Graduation Consternation, Administration Alienation
A Hispanic student in the Medical Lake School District wasn’t allowed to wear a cultural sash during the graduation ceremony, reports the Spokane Spokesman-Review:
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Michelle Ontiveros, 18, and another Hispanic student at the school were denied the opportunity to wear a sash resembling a serape during the ceremonies June 10th because of a school policy that does not allow deviation from the standard cap, gown, tassel and honor cords for those who qualified. A Native American student was denied a similar request last year.
“It’s like the school is just saying, “This is what we produced,’ as opposed to allowing the students to say who they are, celebrate who we are,” Ontiveros said. “I was really disappointed.”
Because of the short notice, Principal Scott Blasingame told the students nothing could be done to change a policy put in place years ago. “There was a problem in the past; there ere some things that didn’t look appropriate,” Blasingame said.
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You can read the entire story here, if you're a subscriber.
The upshot of the article is that after the parents called the state Human Rights Commission and sent a letter to the school, there’s now going to be a committee formed to look at the issue for future years.
I’m completely with the school on this one, and commend the principal for sticking to policy and not changing at the last minute to avoid a ruckus. Ms. Ontiveros was able to celebrate who she is at the ceremony where she was awarded the serape by the Hispanic Business Professionals Association—why isn’t that enough?
I’ll make the slippery slope argument, too—if everyone is celebrating who they are at graduation, can the racist wear his confederate flag? Would political signs (“Bush Sucks”, for example) be OK, if that was a part of who that person is? Pink triangles? Darwin fish? Could the future economics major sell ad space on their gown to Budweiser, Hooters, and TrimSpa?
My brother graduated from Central Washington University a couple of weeks ago. There were several graduates of the engineering department as well, all of whom wore hard hats to the ceremony. Similarly, when my student teacher graduated recently she wore a jump rope along with her honor cords. She was a Children’s Study major at the college, so it was a cute way to celebrate along with the department. These variations I’m OK with because they related to the academics at the school; I don’t think the serape does. Hypocricy on my part? Perhaps.
Thoughts?
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Michelle Ontiveros, 18, and another Hispanic student at the school were denied the opportunity to wear a sash resembling a serape during the ceremonies June 10th because of a school policy that does not allow deviation from the standard cap, gown, tassel and honor cords for those who qualified. A Native American student was denied a similar request last year.
“It’s like the school is just saying, “This is what we produced,’ as opposed to allowing the students to say who they are, celebrate who we are,” Ontiveros said. “I was really disappointed.”
Because of the short notice, Principal Scott Blasingame told the students nothing could be done to change a policy put in place years ago. “There was a problem in the past; there ere some things that didn’t look appropriate,” Blasingame said.
-----
You can read the entire story here, if you're a subscriber.
The upshot of the article is that after the parents called the state Human Rights Commission and sent a letter to the school, there’s now going to be a committee formed to look at the issue for future years.
I’m completely with the school on this one, and commend the principal for sticking to policy and not changing at the last minute to avoid a ruckus. Ms. Ontiveros was able to celebrate who she is at the ceremony where she was awarded the serape by the Hispanic Business Professionals Association—why isn’t that enough?
I’ll make the slippery slope argument, too—if everyone is celebrating who they are at graduation, can the racist wear his confederate flag? Would political signs (“Bush Sucks”, for example) be OK, if that was a part of who that person is? Pink triangles? Darwin fish? Could the future economics major sell ad space on their gown to Budweiser, Hooters, and TrimSpa?
My brother graduated from Central Washington University a couple of weeks ago. There were several graduates of the engineering department as well, all of whom wore hard hats to the ceremony. Similarly, when my student teacher graduated recently she wore a jump rope along with her honor cords. She was a Children’s Study major at the college, so it was a cute way to celebrate along with the department. These variations I’m OK with because they related to the academics at the school; I don’t think the serape does. Hypocricy on my part? Perhaps.
Thoughts?
posted by Ryan at 3:38 PM
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