This is a terrific speech given by 14-year-old Ann Arbor student Graeme Taylor who is defending Howell High School teacher Jay McDowell, who was disciplined after throwing out two students for anti-gay statements. The controversy, however, gets a bit murkier on closer examination for free speech advocates.
Various groups and individuals have rallied to McDowell’s side, including the teacher’s union, to try to get the board to rescind the disciplinary action against McDowell. The discipline followed an angry exchange with two students about gay rights. However, it began with McDowell demanding that a student remove a belt buckle featuring the confederate flag — a buckle that the teacher found offensive.
The day of the encounter was part of a national Spirit Day held on Oct. 20 — a Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation event targeting anti-gay bullying after the recent suicides of six gay teens across the United States. Many students wore shirts supporting the cause.
In the class, junior Daniel Glowacki, 16, argued with McDowell over the fact that another student was wearing a belt buckle with the confederate flag. This was an economics class and led to both Glowacki and another students being ejected for anti-gay sentiments. McDowell was disciplined for deviating from curriculum and violating a student’s First Amendment rights. He was suspended for one day without pay.
The facts remain a bit unclear, but (as to the initial dispute) there is a legitimate free speech issue on which people may disagree. I tend to follow a robust view of free speech rights in schools, particularly with regard to older students like juniors. There are obviously some limits on what a student can wear — particularly with regard to threatening messages or hate speech. However, a confederate flag does not necessarily convey a threatening message. Some people have relatives who served in the Civil War or identify with the confederacy for various reasons. Should a teacher be able to force students to remove such a buckle? How about a Rainbow buckle signifying support for gays and lesbians?
As for the alleged anti-gay statements, few would argue that such comments are a legitimate basis for removal from the classroom. The only mitigating factor would be if the teacher asked for students to share their views of homosexuality.
The school specifically cited rules that told teachers not to pursue personal social issues and to avoid baiting students on controversial issues. This led to some teachers saying that such contemporary issues are appropriate in the classroom. I tend to give teachers a fair amount of leeway, even in an economics class, to discuss such issues but it comes with the risk that students will share contrary views. If a teacher wants to discuss such issues, he or she must also anticipate conflicting views being expressed. In this article, Glowacki said he asked the teacher why the student could not wear the buckle with students around him were wearing the rainbow symbol. He said that McDowell told him that the confederate flag stood for lynchings and asked if Glowacki was anti-gay. He said he was not but agreed to leave with the other student. He still maintains that he is not anti-gay — just pro-free speech.
Source: Livingston Daily
Jonathan Turley
Gyges,
For you:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWrCf7rAytc&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]From CBS News/Crimesider
Elaine,
My wife and I have a standing disagreement about which of her roles was the best. I still say Mrs. White in “Clue,” but my wife insists it’s her role in “Young Frankenstein”
Buddha,
P.S. Thanks for that Blazing Saddles clip. I loved Madeline Kahn in that movie. She was a great comedienne.
Buddha,
I couldn’t agree more with your point about people having a well-developed sense of humor. I’d add that it’s important for a person to be able to laugh at himself/herself. Some folks only like to laugh at others–never at themselves. I guess being able to laugh at/poke fun at one’s self is an important element of a truly well-developed sense of humor.
For BIL and Mespo:
“The ordinary mind cannot understand that a serious purpose and a sense of humor can go together. It is only the sense of humor that can keep a man alive for the serious purpose. The world has never been able to distinguish between stupidity and seriousness. If the stupidly serious really had any humor, they would die from laughing at themselves.” ~Clarence Darrow
Tootie:
One little aside, lest anyone actually think you know of what you speak when speaking of Marucs Aurelius. Your comment that Aurelius didn’t believe in freedom of conscience ergo he persecuted Christians is laughable. Some might say freedom of conscience was the foundation of Stoicism that was copied by the Early Christians. (Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 2003, page 368).
Here is the great Roman commenting on the benefits of conscience.
“Do all things as becometh the disciple of Antoninus Pius. Remember his resolute constancy in things that were done by him according to reason, his equability in all things, his sanctity; the cheerfulness of his countenance, his sweetness, and how free he was from all vainglory; how careful to come to the true and exact knowledge of matters in hand, and how he would by no means give over till he did fully, and plainly understand the whole state of the business; and how patiently, and without any contestation he would bear with them, that did unjustly condemn him: how he would never be over-hasty in anything, nor give ear to slanders and false accusations, but examine and observe with best diligence the several actions and dispositions of men. Again, how he was no backbiter, nor easily frightened, nor suspicious, and in his language free from all affectation and curiosity: and how easily he would content himself with few things, as lodging, bedding, clothing, and ordinary nourishment, and attendance. How able to endure labour, how patient; able through his spare diet to continue from morning to evening without any necessity of withdrawing before his accustomed hours to the necessities of nature: his uniformity and constancy in matter of friendship. How he would bear with them that with all boldness and liberty opposed his opinions; and even rejoice if any man could better advise him: and lastly, how religious he was without superstition. All these things of him remember, that whensoever thy last hour shall come upon thee, it may find thee, as it did him, ready for it in the possession of a good conscience.” (Meditations, Book 4, Ch. XXVIII)
How religious without superstition, indeed?
mespo,
It just seemed so . . . appropriate. 🙂 And yet, while one lives to be of service, the praise rightfully belongs to Mel Brooks & Co. for I am but a messenger. Speaking of being of service, good job on bolstering the comedic education of our nation’s high schoolers. The more people we can get with a well developed sense of humor, the better off the world will be.
How did life become so much fun?
BIL:
Thank you — once again — for that incredibly funny clip that brings me to tears every time I see it. Some members of my son’s high school football team were bored one evening and I popped that DVD in for a few laughs. It is now a favorite around the school.
Bravo!
First, I think the teacher shouldn’t have required the student to remove his belt buckle. It’s possible the young man wore it just to get attention or to provoke other students and/or his teacher. That said, I’ll withhold judgment of the teacher’s temperament pending further information.
*****
From the article:
“A student, 16-year-old junior Daniel Glowacki, was then ejected from McDowell’s economics class, along with another student, after Glowacki and McDowell argued about another student wearing a belt buckle featuring the Confederate flag.”
Elaine M: We don’t know what was said or what transpired during the argument in McDowell’s classroom. McDowell may have had good reason to remove the students from his class.
*****
Also from the article:
Howell first-grade teacher Nicole Boyd said much of the curriculum she and other district teachers draw information from isn’t from a textbook. She said 90 percent of the curriculum is social skills.
“I have to deal with the 4-year-old who’s called ‘stupid,’ ” Boyd said. “I have to keep them going. This is a bullying issue, not a gay issue. For Jay McDowell and for him to turn to administration for help and for us to not know if (administration) will be there, or reprimand us … you have 400-plus people who don’t know, day to day, how to educate these kids.”
Elaine M: That makes me wonder what’s going on at that school and in that community. It sounds to me like there’s some “history” there.
*****
The teacher said that his “reprimand is full of inaccuracies and falsehoods.”
Tootie:
“Here we have more evidence that the public schools are government controlled fascist enterprises to which no one who loves their child enough should send them.”
*********************
That’s why they suspended the teacher, of course.
Judging by the rest of your rambling commentary, I see your parents took the no schooling approach.
And they say religious skeptics are mean-spirited!
I am not a big fan of students being disciplined for wearing clothes that relect political movements or include written statements on them. However, the Confederate Flag has hateful meanings to blacks and is not just worn to honor Great Grandpa who fought with the South. If that theory is to be followed wouldn’t wearing the swatiska in school also be allowed? This student made a moving speech about how the teacher had stood up against bullying. Shouldn’t teachers protect students who are being bullied? I tend to think that this student with the Confederate Flag buckle wore it to send a message. A hateful message on an important day.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5Mr5eCF2U&fs=1&hl=en_US]
Here we have more evidence that the public schools are government controlled fascist enterprises to which no one who loves their child enough should send them.
No one interested in liberty or freedom or freedom of conscience sends their dear precious children to these cesspool prisons year after year after year after year.
I find it odd that adults indulge the 14 year old child who considers himself a homosexual when it is most probable that scientific evidence would prove conclusively and beyond the shadow of a doubt that the child was born a male from the embryonic stage. And that anyone who wishes to talk frankly with the boy wouldn’t have told him so. And that furthermore it is logical to believe that male and females are the natural biological sexual complements.
And they say Christians are anti-science.
Furthermore, his brain isn’t fully developed until he is 20 years old and we who are past 20 ought to know that he is not, therefore, mentally capable of making so great a determination about himself based on his feelings since, not only is his brain not fully developed for quiet some time it, but the behavior or condition he refers to would represent a typical but profound deviation from the norm for the human sexuality. We are a species of creature with a profound and lengthy record of predominantly heterosexual conduct. This is a scientific.
And they say Christians are anti-science.
So how can it be possible for the child to know what he really feels when his brain is not even ripe yet for another 6 years and according to his DNA (most likely) suggests that he is a male? Anyone indulging this child in his confusion or assumptions is reprehensible and truley not interested in the best interests of boy. They just want to appear loving and just, not matter how dangerous their misguidance might be to the boy and humanity.
As to the flame throwing title on the post “Hate Speech Versus Free Speech?”, I would like for someone to prove that anything said against or to the boy was hate. This abuse of the word is getting out of hand.
It was Hannah Arendt (a Jew who sat in on the Nuremberg trial of Adolph Eichmann) who noted that these monsters who helped murder millions showed no sign of hatred. They did what they did because they obeyed orders, not because they hated.
You know, just like TSA officials who sexually molest innocent people at airports under Obama’s watch. It’s their job. They are just obeying orders.
Most of us have heard stories of people who murder someone they love passionately or murder someone they never hated. Hate can have nothing to do with murder, violence, or cruelty. So if you don’t have evidence (a declaration) of hate, you are just making up crap. Enough of the suggestion that this is about hate.
It is immoral to ascribe hatred to everyone who vehemently disagrees with you. The effort to do so by the left, using the same standard the left feels it has the right to set for the rest of us, is itself a form of hatred according to the left. These leftists are so enamored their own self-appointed self-righteousness that they don’t realize they are guilty of the same conduct they accuse others.
You don’t have to hate people to harm them and unless someone admits openly in verbal or witten form that they hate someone none of us can be sure they do. The human being is far more complicated than that. As Arendt suggests. And as experience proves.
Homosexuals, like heterosexuals, kill themselves because they have mental and emotional problems. The have problems that seem to be insurmountable, whether caused by themselves and, or, others.
Christians (the most persecuted group of individuals on earth) are continually maligned, besmirched, taunted, and teased in public. In America this comes mostly from left-wing conclaves like Hollywood and Academia. These people, in particular, are vicious to Christians and enjoy demeaning and insulting them. By the lefts own standard of hatred, they hate Christians with unmitigated zeal.
They portray Christians in the most despicable light. Many of these Christians, and I would reckon that there are millions of them, are teenagers or young people. They are often taunted by wicked ADULTS on the left in a highly malicious fashion which can only be presumed to promote persecution or murderous feelings that abound against Christians throughout the world.
Yet they don’t kill themselves because of it (no matter how much leftists would like it).
The Hollywood and Academic types have more in common with the brutal vicious mind than they realize. China and Saudi Arabia murder Christians just for being Christians.
But are Christians killing themselves and dropping like flies because people use, according to the left’s standard, hate speech against them? Do they even kill themselves because they are being physically tortured by those who deny them their freedom of conscience as is the case in China?
No they don’t, not usually.
Christians, in the main, have the mental and emotional ability to endure persecution. People often become Christians BECAUSE they have been or are being persecuted. It is a way to save life, not lose it.
Christians rarely kill themselves because they are taunted or raped or tortured. Most survive brutality because their faith leaves them emotionally and mentally capable of it. Obviously, people who kill themselves don’t have this capacity. But that appears to be their choice.
I see the new push to pretend that homosexuals kill themselves because of “hate” speech (whether fictitious or not) or persecution. But using confused or disturbed people in need of help as a tool to criminalize thoughts (in particular Christian thoughts) is worse than taunting someone for being a homosexual. It uses the homosexual. It is exploitation.
How many people will fall for this newest self-righteous left-wing corruption is unknowable. Nowadays billions of people fall for leftist fraud overnight. (the global warming hoax, for instance).
The best decent people can do in this situation is remove their children from the morally corrupt fascist government schools and demand and end to them.
It was the famous General and Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus who said it best about the public schools some 2000 years ago. In his introduction to his Meditations he thanked everyone who had given him guidance and sustenance throughout his life.
Of his great-grandfather he wrote in gratitude:
“From my great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, and to have good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.”
He did persecute Christians brutally though. Of course, that is because he was a pagan who didn’t believe in freedom of conscience.
Just like leftists in Academia, Hollywood, and the government.
This is what pagans and atheist always wind up doing because no matter how morally superior they and their fellows believe themselves to be, they are always start out as much a sinner as the Christian and are incapable of righteous judgment without the teachings of Christ.
What mespo said, verbatim, and rc’s statement in re eloquence. Well done, Graeme Taylor.
SB growing up on the Mason/Dixon line.
The linked article is more specific about Howell MI being an community that is above average in supporting the Ku Klux Klan. Howell is also known for having strongly supported the John Birch Society in bygone days.
If we think the teacher was over reacting to a student’s statement that he/she resented a special day of support for gay students by wearing a symbol of an organization that is known to be anti-gay (the rebel flag is often used by bigots to tell the world they are bigoted), we also have to take into account the community’s acceptance of the KKK’s influence.
We don’t know how many times prior to this incident this teacher has had to accept in silence (or not) bigoted mutterings in the classroom. Maybe on this special day, this particular teacher had just had enough. This student, who seems unusually bright and articulate for a 14-year-old, seemed to think the teacher’s action was warrented and indeed correct.
As everyone knows, I’m much less accepting of hate speech as a first amendment right than many; maybe because I’ve had to listen to so much of it growning up on the Mason/Dixon line.
One thing is certain. That was a beautiful, reasoned yet empassioned and articulate presentation by the young student.
Jim Swilley, Georgia Megachurch Pastor, Comes Out To Congregation After Gay Teen Suicides
Jim Swilley, the pastor of a Georgia megachurch, recently revealed to his congregation that he is gay. The 52-year-old father of four said that his wife, to whom he was married for more than 20 years, encouraged him to come out years ago, but at the time, he told her: “These words will never come out of my mouth
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/14/jim-swilley-gay-pastor_n_783279.html
I find this a hyper-sensitive teacher being deliberately provocative against a student with whom his disagrees politically. While I have no love for the neo-confederate tripe being spread around these days, the student didn’t provoke the incident merely by wearing the insignia. From the circumstances, I see no reason to suggest the student meant anything other than a fashion statement and was well within the confines of Tinker in that no disruption was likely — except the one caused by the teacher. I think the suspension is justified and I would not hold a word spoken in anger and in response to a confrontation engendered by the teacher’s conduct against the student. There are deliberate slurs and there are slurs made in haste.