[Winona Online Democracy]
Thank you, Terry and Dwayne, for contradicting the anger hypothesis.
While I confess that the administration of WSHS frequently makes me angry, I
find that criticisms of "tone" in these kinds of discussions detract a bit
from the idea of a civil exchange of ideas such as this list is ostensibly
intended to promote. You may not agree with what I have to say, and that is
of course your right, but talking about the tone others are using is more of
a personal attack than a contribution to a reasoned discussion.
If my letters seemed angry, it may have been because I feel rather strongly
about this subject. While my letters were quite reserved compared with my
comments on the subject i private conversations, perhaps a bit of my actual
opinion slipped through.
Going to high school each day is an extremely unpleasant, sometimes dreaded
experience for a great many students because when they arrive they are
treated as suspects in a facility where have little privacy, freedom of
movement, or freedom of expression. Typically, the worst of this is aimed
at students who are "different" or do not imitate the greater mass of their
classmates in manner of thought and behavior. The hysteria about "school
shootings" has driven schools to emphasize security above all else,
including meaningful education. This impulse is what led WSHS to acually
PREVENT me from studying in school by installing one of those ridiculous
"Surfwatch" programs on the school media center's computers, which thwarted
my attempt to access an online text of a CIA report on drug trafficking in
an effort to research international policy issues in Latin America. This
"school security" BS makes school a wearying, stressful experience for many
students. If there were an actual likelihood of violence, then these
measures would of course be justified, but to institute them simply on the
basis that "it might happen" is preposterous and a major impediment to the
cause of improving education.
That was me being angry.
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