Ann,
I appreciate your post and sympathize with your conundrum of what happened in class. But it seems to me that to encourage showing respect, the principal should have talked to the teacher and the other students about respecting the minority beliefs of the affected student, not the other way around!
Why is OK to single out the different one to require her to show respect to the others in accordance with what they (the majority) think is right? Refusing to stand on religious grounds does not show disrespect. And it is not uncivil, as it appears your student may have been.
BTW, why not talk to the offended person and suggest that she both toughen up and lighten up a bit and show some tolerance for others who may not yet be as enlightened as she is? People should speak with the understanding that what they say and the way the say it and where they say it matters. But people should also listen with compassion and the understanding that not all of us express ourselves perfectly or exactly as someone else would like us to (or even as we would like to) all the time.
Steve
This seems like an excellent example of a good time for the school to just give an apology. But I wonder if there is any legal violation in talking to students about the advisability of being respectful to the feelings and beliefs of the other students. We were discussing US v. Lee in my Religion and the Law class yesterday, and one of the students was characterizing the Amish in a way that was a bit derisive and another student snapped at him. That was the first time in 3 years of teaching the course that there was ever any discomfort in talking about the sensitive topic of religion. As the class was leaving, I motioned him over and said something to the effect that people in the class are used to a tradition of speaking very respectfully about religious beliefs, and that he might want to tone it down lest people get mad at him. He's a law student of course, and the girl in the news is a middle school student, but I do feel that what I was doing was similar to what this principal did: encouraging a student to show more respect in the classroom.
Ann
--
Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8428
2900 Van Ness Street NW mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Washington, DC 20008 http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar
"Years ago my mother used to say to me... 'In this world Elwood' ... She always used to call me Elwood... 'In this world Elwood, you must be Oh So Smart, or Oh So Pleasant.' Well for years I was smart -- I recommend pleasant. You may quote me." --Elwood P. Dowd
- Mary Chase, "Harvey", 1950
-- Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017 Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8428 2900 Van Ness Street NW mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Washington, DC 20008 http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
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