was a normal day.
A friend of mine’s mother was in New York at the time on business. No information was given out during school, so there was no cause for concern from my friend. I can’t comprehend how he was feeling when he went home and inevitably found out the information he should have known. Luckily, she was alright, I think that he had a right to know what was going on. Spending class time discussing it was unavoidable, there was no escaping hearing about it.
Everybody in the country had a right to know what was going on at the time. Kids are people too and they do have rights. The school should have forgotten about wasting class time, and talked about it then.
------------------
"30,000 feet? woah...thats bigger than my house" ~ TJ sleep talkin
Sept. 11, a day America will never forget. The High School from which I graduated went on with daily business, except for one concern among administrators. The concern was how to keep the students from knowing or finding out about the tragedies while in school. Teachers were told not to speak of it. The Internet was shut down and TVs were taken out of the classrooms.
Though they weren’t supposed to, some students did find out. Whether maybe a call on a cell from a parent to make sure they’re all right. Or if they missed the bus, and on the late car ride to school, radio was broadcasting. It doesn’t matter much how they found out, but they did find out at least a little of what was going on. Upon questioning most teachers or administrators on the on the subject, they were told to keep quiet.
I can see why the administrators would have come up with this solution. First off, if every one of the students knew what was going on then it would be the topic of every class. A math class is not the appropriate place for current events. But with such a significant mark in history, surely math would not be the topic of the class that day.
The students would have learned little about American history, or the biology of a worm, or even about Hamlet, or woodshop. The only relevant matter of subject would be the disaster.
Secondly, if the students knew of the incident, there would be a sudden rush of reality. Most of them would probably leave school, and the ones that did stay, would not be able to concentrate. The tragedy was said to be “The loss of innocence of the new generation.” If all of that information came at me at once, sitting in a classroom, listening on the intercom on how our country was under attack. The impact would make me question what I am doing. Sitting in a classroom, listening to someone talk while, people are dying by the hand of another country. Surely I would want to be with my family at this time. As I am sure that everyone else wanted at that time.
Lastly, Maybe the administrators thought it wasn’t their place to be relaying such information to children of which they were not their own. There must have been parents out there that maybe thought their children were not ready to hear such news. It should be the parent’s decision and not the administration to a public institution.
Well, I am biased on this topic. I too am a student, maybe not of the same school. But still, only about a half year after my graduation of that school I was appalled when I heard of this. The tragedy of New York affected an entire nation. The media is flooded with reports of terrorism; radio overwhelmed with experts on Middle Eastern politics, the Internet, full of theories and prophesies of the end of the world. And the people, everybody seems so much kinder now.
It’s because everyone knows the same thing, we are all in this together, as a nation. Whether you are infant or elderly I am sure you were affected one way or another. It is hard to believe that a public school, a school for the people of a community could try and ignore what was going on and teach a class like it was a normal day. Students in that school are people too, maybe not all of them of the “legal age” but they still have feelings and their own opinions of what was going on. And I can imagine their feelings when they got home, shock, anger, and a sense of betrayal from people they are forced to trust. The people that they give six and a half hours a day, 32 and half hours a week and not to mention work they do at home, led them to believe it was a normal day.
A friend of mine’s mother was in New York at the time on business. No information was given out during school, so there was no cause for concern from my friend. I can’t comprehend how he was feeling when he went home and inevitably found out the information he should have known. Luckily, she was alright, I think that he had a right to know what was going on. Spending class time discussing it was unavoidable, there was no escaping hearing about it.
Everybody in the country had a right to know what was going on at the time. Kids are people too and they do have rights. The school should have forgotten about wasting class time, and talked about it then.
------------------
"30,000 feet? woah...thats bigger than my house" ~ TJ sleep talkin
