One reason why I love the young: A Tale

[Voice for Peace]

When one of my daughters was a junior in high school, a most beautiful thing happened.

It was the day of a pep rally, when classes were shortened so the school could gather in the auditorium to generate school spirit, & cheer on the football team for the next day's game.

The thing was: attendance was mandatory. Guards were posted all around the school to be sure that nobody skipped the rally. Anyone who got caught playing hooky would be punished.

But D. and her boyfriend had a different idea: they wanted to be free, and have fun.

So they dodged the guards, hiding in bathrooms, around corners, behind posts -- until they found an unguarded exit; and they fled.

I was working at home; mid-afternoon they appeared at the house, breathless, exultant, having escaped the dementors of the minimum security prison we call public high school.

I was so happy, SO PROUD of them. They got it right!
GO KIDS!
YAY for freedom, and fun!

:bounce: :loveya: :applause: :rofl: :yourock: :woohoo:

[dorktv]

1. Um...

wow.

[Voice for Peace]

6. yes, it was a big wow. I am still happy when I remember it.

[dorktv]

15. no comment.

[Voice for Peace]

16. Thanks!

[madmom]

2. A child after my own heart, I did the same thing!

[Voice for Peace]

10. Ah MadMom, yo momma must have been proud of you then.

[chknltl]

3. Through everything... I am glad to hear that America...

...still exists. I love this story, thank you for sharing Voice For Peace.

[Voice for Peace]

7. thank you! I believe that young spirit is the hope of not just America but all humanity.

[RedCappedBandit]

4. Woo!

I find it sickening that the school tried to force anybody to attend a "pep rally"

Good for your daughter

[Voice for Peace]

9. Yes and it bodes well for the human race. One girl, one voice for true freedom.

[Systematic Chaos]

5. Good on them!

At my high schools the pep rallies were never mandatory, as they were usually held after school hours.

I did, however, have to attend a number of "assemblies". Luckily, most of those didn't suck. :)

[Voice for Peace]

8. "School spirit" reminds me of our current adult version of patriotism.

Do not question how you feel, or what you really think. Above all, avoid controversy. Be like the crowd. Don't make waves.

[RedCappedBandit]

13. A DUer posted a while back...

that high school football, school spirit, pep rallies etc are all just our way of preparing the youth to live in a militarized, nationalistic world.
I think he/she was right.

[Voice for Peace]

14. Yes, and the whole public school system runs on fear. Fear of failure, fear of

not fitting in, not succeeding, fear of punishment for breaking the rules. Becomes fear of being yourself, fear of being free, fear of speaking out. The high school my kids went to is populated by kids of prominent successful DC families. Lot of money and lot of pressure. A huge percentage of the kids are on drugs. Legal drugs. Coping drugs, success drugs.

[Berry Cool]

11. Hurray for them!

I HATED forced school pep rallies, absolutely HATED 'em. Always felt like I was at a Hitler Youth rally.

[knitter4democracy]

12. When I taught, I had to help guard. I hated it.

The first school I taught in after I graduated from college had fun pep rallies (each class had its own cheer and would do its best to out-scream the others--needed earplugs those days), but the second school's rallies were painful. I would've left early myself if I could. I hated having to enforce the rules there when they were just made up by our power-crazy principal.

[Voice for Peace]

19. One time I had to talk to the principal at the kids' high school. One of the teachers had

violated the rights of one of my kids' friends, had confiscated and damaged a private journal. This had led to a major problem between the kid & the kid's parents, leading to threats of putting the kid in a mental institution. Seriously crazy parents.

I called the aclu to get their advice about the incident. They told me the school was wrong, the kid was right. So I went to see the principal.

He started telling me how evil some of the kids were. How they believed in witchcraft and so on and so forth, blahblahblah. So I mentioned that I had consulted the aclu for their legal opinion on the incident.

Wow, that changed his tune really, really fast. I have been a card-carrying member ever since.

[Brigid]

17. You have just won . . .

my coveted Post of the Day Award. This absolutely makes my day! :rofl:

Too bad I can't recommend this (it's too late), because everybody needs to see this.

[Voice for Peace]

18. Thanks very much, it's the first award I've ever won on DU!