High School Valedictorian Punished for Her Class Speech

Tiffany Schley is the valedictorian of this year's graduation calls from the High School of Legal Studies in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York. She is off to Smith College in the fall with a full scholarship. One might think the administration at her school is proud of her. Instead, they proved themselves to be the kind of jackbooted prigs that make graduation such a sweet day for lovers of freedom.

Bushwick is one of the rougher parts of New York and as a result, has some of the crappier schools. Legal Studies was an attempt to fix this and it has failed. Four principals in four years show a rudderless school, the overcrowding is worse than most of the city's schools, and the text books are outdated and insufficient in number. Many of the teachers lack the requisite qualifications but teach anyway because no one else will. Ms. Schley's crime was to point all of this out in her graduation address.

Her speech had been rewritten by an assistant principal according to the Daily News. "He had typed over it and had me glorifying the school," according to Ms. Schley's interview with the paper. She gave the first version, or rather some of it because the microphone was shut off before she could get to the positive things she would say. When she appeared at the school later in the week to collect her diploma, the administration refused her, tossed her out of the building and demanded that she apologize.

What a wonderful lesson for the next generation of Americans -- "sit down, shut up, accept poor treatment and do as we say." Thanks to the Daily News and its readers who complained, she received her diploma (blessed be the First Amendment). Fascists are usually chicken-hearted when it comes to resistance armed with truth, and the educrats here were no different. One spokesman for the willfully wrong party said that in addition to yielding her diploma, "We'll also ask her if she'll come in and meet with regional district officials about our concerns and her concerns about the school."

That is an excellent idea. Ms. Schley should insist on televised public hearings -- and resignations, not for the hysterical and intolerant treatment she received, but for the miserable educational environment that she and her classmates endured for years.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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