Monday, December 27, 2010

NYC Educator: Caution--Principals at Work

NYC Educator: Caution--Principals at Work

Caution--Principals at Work

Kids can be annoyingly perceptive. This can often be disturbing, forcing us to confront issues we'd rather avoid. Some pedantic sorts cannot deal with such things at all. Thus, kids are reprimanded, disciplined, shut up, put off and made to express themselves in different ways. Potentially worse for said pedants, though, is when others find out what's been done to the kids and act on their behalf.

At Jamaica High School a group of students representing not only Jamaica but also Queens Collegiate, one of the push-in schools designed to help kill one of New York City's most historic and impressive institutions, got together and wrote a play, a take-off on Antigone that criticized Bloomberg's corporate agenda, and the separate and unequal treatment resulting from it. Their principals, being very smart fellas, forbade the play's performance. As a result, the play