Stupid White Men-- and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! - Michael Moore [53]
• In 1969, the Supreme Court (in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District) ruled that the First Amendment applies to students in public schools. Private schools have more leeway to set their own rules on free expression because they are not operated by the government.
• Public school, students can express their opinions orally and in writing (in leaflets or on buttons, armbands or T-shirts), as long as they do not “materially and substantially” disrupt classes or other school activities.
School officials can probably prohibit students from using “vulgar or indecent language,” but they cannot censor only one side of a controversy.
• If you and other students produce your own newspaper and want to hand it out in school, administrators cannot censor you or prohibit distribution of the paper (unless it is “indecent” or handing it out disrupts school activities).
• But administrators can censor what appears in the official school paper (the one that is published with school money). In the 1988 decision Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the United States Supreme Court held that public school administrators can censor student speech in official school publications or activities (like a school play, art exhibit, yearbook—or newspaper) if the officials think students are saying something inappropriate or harmful—even if it is not vulgar and does not disrupt any activity.
Some states—including Colorado, California, Iowa, Kansas, and Massachusetts—have “High School Free Expression” laws that give students expanded free speech rights. Check with your local ACLU to find out if your state has such laws.
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Literacy Programs
Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
1112 16th Street NW
Suite 340
Washington, DC 20036
202-955-6183
www.barbarabushfoundation.com
Literacy Volunteers of America
635 James Street
Syracuse, NY 13203-2214
315-472-0001
www.literacyvolunteers.org
Even Start Family Literacy Program
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20202
202-260-0991
www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/CEP-/programs.html#prog3
America Reads Challenge
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20202
202-401-0596
www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/
National Center for Family Literacy
Waterfront Plaza, Suite 200
325 W Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202-4251
502-584-0172
www.famlit.org
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Are You A Potential School Shooter?
The following is a list of traits the FBI has identified as “risk factors” among students who may commit violent acts. Stay away from any student showing signs of
• Poor coping skills
• Access to weapons
• Depression
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Alienation
• Narcissism
• Inappropriate humor Unlimited, unmonitored television and Internet use
Since this includes all of you, drop out of school immediately. Home schooling is not a viable option, because you must also stay away from yourself
SIX
Nice Planet, Nobody Home
I’D LIKE TO begin this chapter by revealing what I believe is one of the greatest threats currently facing our environment.
Me.
That’s right—I’m a walking ecological nightmare.
I am the Mother of All Bhopals!
Let’s start with this: I don’t recycle.
I think recycling is like going to church—you show up once a week, it makes you feel good, and you’ve done your duty. Then you can get back to all the fun of sinning!
Let me ask you this: do you honestly know where all those newspapers go after you drop them off at the recycling center, or where your soda pop bottles end up after you put them in the blue recycling containers? To some facility that will recycle them? Says who? Have you ever followed the truck that picks up your recyclables to see where it goes? Do you care? Is it enough for you to separate your glass from your plastic, your paper from your metals—and then leave the follow-though to someone else?
I will never cease to be amazed at the lemminglike nature of human beings and our unquestioning