The Anti-Paper

Welcome to the Anti-Paper, an open zone of free speech for the students of Central Dauphin High School. These articles do not have to be about Central Dauphin High School all of the time, but it is preferable that the authors are students of the school. Before you submit an article or essay in the guestbook, there are a few rules and regulations you must follow.

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It is unfortunately true that we, as students, lose our rights at the schoolhouse gates. This includes the freedom of speech entitled to us in the first amendment. I am not going to argue points on whether or not the founding fathers of our nation intended it to be this way. While doubtful that the men who drafted the constitution were thinking about excluding the youth of America, there is no proof on which to base that assumption. Instead I am going to discuss the hypocrisy of the school’s disciplinarians’ decisions. On the week of March 3, 2002, one student was suspended for “unauthorized distribution of a paper.” The paper in question was a series of rants and complaints about the hypocrisies and ridiculousness at the school (ex: Why in the world would the school, an academic institution, place more emphasis on football than learning?). At least three students decided to peacefully protest this decision by wearing t-shirts in support of the suspended student, and they were told to hide their shirts.

1. The “unauthorized distribution of a paper”. This was the grounds for suspension in this situation. But was it grounds for suspension? Doubtful. Would the disciplinarians have given the same punishment to somebody who wandered down the hall handing out pictures of puppy dogs with bows around their necks? I can guarantee that there would be no disciplinary action taken. The disciplinarians decided to take into account their own opinions on the matter. Principals like puppy-dogs-with-bows-around-their-necks, but they do not stand for harsh-yet-true criticism of their establishment and the people who are paid and/or forced to be there every day. Therefore, the puppy-loving student would not receive the disciplinary action, but the activists for a more educational and safer learning environment would receive suspension.
2. The t-shirts. There are times in the disciplinarian’s career that they must censor a t-shirt for an offensive message, obscenity, or contraband product reference. I have seen my fair share of students have their shirts turned inside-out due to drug-related comments or alcohol-company-logos. This is obviously appropriate. There is a point, however, where the line between inappropriate and appropriate is rather thin. The disciplinarians should not, by any means, have the right to censor a t-shirt simply because it is in favor of a cause that they are against, or vice-versa. T-shirts that had been censored at school for this reason have said such phrases as “Free” this student “for Free Speech” and “Save” this student. These are not entirely controversial shirts. And if these are deemed controversial, then why do other causes get to wave their banners high in t-shirt form? These are some examples of uncensored t-shirt slogans I have seen this year alone: “Communism—Join the Party!”; “Abortion is Homicide”; “Jesus is Love”. These t-shirts are not censored, for reasons unbeknownst to me. I’ve known the first two shirts to cause much more of a ruckus and controversy than the free-speech shirts which were censored. I can imagine if I went to school with a t-shirt on that said “I am pro-life. Abortion is not homicide”, it would cause a stir with the administrators. I guarantee that if I wore a shirt into school that says “Satan is Love”, or “There is no God,” I would be forced to turn it inside out, remove it, or take it off entirely. I have known the apparently-more-fluffy version to cause a bit of controversy as well, and it would never be censored. Would the administration react differently to a shirt that said “Black Pride” and a shirt that said “White Pride”? Yes. As an administrator of disciplinary action, is it not their job to remain unbiased and accepting of others?

You can’t choose your battles. Just a little something to think about.

Clothes, the one thing people see when they are at school. People are judged by what they wear more than on what they are actually like. We are limited to our creativity by the authorities that govern the hell we sit through everyday. One cannot express themselves properly when codes are made restricting the types of things we are allowed to wear. This is a problem when authority makes one change out of something and put a stupid shirt on. Some examples are Hooters shirts. I mean, it is a restaurant. Who cares? Are the principals all that immature? I think that everyone should be able to wear what they want as their own way of expressing their opinions. If girls can wear abortion shirts guys can wear kill babies shirts. If Christians can wear Godly shirts then Satanists can wear shirts with 666 and whatever else they want to wear about Satan. The one piece of clothing that kids at CD are not allowed to wear is pajama pants. I do not see why students can not wear the most comfortable pants ever. Because they are so loose? Because they have an open crotch sometimes? Who knows? People should be able to wear anything they want to school, even if the shirt has a swear word on it. If it offensive to someone than put your opinion on a shirt saying that you hate swearing. Be creative it is just clothing

As I drove home tonight I looked up at the moon and almost ran off the road. The way the light from the moon bounced off the clouds and made it seem like day, was so breathtaking that I could not look away. It was on of those moments that you wished you had a camera. In this case I did but the batteries in it were bad and I could not take it.

When I saw the moon it make me think of all the things that I would miss if we went to war and I was drafted. I am unsure if I would go into the draft or run to Canada. I am sort of leaning to Canada, because there I can see the moon and the stars and not have to worry about anything else.

After watching the President's speech on war and Iraq, I felt scared. I do not want to go to war. I would rather just look at the moon and be with my friends. For the first time in a while I was scared. I do not want to go over to another country and fight someone else's war.

The way the moon looked tonight only looks this way every once in a while. A war only comes once and a while. They just so happened to come at the same time making me realize that war is not the answer. Things can be settled without violence. Why hurt all the beautiful things and kill many people when talks can just settle things between enemies.

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