Ross, I can see your point(s). At the same time, I think the school official(s) should provide adequate proof that the student was not merely speaking the truth. Many of them are douchebags--surely at least in numbers proportionate to the douchebag population in the rest of society. I think I would want the non-douchebagness of this particular administrator written into the record somehow before I could side with anyone wanting to punish the girl for speaking her mind.

Of course I am being a little facetious here. After all, the school official could actually be a crapweasel, or worse, a turd burglar. The fact is, we just don't know, and nothing in the article lets us know.

I am reminded of the landmark case of Spicoli v Ridgemont, where young Spicoli made a similar remark. Of course in that case there was no question of the young man serving in, or being elected to, student government.

After the euphoria of the 60's and 70's (in certain parts of the society) had begun to fade, in the 80's we started to see ever-greater administrative control of student publications (newspapers, magazines). I have never felt quite right about any of that, since it seems to me that public education in a democracy ought to be about teaching the young how to exercise their rights, though of course a line has to be drawn somewhere that describes the event horizon of responsibility that ought not be crossed.

I do not think, for example, that allowing a student publication to call for the assassination of a teacher or administrator, is a good idea. But I'm not certain that allowing a student publication, in the form of an editorial, to call an administrator a douchebag is a bad thing at all. Adult people need to grow thicker skins and realize that the act of putting such a comment out there in public can be its own sort of lesson, without any need for retribution by the admin.

I certainly don't think that schools should have dominion over the blogs or other internet posts of their students. My reasoning is, it is far too simple for the people in charge to hide the very depth of their douchebaggery, when the very people (the very young people) who have to deal with that douchebaggery the most, and on a daily basis, are not allowed any venue by which to speak their minds.

H4.5