WTH?? Student denied diploma for using the word hell

[Meenah]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/20/13377164-oklahoma-high-school-valedictorian-denied-diploma-for-using-hell-in-speech?lite

WOW is all I can say. I can't even come up with words to express how idiotic this is to me.What do you think, am I missing something?

[SuzySunshine]

Good for her for standing up for herself, she starts school with a full ride scholarship I'd tell the school where they could stick it!

[Meenah]

Sounds like the principal may need to look for another job!!! The school mascot is "The Red Devils"!!!!!!

[SoonerTexan]

Bizarre. Although one thing I thought was interesting is a decent number of people I knew in college that were from OK were valedictorian--apparently at some schools if you get a 4.0 that makes you an automatic valedictorian? So some schools had 14 or 15.

LadyM...was it like that were you were from?

[PrincessFiona]

What the hell?

[Pollyanna]

Eh, my guess is that we don't know the whole story. Maybe she was told to take that out of her speech and she didn't. I'm sure it's not as out of line as it seems.
And yes, OK schools have a ton of "validictorians" and lots of grade inflation as well so a 4.0 isn't exactly what it used to be, lol.

[corn poffi]

Yeah, I mean this whole thing is ridiculous, but I have a feeling there's more to it. Also, why did she have to even say that word? There are plenty of words that would have had equal impact I that sentence. I'm not for censorship, but I'm also not for swearing when there are better vocabulary words available.

[PrincessFiona]

There are schools with 14 or 15 valedictorians????? Seriously?

[PrincessFiona]

Now that I've read the story:

So apparently, the draft of her speech that she turned into the school said heck. She quoted Twilight saying hell....and it wasn't that moving of a passage that hell seemed so important, but ... whatever.

The school offered her a diploma after she wrote a letter of apology to the school.

She refused.

Am I a wuss? I would have apologized for swearing at a commencement address, offered up that I got caught up in the moment and taken my diploma ... a little wiser to the fact that there is a time and place for everything.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

The real question is, if she were quoting something, why she changed it in the first place. The teacher (and former improv moderator) in me says that she knew she wouldn't be allowed to say "hell", wrote in "heck", but had fully intended from the start to say "hell".

On a side note, I once had a student tell me that "hell" was only a swear depending on its spelling. "You can say hell like the stuff that falls from the sky, H-A-I-L, and it's not a swear".

[Pollyanna]

The girl should apologize and move on. She is seriously standing by her "right" to say "hell" in a commencement address? Please, that is not impressive but immature and stupid especially since I am sure the rules were spelled out to her before she gave the speech (which is probably why the written version said "heck"). Time for her to take responsibility and move on.

[PrincessFiona]

Thank you Tara for not making me the lone fuddyduddy. Did you see the responses after the article. I feel like a complete puritan! LOL

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Thank you Tara for not making me the lone fuddyduddy. Did you see the responses after the article. I feel like a complete puritan! LOL

I just realized that I didn't make my position entirely clear - I totally think she should apologize because I feel it was done with 100% forethought. She's valedictorian and is trying to play dumb

[PrincessFiona]

I imagine that the school makes those giving a speech turn them over in advance so that they can make sure they are appropriate to the venue. My guess is that swearing isn't allowed in these speeches. She was free to disagree with that, but because she was invited to speak, she needed to abide by the rules ... 4.0 and all. Whether her mistake was inadvertent or not, I don't know. If I have to speak in public, I practice it so much I can say it in my sleep, so nothing unplanned could happen with my speech....except perhaps me passing out in the middle of it or something.

In that format, swearing wasn't permitted ... so she should suck it up and apologize or live without the piece of paper. That's why my 6 year old calls me the mean, mean, mommy machine though.

There are going to be other times in her life where rules of decorum for the situation might collide with how she might otherwise act ... like a job, for example.

Kris

[Cinderella]

If this comes down to a matter of free speech and it appears to be a public school then the girl wins. If it were a private school then the school would win. Though going through the legal process won't be as convenient as writing a simple apology letter. I think it's a stupid word to make your stand on either way.