October/November Issue - South Burlington High School

Point - Counterpoint
Fall 2011 The Rebel Word Page 7
Is South Burlington Too Politically Correct?
Forward by Samuel Rodgers
Political correctness has become part of our culture. We choose our words carefully and “correct” others when they are not being “PC”. It is natural
then that a discussion of political correctness arises within the hallowed halls of South Burlington High School. Are we too politically correct
or are we not exercising enough political correctness? Two students consider this issue in this version of: Point/Counterpoint.
By Bailey Gokey
In the society we live in today almost
everything you say in public
could be used against you. Your
personal opinion can be taken out
of context or even seem offensive
when it is just that, an opinion.
When it comes to South Burlington
High School it’s a larger scale
than just one person’s opinion.
With students from all over the
world attending South Burlington
it would be hard for the administration
to know what would and
wouldn’t offend every student.
Rather than playing this guessing
game which very well could end
badly, the school should just continue
to strive to be as politically
By Sean Lunny
Our school has been caught in a
flurry of controversy in the past
few years. We all know about the
new grinding policy, the pep rally
was taken away and then reinstated
and there was plenty of controversy
with that, and of course the
Powder Puff (Wait, am I allowed
to say that?) Football Game. I find
myself asking “why?” Why is our
school trying to please everyone
and why are they making big deals
out of nothing?
I understand the pep rally being
taken away, the negativity at the
last one was reportedly awful.
Fine, at least we have it now, but
there was controversy with the
new pep rally. Apparently the fact
that the football team was planned
to be announced last was unfair because
it made it seem like football
was more important than the other
sports teams. The fact that the
order of teams being announced
was changed because some people
believed it gave one team more
importance just made me shake my
head in disbelief at some of our
school’s decisions.
Now, the Powder Puff Football
Protecting the People: Political Correctness
correct as possible.
When there is a failure to remain
“politically correct” it can sometimes
lead to law suits. In most
PC cases, the result is not good.
Schools have been sued over what
students have published in school
newspapers, what administrators
and teachers have said to students
and almost anything else you could
think of. At Notre Dame University
a few years back a student’s
cartoon was published without
anyone noticing the blatant antigay
message. Students and families
were outraged and threatened
to take them to court over it. They
settled outside of court and now
the school must be more vigilant
with prior review.
As almost everyone knows
the school was recently hit with
the Powder Puff football issue.
It’s admirable that even though
he was unsure where the whole
school stood on the issue, Mr.
Burke cancelled it once there was
even a mention of it being sexist
and derogatory. There also was
a chance of injury which, most
likely, only solidified his decision.
When issues like this come up in
a high school it is important for
school officials to respond quickly.
Only a few students feel offended
and degraded by some of these
P.C. - A Waste of Time
Game. A group of senior girls
organized the event for charity,
and it got canceled because of
worry about injury and the “negative
social implications”. First off,
anyone who plays flag football in
gym class is taking the same risk
of injury that these girls were,
so that is not a valid reason for
canceling the event. The real issue
is that the event got canceled because
some felt it was degrading to
women and women’s sports. The
girls who planned the event were
athletes, so how can the administration
cancel the event on those
accusations? Just because some
felt it was offensive doesn’t mean
everyone does. Why are we digging
for problems here? As quoted
in Principal Burke’s email to the
school, “Powder Puff encourages
people to see female athletes in
a humorous light, creating a new
kind of misogyny that isn’t rooted
in older restrictions like laws forbidding
women from owning property,
but betrays recent advances in
gender equality.” I am being bold
by saying this is how you should
be thinking, but open your mind to
this concept, if a person is going to
base their view of women’s sports
over a single Powder Puff Flag
Football Game, does that person’s
opinion really matter to you?
Last but not least, the subject that
has brought the most amount of
attention to our school, grinding.
After years of grinding happening
at schools around the country our
school decided to ban grinding at
dances. If I had to guess why this
happened I would say it’s because
somebody complained about it.
The students in our school work
hard; is it really so much to ask for
you to suspend your own outdated
principles for two nights a year so
we can enjoy ourselves? We only
get one high school experience, so
stop thinking about your rules and
your feelings and let us enjoy high
school. “Mr. Burke, I am sorry but
I do not believe that you tried to be
flexible. If you had been flexible
you might have come up with any
number of solutions such as, parent
consent forms, age limits, or a no
tolerance rule for explicit behavior
while grinding, meaning you get
one shot and if you step over that
issues. But, it doesn’t take long
for a larger group of students to
adopt the feelings of the offended
students. The problem takes much
longer to resolve with more people
involved.
Although some may say that
South Burlington High School is
too politically correct, you must
take into consideration why that
may be. If the school was spending
all of its budget on court cases
and paying off settlements then
how would we ever afford new
uniforms for the athletic teams and
textbooks for the classrooms? Are
we too politically correct? I think
no.
big bright line, you’re kicked out.”
I can understand intervention on
a smaller scale of dancers that go
above and beyond what grinding
actually is, they should be separated
or kicked out, but will it really
hurt anyone if we grind for two
nights out of the year?
Now I’m not saying that we should
criticize people for opening their
mouths and voicing their opinions,
otherwise I would not be writing
this. People should be praised for
standing up for what they believe
in, especially when they feel they
are being mistreated. I just believe
whole heartedly that our administration
needs to recognize that
we’re not going to acquire some
awful reputation because a few
people are unhappy. We can still
respect individuality and diversity
while being more relaxed on all
of these rules. I might have been
brazen to write this and influence
your opinion, but am I being more
brazen than our administration imposing
their values on our student
body? Too PC at SB, I definitely
think so.