On this day, 29 April 2008, I found the parents are required to choose from: District of race to explore factor reprogramming voting then. Our council race was last week, so I thought it was a sequel.
I was wrong: it was the story of a student government elections at Ewing High School, the town where I live. Seven students were black a nfl jerseysnd one Hispanic, five black and one white, out of which prevented the election in his class of seniors last week - and no one told them why. An assistant superintendent told the reporter in an e-mail that the decision to bar candidates based on a review of procedures for the director. The quotes are from Assistant Superintendent, not me.Neither the principal nor the faculty advisors for the election offered comment to the paper; the reporter had to rely on an e-mail to one of the parents to get clarification on why her daughter couldn't run for office. That e-mail from the teachers mentioned that she was ineligible to run because she had not participated in enough class meetings or fund raisers. One teacher later added, according to the mother, that her daughter used foul language when she questioned her ruling on the election.
This appears to be a scene from Election, a Tom Perrotta novel and movie starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon where an idealistic teacher deliberately tries to rig a student election and keep the "do it all" girl from winning. Only racism never entered in that movie; it has in the Ewing story, although no one knows for sure.
When I was in high school there we cheap nfl jerseysre no requirements to run for student government, no need for prior participation in anything at all, only current enrollment. We don't ask adult politicians to have prior electoral experience, why would it be asked of student leaders who must listen to their teachers?
It would be one thing if the individual students had some serious blots on their records: academic probations, multiple suspensions or incidents where they broke a law and law enforcement became involved. Even concerns about a platform to encourage an illegal act, such as legalization of marijuana are legitimate concerns for parents and teachers. But no evidence of misconduct was brought forward to the students, their parents and the press. That suggests either arrogance or foolishness; you, the reader can make that call.
The combination of "no comments" and ambiguous rules in a in New Jersey is scary. Parents and students still consider teachers authority figures, but not authoritarian and divine; there is a huge difference - and parents know it.
Ewing High's principal is trying to make things right by calling for new senior class elections. Howe nfl jerseysver, all of the "no comments" leave this school open to embarrassment, innuendo, investigation by a state affirmative action agency, and possibly legal action. If an investigation found legitimate rationale for bias, then two teachers and a principal have put their careers at risk over nothing.
(Originally published at Educated Quest blog and reprinted with permission of the author, Stuart Nachbar).
No comments:
Post a Comment