Try this on for size: Hundreds of San Diego high-school students staged a mid-school-day walkout in February to protest ICE. They displayed posters expressing sentiments including, reportedly, “If You’re an I.C.E. Agent Ya Mom’s a Hoe!!,” “F*** ICE,” and “ICE is KKK spelled differently.”
Just two weeks later, another student posted pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement flyers stating “We ❤️ I.C.E. — Real Americans.” Now, question:
Whom do you think was suspended?
If you guessed the latter, go to the head of the class.
The hapless lad in question is 17-year-old Ethan Gordon, a junior at Torrey Pines High School in Del Mar, California. The good news is that his suspension has since been expunged from his record. But then there’s bad news, too.
This only happened after the threat of legal action by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
This again illustrates a certain profound danger to our civilization: left-wing control of American education, K-12 to college.
The Western Journal reported on the story recently, writing:
The school suspended the student over the flyers despite the fact they were posted in a common area where other political flyers had been posted previously. Still, the school claimed that the student engaged in “harassment” and “intimidation,” by posting the flyers.
“School administrators can’t pick and choose which opinions students are allowed to express,” said FIRE Supervising Senior Attorney Conor Fitzpatrick, via the Wednesday press release.
“Voicing an opinion which makes others upset is not ‘harassment’ or ‘intimidation,’ it is American democracy in action.”
Note here that Ethan’s expression was trumped in another way as well: His pro-ICE flyers had been quickly torn down.
Jumping the Shark of Justification
But the story gets even more outrageous. Just consider content from a “disciplinary letter” reportedly sent by Torrey Pines H.S. Ethan’s actions weren’t protected by the First Amendment, supposedly because, he
engaged in harassment, threats, or intimidation, directed against school district personnel or pupils, that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to have the actual and reasonably expected effect of materially disrupting classwork, creating substantial disorder, and invading the rights of either school personnel or pupils by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment.
A relevant tweet follows, courtesy of Inquisitr.
The “educators,” though, are unrepentant, as evidenced by a statement issued by the San Dieguito Union High School District. As the Times of San Diego relates:
“Some online commentary has suggested that students were disciplined because of their political views, but that claim is inaccurate — the district does not discipline students because of their political viewpoints,” the statement read. “The district promotes all lawful exercise of free speech and students’ rights to express their viewpoints while also maintaining school campuses that are safe, orderly, and respectful learning environments for everyone.”
So if you believe there’s a double standard involved in winking and nodding at “F*** ICE” while punishing the “We ❤️ I.C.E. — Real Americans” kid, you’re just paranoid. Get that tinfoil hat off your head!
Unsaid: If you believe the school is lying, what example would this be setting for the kids?
Long Ago Lost the Plot
Speaking of influencing the young, the tweeter above, activist Amy Reichert, was asked what Ethan was guilty of “inciting.” She responded:
This brings us to the following April 2 story by the Washington Examiner:
A group funded by the largest teachers union in the country is training activists in preparation for a string of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests….
The organizers behind the recent No Kings demonstrations are gearing up for nationwide follow-up protests on May 1.
Some of these protests will take place outside of public schools, according to literature distributed by activists. Midwest Academy, to which disclosures indicate the National Education Association [NEA] has given roughly $1.4 million since 2020, will be training activists to interface with “parents, educators, and students” ahead of the protests…. Midwest Academy is an advocacy group based in Chicago that provides training resources for liberal organizers with the aim of … “building a more equitable and just society.”
Promotional materials distributed by activists demand “no work, no school, [and] no shopping” on May 1. It is unclear if the NEA endorses truancy in the service of these protests. The NEA did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to skipping school, school “walk-ins” are another tactic endorsed by organizers — including the NEA itself.
These walk-ins will begin with 30 to 45-minute rallies held outside of schools, where, at the conclusion, participants in the demonstration walk onto school grounds together. Documents produced by activists don’t make it clear if protests are supposed to continue once demonstrators enter campuses.
Question: Is this the job of a teachers union — to, even indirectly, facilitate de facto partisan student political protests? Do Americans fund the schools with their tax dollars so that “education” time can be devoted to such activism?
Of course, none of this is surprising. From the Soviets to the Nazis to the Maoists to the Khmer Rouge and beyond, evil movements have long pressed youths into action as ideological foot soldiers. Adolescents especially, after all, have great energy and zeal and are in a phase where social awareness blossoms. But they’re also very naive and are easily conditioned to believe they know more than they do. “A little knowledge is dangerous,” and the callow can be made cocksure they speak with ideological infallibility.
On a positive note and as Ethan related in the interview here, some students privately said they supported his position. On a negative one, the fact that they’d only say it privately reflects something. That is, the pressure to conform to leftist ideology in government schools is intense. And, of course, this gets at why FIRE exists: Ethan is not alone — the censorship in schools is intense, too.
It’s also unidirectional. For the censorship virtually always favors one major party and, at risk of being redundant, one misbegotten ideology.
