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

"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]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?

...

"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."

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."

"I agree," Andros said, nodding, "if the article didn't give names, then there was less of a chance of finding the identity of the person,"

"Well it does depend on how big the student population is, and how many pregnant students there," Meg pointed out.

"Which, that information's not given, so we can't really be sure," Alex said. "Of course, you could say the same of any news story with names withheld, really. There might be enough information given that someone could identify the subject, but does that mean we shouldn't talk about it? And if the concern is for the students' privacy, I would think the bigger question would be whether they consented to be talked about in the article or not."

"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."

"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?"

"I did not think of that. You have a very good point," Teyla said. "I suppose it would be more fair to protect the girls."

"You'd be surprised," Joan said. "A girl at my old school managed to hide her pregnancy until after she gave birth."

"Really? I did not know such a thing was possible," Teyla said. "But then, I cannot imagine anyone from my home trying to hide a pregnancy ~~yet~~."

"Yeah, I didn't know either," Joan said.

"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."

Edited 2008-10-03 00:31 (UTC)

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."

"But is this about privacy or censoring a subject most adults are squeamish to talk about?" Dor asked seriously. "Maybe they're worried about kids finding out how to summon a stork and joining the Adult Conspiracy?"

It took her a bit, but Hinata thought she got the basic gist of what he was saying.

"I s-shouldn't think that an a-article t-talking about how it's a-alreadying happening would b-be the c-cause of people finding o-out about that. T-Those that would b-be in danger w-would likely h-have better r-resources t-than an a-article about pregnancy f-for that."

"What if there are kids who don't know?" Dor pointed out. "Or if it publicized something they didn't want happening? I find most adults prefer to keep that kind of information secret."

"It's still an awfully delicate subject, isn't it?" Agnes asked. "I mean, these girls' reputations could be seriously ruined by something like that."

"Maybe they should ask the pregnant students how they feel," Tony suggested.

Re: Group 3

finding-x-dream.livejournal.com - 2008-10-02 18:06 (UTC) - Expand

talks2objects.livejournal.com - 2008-10-02 19:07 (UTC) - Expand

finding-x-dream.livejournal.com - 2008-10-02 19:48 (UTC) - Expand

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."

"Was the point of the article supposed to be educational information about teen pregnancy or was it simply gossip about fellow students?" Momoko was confused. "That would make a difference, the intent of the article."

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

Class exercise!

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