Valedictorian ordered to rewrite speech
FREEDOM OF SPEECH? (or) CENSORSHIP?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I want to hear the thoughts of my "SQUISHY FANS"
By TONY HOLT
Hernando Today
Published: June 3, 2009
Updated: 06/03/2009 08:13 pm
SPRING HILL - Jem Lugo aimed to give a valedictorian speech that would stay with her classmates long after they shed their caps and gowns.
The 17-year-old, Harvard-bound student took the whimsical, comical route.
Lugo wanted to poke fun at what she thought were the typical,
unimaginative graduation speeches. The Springstead High School senior
wanted something fresh and funny for tonight's ceremony.
"I was stuck with this arduous task of extra writing to create this
speech, and I decided to make this different," she wrote, thinking she
would someday read it to her 434 classmates at graduation. "I'm not
(going to) get up here and start spouting these crazy,
incomprehensible, seven-syllable words I probably can't even pronounce.
Why would I do that? … I would never, ever put you all through that
pain."
She turned in her speech on March 1, and a week later her faculty
advisor, Nancy Urling, summoned her to her classroom. Urling, she said,
called the speech "appalling" and thought it had the tone of someone
who hated her high school experience.
"I was shocked," Lugo said about her meeting with Urling. "It's not what I had expected." Lugo's intention never was to challenge authority or take a
political position. She chose something unorthodox, but not for her own
selfish reasons, she said. She thought she was honoring her class and
giving them what they wanted.
"My classmates enjoyed my speech," said Lugo, who sent copies to her
friends. "They got the inside jokes. They connected with it."
Principal Susan Duval did not. She said the speech was "too
individualized" and that naming specific students and teachers would
not be allowed.
"The valedictorian speech is a reflection over the past four years
of a student's life," she said. "It's about what direction the class is
going in the future."
She called Lugo a "very bright young lady with a bright future," but said the race for valedictorian was "very tight."
"A lot of kids could've been up there speaking," she said.
Lugo recalled Urling telling her if she did not write a more appropriate speech, someone else would be chosen.
A flabbergasted Lugo cried following her meeting with Urling. Her
teachers and friends knew something was wrong. She said it's rare for
people to see her cry.
"I felt slighted, disrespected," she said of Urling. "There was no
right for me to be treated so rudely over something that could be
solved over a nice, peaceful conversation. There was nothing in my
speech that directly warranted such a reaction."
Urling refused to comment and hung up the phone on a reporter today.
After Lugo learned she was valedictorian, she searched for ideas on
the Internet. She typed in a search for "best valedictorian speech
ever" and clicked on the links to at least five of them, she said.
She thought they were too dull. She brainstormed a while longer and decided to go to her friends for advice.
They suggested she mention the unique characteristics of the class —
from the social cliques that hang out at the "Four Corners"
intersection to the high volume of videogame enthusiasts (known as
"gamers").
"Do something with your life where you're able to have a steady,
reliable source of income," Lugo wrote. "Gamers, I'm sorry, but farming
for gold in World of Warcraft is not considered a reliable, or socially
acceptable source of income."
Superintendent Wayne Alexander had not read the speech, but said the
school was justified in its decision to make Lugo rewrite it.
"I can see the inappropriateness of such a speech," he said after a
portion was read to him over the phone. "I can see that clearly …
Graduation is a significant day in the lives of students and their
families. It should be treated with the respect and significance it
deserves."
Lugo has a 4.5 grade point average and said she earned an A in every
class except one. She is leaning toward studying law while at Harvard,
she said.
She was the school's yearbook editor and a member of the National
Honors Society, marching band and National Beta Club. She was elected
class president.
Friday night she will give her revised speech, but she promises it will be devoid of sincerity and emotion.
"That speech will not be my voice," she said. "That's not who I was
while a student at that school. My classmates are going to know."
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So I ask everyone! Was she wrong?
Should she have to rewrite the speech?"Don't be afraid of change...
I will show you the world without rules and controls,
without boundaries, where everything is possible!" - Neo (Matrix)Keep It Real and....
©KEEP IT SQUISHY
Link:Valedictorian ordered to rewrite speech