The recent news story
about Lodi High School’s valedictorian, Devan Solaki , who was told he would not be able to give a
speech at commencement, has made me really curious. (http://s.nj.com/wcqD7OV). On many levels. I
wonder about his freedom of speech rights. I reread Tinker vs. Des Moines and
Hazelwood vs. Kuhlmeier looking for some answers. I wonder if his local news
reporters have asked to see his files to verify the school administration’s
justification that their decision rests on his previous discipline infractions.
And I wonder what he wants to say.
Recently I was charged with helping
our valedictorian, salutatorian and runner up prepare their speeches for
graduation and senior awards night. I did what most English teachers do: issued
writing prompts to flush out anecdotal stories and to brainstorm. This approach
worked well with JuanCarlos and Jejomar. Bright was another story.
Bright , speaking at the awards
ceremony, an honor given to the student with the third highest GPA in the
graduating class, would not meet with us as we weeded through ideas and tested
speeches. She finally showed me a five-paragraph speech, congratulating her
classmates in the opening paragraph and trashing the school in the rest. I was
shocked and dismayed and really unsure of how to turn it around. Also unsure if
I should.
Ultimately, we weeded out her
negative comments which were mostly personal feelings and not fact based.
“Nobody ever helped me.” Really? How did you, on your own, find a private
college in CT willing to give you a full scholarship worth over a quarter of a
million dollars? “Oh, that was Mr. Chessler’s idea and contact”.
I relied on her knowledge of the
rhetorical triangle, audience and purpose, to guide her and ultimately she left
only one slightly negative line in; something along the lines of “if you can
make it here, you can make it anywhere”.
Ann Neary
DeWitt Clinton High School
Bronx, NY
Ann,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this blog. I'm a Jersey Girl who relocated to Arizona 16 years ago, but the stupidity of my home state never ceases to amaze me. I am rooting for this young man in Lodi! He has been degraded and humiliated by power-trippy administrators. Even if his school experience was negative, he should still have that right to voice his opinion.
But it also made me reflect that I also helped our class Valedictorian with his speech. And the message seems to transcend the entire year in almost every aspect: Don't make the school look bad. In both Valedictorian and Salutatorian speeches, both young men praised the school and teachers, and then carried on with the rest of their speech. I wonder how the tone of the speech might differ if these scholars had negative school experiences.
Sharon Fonzo
Poston Butte HS
San Tan Valle, Arizona