Who's going to be the last to post?!?!?!

As I mentioned, a prize (of my choosing, which you know will be corny) will be reward to the last post of the night before 11pm...HOWEVER, for those of you still in the running (probably on purpose), make sure you at least COMMENT on someone's post soon so that you get full points!

I am THOROUGHLY enjoying reading your responses...I know I'm a dorky English teacher, but I deeply appreciate the thought and time you are putting into your responses; heck, I'm reading these at 10pm on Friday night!  PLEASE read other people's ideas and feelings about this controversial topic, even if you don't respond; I think we can all benefit from a little mind expansion.

Thank you for being you.  I LOVE this class.

Sakoya's response

After reading Prager's speech i experienced mixed feelings. I did agree with some of his points but mostly i strongly disagreed with them. The point i strongly disagreed with in the speech was when he wanted to eliminate clubs and classes that taught or celebrated ethnic values. Yes, we are all Americans but we should also be able to celebrate and educate others on the culture which we are from freely and students wouldn't be able to do that by eliminating the clubs or classes that "exercised" this. Prager also contradicted himself by saying that the only identity he would care about would be the individual identity. By establishing a dress code Prager isn't allowing the students to express them selves as individuals. Pragers attempt to completely eliminate profanity is ludicrous and seems to be a hard to task to accomplish. Prager can't be everywhere monitoring students vocabulary. I'm not saying that using profanity in a learning environment is okay to do, but as teenagers we really don't think twice about it especially when communicating with friends. Since we are teenagers and should know right from wrong Prager would think that we wouldn't need classes like sex education, but in a time like now where there is a increased rate in teen pregnancies students would need these classes. The fact that prager is trying to change the school to better education is great, but some of his rules are past extreme.

John L. - Prager's Speech

As i read over this there were many more things that I do not agree with the things i can agree with from my own opinion. I do agree with a couple of his idea but not many. I do want to point out that this is my opinion.

I do not agree on a lot of what he is changing. One of many is that he will end all non-american celebration from the school.Myself i think these are the things that bring us together and not tear us apart as i am thinking he is trying to portray here. My opinion on is that many people like me like to embrace other cultures and learn more about them and what they do for a living and how they celebrate traditions around there society. Another thing I did not agree on was that he was going to end clubs that divide the students on what they do. To me this makes me thing that he is going to drop all the clubs. Because if there is more than one club at the school then you are already dividing students on certain things. Another thing i caught as i was reading was that he says "Your clubs will be based on interests and passions", but what he doesn't add is that all the clubs are going to be more about american culture and nothing else. Like me many students do not want a dress code. Even though i wear a collared shirt and blue jeans almost everyday it think students should represent themselves on how they dress. The dropping of self-esteem programs shocked me. Some people like to do these programs to make them feel much better than they already do toward themselves. Ending the classes that could keep students from doing bad things could bring a negative turn to the school. Most the the students parents will come to the school/school board to make the school show these programs to the students to teach the rights and wrongs to certain things. One thing i missed was that he says "If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic, racial, or sexual identity, that means that little outside yourself really interest you." Many people like to learn more about where they came from and how they got to where they were from them and how much it has changed since that time. "If you want classes taught in your native language... this is not your school." As i read this I read this I thought to myself, I don't really know any classes that taught in different languages other than the language classes that are taught at our school. I do think though that if the student doesn't have a good grasp on English that we do give the student notes in there native language

I do agree on some things he does address. One of which would be would be to not care about the the students race. As i read over it one more time i say that it also says "honor" the ethnicity of the student. When i saw this it made me think that he wouldn't care about the other cultures and disregard any traditions or celebrations they might celebrate. He does mention that the only thing a person should be recognized is by your individual identity. I think most students already do this by voices there opinions to other students/friends. I do also like he is trying to make students who are not native to America take and learn English. And that he is making every student know and learn how to decipher the different tools used in the English language. i think this essential because most of the students are going to become future voters and it would be a good idea to learn how to understand more about everyone is saying. The last thing I sort of agree on is the language used during school. I do think the language of the students should be more formal and there should be less obscene language. Myself i do tend to drop a "F bomb" every once in a while but i am trying my best not to say those words. Most people learn these words form there parent s and think it is alright to say them and don't think there are any consequences for saying these words.

There were a couple of things I was confused on. One of these were that they wouldn't teach any language other than English. Prager also said that there would be clubs to learn languages you do not already speak. I thinks this i sorta contradicting what he is saying in the speech. Another one of these things is that he says there will be clubs on based on interest and passions. As i read that i automatically thought maybe students want to learn about other cultures and languages.

I do like how Prager is trying to embrace students with more american culture. he does show that he cares a lot more about America than he does anywhere else. I think he is trying to ASSIMILATE students that come from different cultures. I don't like how he drops everything about other cultures ,which I would keep as many as i could for students to learn more about certain cultures.

T-Time's Response

After reading Prager's speech my first response was that it is a bad idea to eliminate race and ethnicity divisions. However, I have to agree with what he is trying to do. Without separations everyone would be seen as equal and only what you do is what matters. While I do agree with what he is saying, I think that some parts of it are a bit extreme. For example banning the clubs that will cause division. A club is going to cause division because its a group of people that believe or like something and a whole different group of people might hate that same thing. I also have to disagree with the dress code because what you wear has nothing to do with learning and people are still pretty much equal if they're wearing different clothes. While somewhat extreme Prager's plan seems okay to me because it focuses on increasing academic success while there is equality.

I agree with Prager when he says that we harp on certain characteristics such as skin color and the languages we speak. It shouldn't matter. We are way to caught up in that and forget about who people really are. We seem to have a system of stereotypes, where we don't accept people just because of the way they look.

Prager's opinion about education is that it should only be American based things. I agree with this but I don't think its a good idea to completely forget about other cultures. Learning about other cultures and different languages is a good thing because it expands our horizons. Only learning English and American topic/ideas makes someone very one dimensional because they haven't been exposed to anything else. It could be optional to learn about other cultures instead of completely getting rid of it. That way people who wanted to learn more could and others don't have to.

I do not think that it would be possible to teach this way because schools are made up of so many different races and ethnicities that it would be very difficult to change what is taught this much. I feel like if there was a school that was like this no one would go there because like I said before the students there would be very one dimensional. Students from other schools would be more exposed and this would make them more competitive for like college and jobs. I also think that many students would get bored with what was being taught and there wouldn't be much variety.

Adamson's Response

Wow. My initial response to this was how he is pretty much correct about everything he was saying. I agree that no one should be judged or treated any differently based on where you came from, what your race is, or even your gender. But i do not agree on the fact that he said that no other language would be taught and the only focus would be on English and the American culture. I feel that when you are in a school learning you need to broaden what you study and not just be focused on one thing the whole time you are in school. There are other things out there waiting to be discovered and learned about but you cant discover those things if your strictly tied down to one specific thing. I also agree that the bad language that is used has gotten out of control. When we hear others say it then we automatically think that its ok to say but in the end its not.

I do somewhat agree on what he says about us basing what we think about someone based on the color of the skin or language spoken. When there is not much going on about the skin color or language spoken you still know that somewhere it is going on even though we thought we had gotten rid of that problem years ago, but to this day it still exists in some people.

Prager's opinion about the American Dream is that he wants to teach only things that will be based on American culture. He only wants the English language spoken and taught throughout the school. He feels that other languages, religion or history of other cultures does not matter because we are in an American society not some other society. As of now i do not think that we as an American are heading in this direction because there is too much information that should be taught about other countries due to the fact of the relation we have with the other country such as purchasing oil barrels and other goods.

I do not feel it is possible to teach in this way because you have so many different religions and races that are attending these schools to just completely stop teaching what is being taught now even though this is America. Other countries are just to important to learn about and study then to just give them up and learn nothing about. Someday it could be that country that is helping us through the bad times, so in the end we all just need to learn about everything we can.

Joseph's Response

My initial reaction to Prager's speech was like a "is he really saying this" thing haha. I was surprised that he would say something like that. I am half anf half on this writing. I think that every little thing he said was not right and i strongly disagree with it. In my opinion, I think that people in this world who stays with our own color and and talk to the people who speak there language are lame. I hangout with all people no matter what color or language they best speak. this guy is wrong for saying that we only circle around with people with the same skin color and the same language they speak. This guy thinks about america wrongly. He trying to teach young people the wrong thing. He's gonna make younger people to think that all people should speak english and like worship America, and only America. I don't think that a lot of people with follow what we is saying. people make there own clubs to be with the people they think have they same opinion and same idea.

I can see on the other hand that he doesn't want any one to stand out in a bad way. If every one is the same then no one has the write to say any thing negative to any one else. It's to protect everyone and make sure that no one gets hurt. But I would hate that every one acts the same because I think every person has a different style and is a different person. This one of the things i wouldn't care about just because the way he came out with it. At the end, in a way I do see where he is getting to. He just didn't really say it the right way.

Love Joseph

Z-Man moZZarella's Response to Prager's Speech

I both agree and disagree with Prager’s ideas for this high school. Sure, it seems racist and otherwise prejudice, but in a way it does make some sense. Don’t get me wrong, I am an open-minded and accepting person regardless of race, religious beliefs, etc. I’m not some propaganda eating ‘patriot’ of America, but we are Americans in this country and in these schools. Prager suggests abolishing clubs and other extra-curriculars which focus on race and religion, which might be pushing it but could be tweaked to make actual sense and reduce prejudice and racism. He does push some of his ideas to extremes, but he also makes a point regarding the idea of everyone accepting each other based on merit and character rather than ethnicity and beliefs.

If everyone in a school, or even the country, regarded themselves as American, would that not reduce the amount of prejudice and racism present? When one calls themselves an African-American, does it not immediately divide them from other Americans? If it was possible to break away from these terms which ultimately divide each other into categorical groups, there would be nothing to hold against each other. It is no doubt that the United States has had a long and violent history regarding racism and prejudice, especially when compared with other countries. I have never heard of an African-Englishman, or a Chinese-Frenchman, which gives the idea that the sense of unity and tolerance in other countries highly outweighs the same values in our own country. If we could break down these hypothetical barriers and unify as Americans rather than Chinese-Americans, German-Americans, African-Americans, etc, etc, it would no doubt bring us together in a way never seen before in this country.

I’m not saying we could totally disregard each other’s heritage and traditions, but instead let them be a personal affair. I know people will join together with a common cause or characteristic, and that’s perfectly fine. But yet you must still take into consideration the country in which you live, ITS rich heritage and tradition, and make them also a personal affair and integral part of your life too. You need not throw away your individuality, but instead combine it with other’s individuality and use it to create a stronger sense of nationalism and pride in the United States, but also in schools.

Can’t we forget all about what divides here at this school and become Laney Bucs, proud and loud, making us a stronger and more unified school?

Jaziel Brown

I felt the Mr.Pager's speech was okay, he spoke from his perspective of things. His ways to improved the school system i must say was austere.The ideas i agreed about was looking past your ethicity, it showed me that he was more than just an principal who want to be. By him looking past that it showed me that he had good intenstions, no matter what color you were he wanted you to do your best an beyond. I agree with the language an how we conduct ourself, i think this is something intergal because it shows that he holds us at high standard. Shows that he excepts more than just average from the student at his school. The things i really disagree on is him take us away from politics and propaganda. I feel like that should be something that student should be warned about everyday, also better yet informed an educated about. From my perspective i dont think that was prudent in showing us good examples of what is important an in what is'nt.In a way i agree but im reallly understanding the question correctly, but if so i think we do look at color sometimes, an judge or use jargon such as cruse word to express our selfs when were argry.Mr.Pagers opining about American education is more important to him, them teaching them about life an the risk that its carrys.Its like he's more interested in teaching us about American culture,then the basic of like life. It's very disconcerting to know that someone we look up to with high authority has low morals! I do not agree on the direction it is heading in i think that i could lead to student having to drop out , our even worst life may be premently ruined because a princpial wanted to make a high school, as the vision in his OWN eyes.I do not thinkits possible to teach in this way, i think Mr.Prager need to do a self check before wanting to conduct an high school again. Its like building a car all the part are assembled but you forgot to put on the brakes. I think that if they keep teaching in this way the school is bond to be in a reck.

Shawn's Response

I respect the ways that Prager feels he can improve the school, but some of his opinions seem too radical to actually be accepted at a high school. I agree with a lot of the stuff he talked about, but when he talked about how he wanted to eliminate students' cultural identity's, I think he went a little far. Just because a club is broken up into groups based on race, doesn't make it a bad thing. Usually students work better when they're able to work in a group that they can relate with, such as, if they have the same religion, same race, or whatever. Prager took a swing at political correctness in his speech, but eliminating student's ability to express their beliefs through certain after school clubs, would prevoke a much more negative response from parents, students, and, perhaps, even from teachers. eliminating these clubs would cause the schools students to fall far behind academically compared to other schools in the state, country, and world. In his paraghraph about the English language, he says he wouldn't offer classes in a native language, which wouldn't work because you have to complete at least two years of a foreign language to graduate. I also disagree with his decision to take away classes that inform students about how harmful smoking, drinking, and unprotected sex are. I mean, this would be a great idea; if you're ok with having a school full of drunk, pregnant, smokers. If the school were to actually eliminate the cultural beliefs of students and fauclty and the "bodily safety" classes, it would cause the schools problems to rise instead of decline. Lastly, I feel like his closing statement about students not knowing the words to the Pledge of Alegiance, is way too far. Students know the Pledge, ,amy just choose not to repeat it, noone can make them say it though, this is America, not Communist Russia.

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.