Where I Stand — Peter Menocal: A contrarian’s view

Friday, Dec. 29, 2000 | 9:26 a.m.

Editor's note: More than 850 juniors and seniors from area high schools participated in the 45th annual Sun Youth Forum Nov. 21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Students were divided into discussion groups on selected topics. Peter Menocal of Advanced Technologies Academy tells of his group's opinions on "School Days."

Harsh debate was presented throughout the afternoon session of the "School Days" discussion of the Sun Youth Forum. Not so much over how many absent days should be allotted, yet much more over personal liberties and freedoms that the students have, or do not have, with their clothing, their speech, etc.

Many of the students felt that they were being deprived, even oppressed if you will, by the iron-fisted administration of the school. An iron-fisted communist administration whose sole purpose is to merely strip them of freedom and take away all individuality the second they walk through the glass doors of their building of education. This is false.

Students carry with them an immense mental fallacy of oppression in which they blind themselves to the reality of the actual issue. We, as students, are in school to learn. It's a very novel thought that's been all but absent in modern-day education. So much of society spends countless amounts of time fighting for, as one student put it, "the inalienable rights guaranteed by our Constitution."

However, what the students failed to realize is that the rights guaranteed in our Constitution, and the very institutions that are in place due to that document, are not made for students to wear their hair green and have their pants frayed. Our country was not founded on those principles, and unfortunately millions of students and advocates of "free speech among minors" hide behind the very amendments that bind our country together.

One point that I adamantly argued was the fact that in schools there is a provision made for free speech. Free speech may be exercised so long as it does not interfere with the purpose of the building. Please note that a student wearing his hair green may interfere with the purpose of the building just a slight bit.

One of the other more prevalent debates in the forum was the debate over the complicated annoyance that has been more commonly referred to as the attendance policy. This policy, as established in the forum, is complicated and a hindrance to any student who may become ill, who may have a family emergency, or any other student who may have to take a leave of absence from school for any reason.

Thus, the students in the discussion group produced a plan: a plan that if put into effect could revolutionize the way attendance is tabulated and the way students are penalized for their absences. The plan involves a weighted type of scoring for absences in which the student will gain certain points based on the reason for the absences: the higher the score, the heavier the penalty for the student. The score thus relieves the stress placed on the students and the burden of penalizing students for having appendicitis or a nasty case of the flu, and provides another means for penalizing those who try to ditch classes.

This year's forum was especially productive as actual plans were made: plans that may be put into effect in the near future and see great results. Also, many minds were changed about the actual freedoms that students feel they are awarded. The students in the forum gained knowledge of the actual laws behind their administration's doings and realized that perhaps school isn't the communist regime everyone thinks it to be. Perhaps there's a reason for the rules in place. What a novel idea.