Friday, October 16, 2015

Right to Soccer


"That's censorship. Don't we have freedom of speech?"

Um, sure. You can discuss what you want. Outside of class. When you don't have an individual assignment to work on.

Today's post goes along with the annual Blog Action Day. This year's theme is "Raise Your Voice". That's an important topic. Many places it's hard to speak out about what matters. We should support those who do speak out in the hopes of improving the world.

Some of the kiddos I see in various classes discuss important topics. They question. School newspapers publish things that get them into trouble. And I support their right to say what they think and to protest appropriately when they see something they feel needs changing. (Sometimes it even helps.)

But these kiddos had an assignment. On the French Revolution, interestingly enough. And I insisted they get back to it.

I suppose I was suppressing their freedom of expression. I wasn't allowing them to discuss what they wanted. So, apparently I fall on the wrong side of this year's Blog Action Day topic. But I'm okay with that.

What were they discussing? Something soccer related.



Those we should support are people like Lauren Batchelder. What she did took real courage. Piling on to people who speak their minds (about things that matter) shouldn't be vilified by the online trolls.  
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8 comments:

  1. J E OneilOctober 16, 2015 at 1:18 PM

    Apparently those kids don't fully understand exactly what "freedom of speech" means. Maybe they should do an assignment on it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. mshatchOctober 16, 2015 at 6:35 PM

    Nor do they understand the consequences sometimes associated with free speech. What happened to Lauren Batchelder is a big reason hate social media. There's all those trolls just waiting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nadine_FeldmanOctober 17, 2015 at 6:03 AM

    I did not know about Lauren Batchelder. Thank you for sharing the link.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz A.October 19, 2015 at 5:16 PM

      I saw the story after I wrote this post. Much more apropos for the topic than my silly little story.

      Delete
  4. bettyOctober 17, 2015 at 7:26 AM

    The story about Lauren Batchelder is a sad one in several ways. Too bad adults who should know better bully on social media.

    Betty

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz A.October 19, 2015 at 5:17 PM

      I know! It's so stupid, but I guess some people think such things are okay.

      Delete
  5. UnknownOctober 17, 2015 at 5:35 PM

    Good on Lauren. Is that man really in with a chance? I can't think of anyone sillier.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz A.October 19, 2015 at 5:17 PM

      I certainly hope not. Unfortunately, there are people out there who are taking him seriously.

      Delete

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