Principal Wants to Ban Pink Song
by TChris
When schools censor the political expression of students, they teach kids that the Constitution is meaningless. That's the wrong lesson.
Camille Pontillo, the principal of Park Springs Elementary in Coral Springs, Florida, needs to learn a lesson of her own. Pontillo's school is having a talent show, but Pontillo won't allow 10-year-old Molly Shoul to sing Pink's new song, "Dear Mr. President." Pontillo doesn't think students should sing songs that are "too political."
Molly's mother nails it:
"If this was a student singing a pro-administration song, no one would quibble with it," Shoul said. "The principal is just running scared and doesn't want to upset any parents."
Schools should encourage political debate, even when the debaters are in grade school.
"It's as if the principal's worst nightmare is for intellectual debate and controversy to break out in a classroom," [Howard] Simon said.
A Broward County School District spokesperson claims that "the principal has every right to determine what music her students should hear at a school function." If the principal were inviting outside performers to the school, that might be true. This principal is censoring the viewpoints that students are allowed to express. That's a different issue. The protection of political speech is at the core of the First Amendment, and students don't lose their First Amendment rights by complying with laws that require them to attend school.
The District should have learned that lesson last year when it threatened to suspend a student for wearing a T-shirt with the face of President Bush and the phrase "International Terrorist." The School Board changed course when the ACLU threatened to sue. It's likely to change course in Molly's case, as well.
| < May 4, 1970: Four Dead in Ohio | Heading Home and Thanks > |
