During my junior and senior years in high school, I had some run-ins with my school administrators on the topic of school clubs. I was the mouthpiece for The Rock, a bible study recognized as an "organization" looking for recognition as a club. When the administration initially resisted our efforts to become an official club I did some research and found some surprising information that, sadly, most high schoolers are probably unaware of.
According to the Equal Access Law of 1984, a school that has at least one non-curriculum club must allow other non-curriculum clubs to organize and must allow clubs equal access to such things as bulletin boards and meeting places. There is no elastic clause here - the law and its stipulations are pretty clear. Why did I have such a difficult time convincing my school administrators to follow the law?
The sad truth is that a lot of high schools attempt to function in a highly established bubble. I wouldn't call high school a prison (as many discouraged students have), but I do recognize that students are often uninformed on, misinformed on, or completely denied the few legal rights they have.
Public schools were established to raise informed voters. Perhaps some emphasis should also be put on raising informed students.
Tswelela solofela,
Tom Bishoff
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4 comments:
Tom, I really like your point with the clubs. I know that I was involved in school organized clubs and in some that were not. It is a good topic to bring up because I personally did not know about the Act that says that if you have one club you have to allow more clubs like that. Thanks for the information.
Lindsey
Tom,
Student rights are a huge issue. A critical question is when do the "rights" of some student interfere with the education of other students? Does a student have the "right" to form any kind of club they want and to form their own rules? For instance, could you have a club for boys only? Or a club that is racist? Or a club for smart kids only? (or is that already happening.....National Honor Society?!....)
Anyhow, good topic but a difficult one. Also, I liked your black and white pictures. Thanks for your efforts on this blog and for your thoughts during class.
Dr. Langholz
That was amazing...movie...your movie made me pee my pants...and I gave you that book!!!
woot.
Go George.
YouTube video: check.
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