Speech Codes

After reading about and seeing the pictures from the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, I am left just very lost and confused. Honestly, what were these kids thinking? There is absolutely no way that they could have thought it wouldn’t offend people. Doing things like going as "far as to simulate the lynching of a member in blackface wearing a T-shirt bearing the name FUBU." In my opinion I found that just really dumb and cannot see what their impact was, other than trying to offend blacks. As our homecoming just passed, it makes me think of the underground senior t-shirts. The last few years the seniors have come to see that the t-shirts although very funny to the student body offends everyone else. There is just no place in schools for things like this, and the kids who run the frat, should be punished. There are plenty of ways for frats to have fun without discriminating other races.

I took a look at Illinois State University. Although it had a "fire" rating, it didn’t really concern me because looking at the other colleges, many of them were in the "fire" category. Many of the rules and freedoms were pretty basic, but the one that caught me the most was how the university, expects you to conform to their ideas. That really limits how free everyone really is, and makes it virtually impossible for one to express their ideas. Illinois State would have punished the students at Auburn very hard, for the sole reason that it goes against what the university believes in.

 College is right around the corner, and right now while I’m in the decision phase on where to go, these new sources will help me find a place to go. Obviously everyone has different opinions, and I want to go to a school that takes in the ideas of students instead of punishing them for them.  Colleges need to continue to learn from the students actions, and make their universities open and safe.

Where Has the Time Gone?

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was playing games with my brothers like Pokemon or Nintendo 64.  Now I'm the last kid in the house and I can only wonder, "where has the time gone?".  I always wanted to just grow up and become an adult so that I could do things on my own and do more, but now being 17 and in my last year of high school, I want to go back to being a kid. There are so many advantages of being a kid. When your a kid all your expected to do is live life with no stresses. With age the stresses increase and the expectations become much higher. As soon as you hit high school the stress' blow up and the pressures of being the best in sports, academics, and getting into the best possible college come upon you.  Between school and other activities the days fly by. It starts with the day flying by, then weeks, then before you know 17 years have flown by and now college is right around the corner.

Recently in English we had a free write on the toys of our childhood and the things that we did as kids. Brainstorming and reflecting on everything from the past, I remembered all the toys I had and mostly the the blanket I slept with every night. As I grew up, the free time I had to play with them lessened, and before I realized it I had grown completely apart from them. Seeing the movie Toy Story 3, made me realize how much i loved the toys and more importantly how much I missed my childhood. So maybe the time has gone so fast because of decisions I have made, and the things that are prioritized ahead of all the small things I loved as a kid.  As a concluding thought, even though we get older, it is truly our decision to stay or move past things from our childhood.

Why?

         As the horrible day of 9/11 has come and passed again, we once again for the 10th year in a row have seen our country come closer together. In class we watched the movie 9/11, and something that stuck out to me the most, was how close our country came together on the day of 9/11 and the few weeks following.  Why did it strike me? Maybe because I was so caught up in remembering 9/11 as a horrible day, or maybe it what was because I was too young when 9/11 happened to remember any of it, or probably it was the shock that we were forced to come so close together because of a tragic event. The U.S. hasn't had this big of an attack against them since 1941 when we were attacked on pearl harbor. Having 60 years of peace made everyone feel much safer. These attacks on the World Trade Center, forced us to lose a sense of security, but also forced us to become closer as a nation.
        The after math of 9/11 has been apparent for everyone. Boarding a plane used to be a no hassle procedure, but ever since than, the security has amped up a ton. Although the no hassle way was most convenient for everyone, due to the attacks, we were forced to take more procedures to insure the safety of everyone.
        Also we were forced to come together as a country, which was pretty extraordinary. All my life I have never seen our country come together more than it did that day. the next 10 years after on 9/11 we are reminded of what happened and we are brought closer together as a nation. Although 9/11 was such a horrific event the only optimistic thought that comes to mind is how it has brought our country closer together.  

Drawing a Line

Through out the past week of school we have looked at cases that questioned the first ammendment, and how free our speech truely is. In cases such as Morse v. Frederick or the Bathel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, the school was forced to restrict the students rights to protect both themselves and the students. In both of these cases the courts found that the School was "just" in the actions they took. Although the kids may have been expressing their ideas or opinions, the manner in which they chose to do it was very disruptive to the learning process. so where should a line be drawn? Well I obviously think that freedom of speech should be granted to students, with certain exceptions. It is easy to see why schools restrict kids from swearing, wearing gang shirts, and promoting illegal drugs. Without these restrictions schools could easily be exposed to violence and distractions from class time. Also schools put a lot of money in to teaching kids about what drugs do and discourage drug use, so why should kids be able to go against that? I do feel that students should have the rights to express how they feel, but they should do it in a civil way. It's common sense not to yell swears or to wear a shirt that promotes drugs.