Leadership Thursday, Period 1, Class 5, (10/2/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"Today we're going to talk about beliefs and values," Nathan said as he passed around a handout. "For the purposes of today's class we're defining values as what you feel is important and beliefs as what shapes your values. For example, you would not value care for the elderly if you did not believe that the elderly were important.

"Beliefs can come from many areas. Religion, experience, culture, family, and so on," Nathan said. "As a leader it's important for you to recognize what your beliefs are. This may sound obvious, but many of us don't realize how many of our beliefs we take for granted. That creates problems when we don't realize why we do what we do. It also makes it difficult for us to relate to those who don't share our beliefs. Beliefs can occasionally work as assumptions. And we all know what happens when we make assumptions." Nathan grinned at all of them.

"Knowing our beliefs and values also helps serve as a self-check," Nathan said. "I value justice. I believe justice is important. Therefore I should make sure that as a leader I do things that help to encourage a just society. Knowing my values also helps me to make decisions. Do I value justice more than I do a healthy economy? Do I value the ends more than the means? As an American, do I value some parts of the Bill of Rights more than others? Do I believe that my preferences make a difference?

"For today's class you'll be split into groups. Take a moment to think about what you believe and value, then discuss how you would solve the problem I'm going to give you. There's no right or wrong answer, and your group doesn't have to agree. The goal here is to get a feel for what you believe and value, then see what it's like from the perspective of someone else who may not share those beliefs. As always, I'm here if you have questions."

Problem: Does a publically funded high school have the right to censor a student-written article for the school newspaper? The article is about teenage pregnancy within the school. It doesn't name names, but educated guesses could be made based upon the details given. The journalism students feel that it is important to speak frankly about the issue of teen pregnancy. The school administration feels that it is a violation of privacy for the pregnant students. What do you think?

Group 1
Alex Drake
Meg Powers
Summer Roberts
Teddy Altman
Andros

Group 2
Bender
Tabitha-Ruth Wexler
Joan Girardi
Evey Hammond
Teyla Emmagan

Group 3
Agnes Nitt
Lucas Scott
Hinata Hyuuga
Dor
Tony Foster

Group 4
Jaina Solo
Momoko Akatsutsumi
Andrew Wiggin
Ben Skywalker



[ooc: ocd is up! Example based on Hazelwood School Dist. v. Kuhlmeier]

Comments

Sign in!

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

I believe this should be collapsy

Re: Sign in!

[endsthegame]

Andrew Wiggin

Re: Sign in!

[momslilassassin]

Ben Skywalker

Re: Sign in!

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

Teddy Altman

During the Class

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Take notes, talk amongst yourselves, think about your own beliefs and values.

Class exercise!

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Problem: Does a publically funded high school have the right to censor a student-written article for the school newspaper? The article is about teenage pregnancy within the school. It doesn't name names, but educated guesses could be made based upon the details given. The journalism students feel that it is important to speak frankly about the issue of teen pregnancy. The school administration feels that it is a violation of privacy for the pregnant students. What do you think?

Group 1

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

...

Re: Group 1

[absolutesnark]

"I think the students should find a way to discuss the teen pregnancy issue without revealing who the pregnant students are," Summer said. "I don't think that anyone's privacy should be violated."

Re: Group 1

[meg-powers.livejournal.com]

Meg nodded. "There's enough room for discussion that the article can most likely be kept general enough to not point fingers at any one specific student."

Group 2

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

...

Re: Group 2

[athosborn.livejournal.com]

"For me, it would depend on whether or not the pregnant students felt their privacy was being violated," Teyla said. "It isn't exactly a matter that can be kept private forever."

Re: Group 2

[shiniernyours.livejournal.com]

"But what if they don't all agree?" said Bender. "Someone thinks they can be identified by the article, so you're actually axing if they care about it. Or's their privacy not a problem if they're okay with that?"

Re: Group 2

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"It all," Turtle offered, "boils down to the right of free speech. The school may feel that some students need to be protected, okay, sure, good on them, but the writers have the right to a freedom of speech, especially in a publicly funded institution. No names are mentioned, and the situation is not being handled in an inflammatory, slanderous way. Our constitutionally given rights trump that kind of censorship on the part of the school. We have to stand for the rights we deserve, or else we stand to lose them."

"Perhaps, though, to settle some steam, it would probably be in the best interest of the paper to include something warning more sensitive readers of the nature of the article."

Group 3

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

...

Re: Group 3

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hinata pressed her fingers together before speaking, "A-Ano, if it w-was so e-easy to g-guess who it w-was about in the a-article then t-the chances a-are that any a-article m-mentioning teen p-pregnancy w-would have l-led people t-to guess the s-same."

Group 4

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

...

Re: Group 4

[momslilassassin]

Ben shrugged. "If that school is like any other group I've ever been a part of, most people already knew who was being talked about, and the clueless ones wouldn't care and probably needed the information provided by the article."

Talk with Meg

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

I believe it's important for her to ping in first.

Talk with Nathan

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

He believes that he knows more than most people.

OOC

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

I believe most of you can now name one more Supreme Court case than a certain someone who I believe shall remain nameless.

Re: OOC

[momslilassassin]

I am far, far too excited about the debate tonight.

Re: OOC

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Me too. *gets popcorn*

Re: OOC

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

Did you get your bingo card (http://palinbingo.com/)? :D

Re: OOC

[mike-cannon.livejournal.com]

Even better, you covered a case that I didn't cover in constitutional law!

Re: OOC

[the_merriest]

Imagine how embarrassing it'd be if you couldn't name one, but just, like, three months ago, you'd ranted about one at a press conference. I mean. That'd be really crazy.

I need more liquor.