Seen But Not Heard

The American public school system has always excelled at inculcating a herd mentality in the country’s youth. Students are taught to value conformity in everything from wardrobe choices to musical tastes. But in this post-Columbine, post 9/11 Bizarro world we inhabit, a lot of school administrators are starting to act like petty, anti-intellectual tyrants. Kids are suspended for writing fiction and poetry that some adults label as “dark” or “disturbing.” Teachers are getting laid off after their students read poetry critical of the Bush administration. The Secret Service gets called in when a teacher sees a student’s anti-war drawings. Artistic expression and free speech have become bothersome and inconvenient concepts for many school districts. I’m not worried about the kids; the ones with the creative spark will continue to draw and write and think. But amidst all the propaganda from the White House about exporting freedom, I find it terribly ironic that we allow this kind of behavior in our own institutions of learning.