Nate SY
04-20-2009, 04:01 PM
So a while back I posted about my school forcing students to participate in an invisible children video, which is being used to pressure interference in Uganda. The administration told me that the video would be taken care of after they heard students that didn't want to be included were forced to participate. They lied, posted it, and even showed it at lunch today. On loop...
So I went to the principle, complained and was asked to write my complaints. This is a copy of the letter, names are removed.
Issues with the Youtube promoting the invisible children's message prompting the U.S. Government to "Help" Uganda.
1. Ms._____ and Mr. ______ informed me that the video would "be taken care of". Obviously, it was not. I feel I was lied to so I would stop complaining. I have been disregarded and disrespected as a student.
2. Students included in the video were there because of fear of punishment. This shows no consideration for students First Amendment right to freedom of association.
3. I have been told that students who did not opt out of being in videos at the beginning of the year agree to be in this video. First, not opting out does not mean agreement. Second, this only applies to videos associating you with Bethel, not political interest groups like the group the video supports. To do that video without a release form from everyone in it is illegal as it violates Freedom of Association.
4. The school has no right to submit impressionable teenagers to a political opinion without allowing the opposing view to also present itself. If you show support for interfering in Uganda, at the very least show the history of government interfering in Africa.
5. The school used fear to make students attend the assembly and to participate in the video.
6. It is not the position of the school to make political statements, ever. The school is here to teach facts, not to preach opinions.
Overall my issue is that the school lied to me and showed no respect for multiple students political opinions. I believe that if the school has ANY respect for its students they will remove the video from youtube and STOP promoting the invisible children in school. For the record, I do not disagree with helping the children in Uganda, but with the method of achieving the help the invisible children propose.
-Also regardless of if you can tell who is in the video, it is not right for the school to make anyone be in it, to do so is to show more interest in supporting personal views of the staff than in furthering the education of the student.
Thank you,
My Signature
-P.S. I intend for this to be an Open letter, and will be posting it online. Without names.
Actually more upset now that I've seen the video on youtube. They imply that the entire school supports it, which I and many others don't.
Video
YouTube - Howard Schultz Come to The Rescue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts9-CTeUC4A)
Do me a favor and leave it some comments about why we SHOULDN'T interfere there.
So I went to the principle, complained and was asked to write my complaints. This is a copy of the letter, names are removed.
Issues with the Youtube promoting the invisible children's message prompting the U.S. Government to "Help" Uganda.
1. Ms._____ and Mr. ______ informed me that the video would "be taken care of". Obviously, it was not. I feel I was lied to so I would stop complaining. I have been disregarded and disrespected as a student.
2. Students included in the video were there because of fear of punishment. This shows no consideration for students First Amendment right to freedom of association.
3. I have been told that students who did not opt out of being in videos at the beginning of the year agree to be in this video. First, not opting out does not mean agreement. Second, this only applies to videos associating you with Bethel, not political interest groups like the group the video supports. To do that video without a release form from everyone in it is illegal as it violates Freedom of Association.
4. The school has no right to submit impressionable teenagers to a political opinion without allowing the opposing view to also present itself. If you show support for interfering in Uganda, at the very least show the history of government interfering in Africa.
5. The school used fear to make students attend the assembly and to participate in the video.
6. It is not the position of the school to make political statements, ever. The school is here to teach facts, not to preach opinions.
Overall my issue is that the school lied to me and showed no respect for multiple students political opinions. I believe that if the school has ANY respect for its students they will remove the video from youtube and STOP promoting the invisible children in school. For the record, I do not disagree with helping the children in Uganda, but with the method of achieving the help the invisible children propose.
-Also regardless of if you can tell who is in the video, it is not right for the school to make anyone be in it, to do so is to show more interest in supporting personal views of the staff than in furthering the education of the student.
Thank you,
My Signature
-P.S. I intend for this to be an Open letter, and will be posting it online. Without names.
Actually more upset now that I've seen the video on youtube. They imply that the entire school supports it, which I and many others don't.
Video
YouTube - Howard Schultz Come to The Rescue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts9-CTeUC4A)
Do me a favor and leave it some comments about why we SHOULDN'T interfere there.