Pen-Elayne on the Web

High School Madness

Well, so much for wanting to watch Jeopardy! in the last week before my boss undoubtedly starts keeping me late at the office every day again. It was obviously urgent, according to state-run TV Peter Jennings, that everyone pay attention to Bush making a speech to the ultra-conservative kooks at the American Enterprise Institute about a post-invasion US occupation of Iraq, bringing to pass the worst of thinking people's fears, that this wasteful, counterproductive, illegal, horrid invasion is a foregone conclusion. I grieve for the losses to come.

Meanwhile, in the societal microcosm of our educational system, thinking young people and their teachers are finding out along with the rest of us that dissent is not to be tolerated. Via Tom Tomorrow (link at sidebar), this article about a warning sent by the Maine Department of Education reminding superintendents and principals that "that all school employees must remain sensitive to the children of military families — even if those employees are opposed to military action in Iraq." This was apparently brought on by "reports that some educators and other school employees have been sharing anti-war sentiments with students." I'm all for sensitivity, but isn't it more sensitive to show these children how much you care about their parents by doing everything you can to forestall them going to war?

Then again, if you do that you might, heaven forfend, inspire them to do things like Toni Smith did. Interesting that Toni's silent and relatively mild protest has been going on for months but only now it's being noticed? My favorite paragraph: It brought chants of "U.S.A.!" from a small band inside the gym and it brought louder, more vociferous chanting — "We love Toni!" — from a larger group at the other end of the gym. Minutes before the game was to begin, it moved one fan to yell, "You're a disgrace!" Which moved another fan to yell back, "You're an idiot!" Dang, sometimes I actually miss high school.