Apr 19 2008
Student warned of ‘failing grade’ if absent from ‘Day of Silence’
A coalition of Christian organizations is encouraging students to stay home when their schools recognize the “Day of Silence” homosexual-lifestyle promotion this year – and the reaction has started coming in.
Liberty Counsel reports it has had complaints from parents and students about a wide range of misbehaviors or misrepresentations presented by schools.
For example, in one school district a principal told a father if his son was not at school on the “Day of Silence,” the student would be given a failing grade for the year. In Indiana, parents were told by public school officials it was “against the law” for them to cancel the program or excuse absences that day. And in Iowa, a school board member said a student refusing to speak throughout a school day was no more disruptive than a “Christian wearing a cross.”
“When it comes to the Day of Silence, silence is not an option,” said Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University’s School of Law.
“Students have the right not to remain silent. Students can refuse to attend school. They may mount a counter-protest in support of purity and the traditional family. While schools may be required to allow clubs to meet on campus, schools do not have to promote the Day of Silence. Students to not have the right to remain silent when called upon by teachers,” Staver said.
Liberty Counsel has assembled a legal memorandum that explains how to protect schools from being “hijacked” by the agenda of the event, which is promoted by the homosexual advocacy organization Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.
The memo advises that student conduct causing a substantial disruption or material interference with school activities is not protected under the First Amendment.
Liberty Counsel said that in Oklahoma, a high school graduate was told by her former principal if he did not allow the Day of Silence he could not allow the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In South Dakota, a student was told her absence on that day would impose a requirement that she write a paper explaining why she did not participate.
Read about it here.
[From me]
Look, why can’t parents hold their children out of school that day. Isn’t that another form of protest? If one group can protest why can’t the other side counter protest?
What do you think?
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
I think it’s perfectly legitimate for parents to protest by keeping their kids home. It makes me wonder though, what kind of person would protest another person’s protest against prejudice and abuse?
Fortunately for GLSEN, I think the counter protest is getting them far more attention then they could possibly have gotten without it. And after all, that was the goal of the Day of Silence in the first place: to publicize the prejudice and abuse against gays and lesbians.
An extremely touchy subject. I personally wouldn’t want to “protest the protest”, because I don’t hate gay people. I don’t want to hurt them. However, neither do I believe this is an appropriate thing for our public schools to be promoting. An indepently organized student protest is one thing, but the school leaders and teachers need to be forced to leave it alone – in both directions – just like they are now with See You At the Pole.
Day of Silence is GREATLY disrupting to education and thus should not be allowed – on THAT basis. Not because of what it’s about.
Gay clubs and the “Day of Silence” are revolting and have no use in schools. They use the Trojan Horse of being anti-bullying to get them in.
But why have sex clubs just for that? All you need is a simple and thoroughly enforced anti-bullying policy: “If you physically or verbally harass other students on or off school grounds you will have swift and serious consequences. It doesn’t matter if you are bullying because they are gay/straight/fat/thin/smart/dumb/pretty/ugly/etc., or if it is just because you are a mean jerk.”
I would protect gays if they were being bullied, but that isn’t what this issue is really about. The whole “Day of Silence” thing is just part of the gay propoganda machine. http://www.massresistance.com/
Neil’s last blog post..Weekly roundup
[...] Day of Silence (where schools encourage kids to be completely silent for a day to protest alleged discrimination [...]
Bernard,
Agreed.
I think it definitely could be. For example, it would be disruptive if students refused to respond to teachers.
I don’t think refusal to participate in class should be tolerated. On the other hand, I don’t see that the silence, outside of classroom participation, is particularly disruptive to classroom instruction.
I believe the classroom is the wrong place for this type of thing. If my kids went to public school, I’d keep them home. Not to protest but to protect them. It is a catch22 situation for them. If they don’t keep silent then I suspect that they would be labeled, bullied, etc. for “hating homosexuals”. And some kids are very strong in faith to stand up against the silence but frankly other kids are not (yet). Peer pressure would encourage some kids to compromise their faith.
Schools are for eduction not pushing agendas.
Christine’s last blog post..A New Ride: The Britax Frontier
Kevin,
Mark my words; this is bigger than just the homosexual agenda. When Principal’s threaten failure because of one absence, the issue is power and control. School boards across America have tremendous power. This is about usurping parental authority. If you think back, this is simply John Dewey’s dream becoming reality, when children are separated from traditional modes of thinking (i.e. parents and churches) and “trained” (i.e. not educated, but indoctrinated) to capitulate to the prevailing cultural worldview so that they become “good citizens.”
And I’m not totally anti-public school. My oldest currently attends public school and we are very happy, but he’s in second grade, and I keep getting this sneeking feeling that we will be home schooling before too many more years pass, primarily because of the way the school system tries to be “Lord” over parents.
Perhaps Christian parents should withhold their children from public schools entirely.
Seriously.
Chris Knight’s last blog post..Lost Infocom games unearthed
I am a public school administrator. While I frequently disagree with parents’ reasons for their children’s absences, I completely agree with their right to make that determination.
NO principal should be able to tell a parent that a child can not be absent. There may, in fact, be consequences to the absence – missed class activities, etc.; but a parent’s right to determine what their child does (including school attendance) is not my job as a school administrator. My job is to provide the best eduation possible to the children we ARE in attendance each day.
Charles
It really should be treated as any other school day. Students who don’t want to be involved in he alcoholic stunts of awareness during the school day don’t have to be. Those students who are “killed” during or between class are not kept from partcipating in class assignments…just discussions. If you or your child doesn’t want to be involved, then the options are to not pay attention or stay home. Which is actually what happens daily…we don’t pay attentention to problems or we pull our children out of school. It really is a power trip for the prinicpal to say a failing grade would occur. It should be treated as any other absence, since the whole point is susposed to be about equality.
If a public school wants to take time away from classes, I’m all for it. As a student, some of the best conversations I had were during such breaks. Perhaps a few kids will make new friends and plant a seed or two.
Edgar.
I have been a gay-straight alliance advisor, and our GSA has sometimes organized a Day of Silence. No non-participating students were ever thought of as anti-gay, and I always urged students NOT to disrupt class by refusing to participate. On the contrary, the most important time to be silent is at one’s locker, at lunch, etc.– social situations.
It makes NO sense for students who don’t want to participate to skip school that day. Other people’s silence in NO WAY affects them!
Also, DOS is generally a high school and college event– we’re not talking “children” here. If students of that age and their parents don’t want to deal with the public, which includes GLBT people, then don’t enroll in public school. But if you are enrolled then, no, you don’t get to decide when to be there and not. That sort of thinking is exactly why many of our students perform so poorly. I speak from 25 years’ experience as an educator at the secondary level.
Where did you get the crazy — I mean, really whacked out — idea that schools are promoting this?
Such a charge is just another part of the hate agenda, promoted by the same people who think it’s okay to beat kids up.
That’s the stupidity and barbarity against which the silent students protest. It’d be nice to tell them they don’t need to protest, but so long as someone is out there peddling such gross disinformation, the protests do indeed seem to be justified.
I have no doubt Jesus urges people to respect the silent protesters. I regret others don’t see things so clearly.
Bullying is always evil. Supporting the bullies by complaining about the protests against bullying may be a step away from the core of the evil, but it’s still supporting evil.
And how do we get to part that we label bullying supporters as “Christian?” It may be a coalition, but there’s nothing Christian about that mission.
Ed Darrell’s last blog post..San Jacinto Day in the rearview mirror
[...] their friends and relatives protest bullying of gays with a Day of Silence. Neil Simpson wrote: The Day of Silence (where schools encourage kids to be completely silent for a day to protest alleged discrimination [...]
Ed,
Who says it is OK to beat kids up. I agree bullying is evil so why have a day about bullying one group? Why not have emphasis about all bullying that has nothing to do with sex?
Kevin Bussey’s last blog post..Bonehead sign of year–maybe decade..
Neil Simpson’s representative on the Texas State Board of Education pulled Texas’ board out of the National Association of State Boards of Education because their massive, well-received and effective anti-bullying curriculum includes gay students in the group of people who should not be bullied.
That sort of quiet endorsement of violence against gays is a key driver of this perfectly legitimate, Constitution protected, non-intrusive protest.
Look at the flap WorldNet Daily makes. Why should any kid be excused from school for this protest? Gays aren’t asking permission to skip school and not be penalized — only the anti-gay, so-called Christians demand special rights unavailable to any other student.
Here’s the rule in Texas schools: You skip class, you get a zero. It applies to Christian Scientists on the day we teach germ theory in biology. It applies to rabid rednecks the day we teach Emmitt Till in U.S. history. It applies to racists the day we teach Huck Finn in English.
If you don’t like the non-intrusive exercise of Constitutional rights, show up and answer the teacher’s discussion questions.
No special rights for anti-gay bigots; no bigots of any other stripe get a break, either.
Ed Darrell’s last blog post..The inaccuracy and spin go all the way to 11