Cobra-D wrote:....So am I the only one who thinks the response wasn't all that bad? Dude made a project that some didn't agree with, school said they'll look into it but most likely didn't break any rules, you guys acting like they threw the kid in a gulag.
At any rate the project seemed like something done to be contraversial as kids tend to do.
I should have been clearer. I'm not outraged at the school, though I still agree with Logan's overall sentiments. This is a news story specifically because the kid's project embraced an idea that is generally considered offensive or unacceptable. I bet there were other projects that made at least some factually inaccurate claims but which wouldn't/didn't make headlines because the subject matter didn't upset anyone.
I'm rather uneasy about a station even reporting on this random kid because, even though the student wasn't named, this could be humiliating/alienating to him and make him less receptive to criticism of his ideas (sometimes people double down when they feel attacked). Statements from the school such as the following might be problematic in that regard: “We understand it concerns a lot of people and doesn’t reflect our culture here.”
It remains to be seen what all the school will do, but if all that happens is that this project gets taken down because it offended people and is deemed racist, I will have an issue with it, in large part because it would be a missed opportunity to educate the kid about his project in a productive way. If those kinds of projects are prohibited in the future, I would also have objections (unless careful steps are taken to clarify why certain ideas are incorrect and not merely undesirable). I don't think that such responses would teach the student much, except to not express controversial views in settings where people might get upset. I'd much rather he think about and question his project in terms of facts and methods with the added consideration of social and historical context.
Thinking about possibly productive responses, this issue raised in the article could be a fantastic point for the school to discuss with the offending student and the student body at large:
Students in the program have similar economic backgrounds and belief systems, creating an echo chamber, she and other HISP students said. HISP students don’t get the insight of people of color or from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Hopefully the school's reaction ultimately achieves a discussion about these kinds of issues rather than couching things in terms of racism or discrimination per se. My main worry is that the lesson from this will end up being "avoid saying upsetting things" rather than "here's why what you said was wrong."