I cant believe this tweet is how I find out
now all the things you guys have told me about american high schools are starting to make sense
holy shit.
You're not really supposed to say it this way, because its considered crass, but here in the US children are culturally and legally considered essentially the property of their parents.
Note that its considered more crass to point this out than it is to treat children as property in the first place.
Also- might I add, in the fine print of public schools in the USA, parents actually sign away their children’s right to free speech. within the time the school is legally responsible for them at least.
Speaking out of turn in a school, irregardless of whatever it is you have said, is a punishable offense. Repercussions can stem all the way from notes in your file to detention and even full on expulsion and or suspension.
That’s why when you see stories about kids doing something for protest (ie wearing a shirt/hat with the movements symbol) and getting suspended or something. there isn’t ever any real repercussions for the school even IF there is public outcry. Technically, the students parents and school stripped them of one of there constitutional rights, all without the student knowing about it.
I told this to an American high school teacher once, and she didn’t even know about it. She has two small children, and freaked out even more so when she realized that she had signed the paperwork to do the same to her own children.
Half the time parents don’t even realize they’re doing it, that they’ve stripped their children of their personhood. It’s a cultural norm. But when put into stark detail it’s obvious that our laws leave so much room for abuse. it often makes me sick to think about.
