Kendra's Response

My initial response to Prager's speech was that he was only talking about the way he felt, and did not really care about how anybody else did. To me he seems racist, only valuing Americans and acting is if they deserve all respect and are above and beyond every other race which is not true, I believe everyone should be treated equally. People should care about where your from and your race, not saying that it is extremely important, but that they could learn things from you and expand their views on the human race. If we block out these things and only focus on the individual identity and JUST Americans, then how can anyone ever know what it's like to come from somewhere else or have different values? I don't agree that "American public schools" were just created to better Americans, I believe they were created so that any person could come there to get an education, and also to socialize with people of different race and origins. People don't go to school just to affirm a certain identity, sure most students may have their own "groups" or "cliques", but it doesn't mean they don't associate with people of other races. I do think it is important to have your own identity, but to also be accepting of others. It was very rude for Prager to say that "If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or religious identity through school you will have to go elsewhere", everyone should be entitled to their own personal identity. If I was in that school and that was said to me, I wouldn't want to attend there. Also if schools want to have clubs based on race, religion, etc... then that should absolutely be okay. To me that is important, so that similar people can share their opinions and thoughts on their culture or identity. Take a Spanish club for example, many people who are from a Spanish decent could be in that club together and express themselves comfortably around things they are familiar with. And just because it's called Spanish club doesn't mean that you HAVE to be Spanish just to be in it. If you are interested in the culture or the language, you could join it and enjoy being around that environment; it is a good way for other people to learn about the culture. Prager also says that the only important language a student needs to know is English and that other languages will not be taught. This is completely absurd and wrong, if a person wants to learn a different language then that is their right and nobody should try to stop them. To me that is very racist for him to say that a person should only know their language and only that. Finally I think that he is wrong in saying there will be no more teaching of smoking, safe sex, global warming, etc... I believe this is wrong because every student does need to be aware of certain things like these. Of course they can be taught in their home, but what if some parents don't teach their kids about it? What if they do, but they only speak very vaguely about the topic? If a students parents don't teach them these things, then someone needs to properly educate them. They have a choice in taking classes for these topics, it's not like it is forced upon them; but for someone to think that these types of courses should be completely taken away is ridiculous to me. Overall, I think that Prager is very racist and doesn't have an open mind at all. I don't agree with anything his speech says, and I do not think that any principal should give this speech to their students.