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Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Students, do your own homework
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was listening to radio talk show host Neal Boortz the other day. He shared a story that was right up his alley.
A teenage listener is a student at Peachtree Ridge High School. Her language arts class was assigned to write a persuasive paper on a controversial subject. She chose the Fair Tax.
Boortz and U.S. Rep. John Linder (R-Duluth) have written two books on the subject, and Congressman Linder has legislation on the House floor Ñ HB 25 Ñ to enact the Fair Tax. The student wanted to use the two books as references.
However, the student said her teacher wouldn’t permit it. The teacher reportedly said that Boortz was not a credible source, and instead gave the student an article that Joel Slemrod, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, wrote for the New York Times. The article said that no reputable economist would ever endorse the Fair Tax.
I have not read anything about the Fair Tax, so my intent here is neither to support nor discredit the legislation. Nor is it my intent to remark on the teacher’s criteria concerning references. I will say that, as an English major, I think that because both books are well researched, they meet the criteria as credible sources. My issue is with the student.
If I’m the student, it should not be relevant to me what my teacher’s politics are, or what my politics are. My goal should be to master the tools required to write well in my adult life. To do that, I don’t need Neal’s books to argue about the Fair Tax, just as I don’t need “Mein Kampf” to support or defend Nazi-ism. I need my brain to make my own points. References, in this case, are not the point of the exercise. They are a crutch, not a wheelchair. The student’s mastery of her writing skills is the point.
This is what really bothers me: if you disagree with your teacher, fight your own fight. Discuss it with her. If you feel wronged, tell your parents, and then they will discuss it with the teacher Ñ and the principal if need be. It’s their job to protect your interests. When you turn 18, you can fight your battles any way you see fit.
But the student should not have invaded her teacher’s privacy by fighting her battle in a public forum. It’s childish and immature, and unfair to the teacher. The point of the assignment was not to have Neal Boortz lambaste a teacher with whom the student disagreed. The point was to have the student write her own paper expressing her own opinions.
Respect your elders. Maybe she wasn’t taught that, but I was.
I don’t blame Boortz for jumping all over this. If I was a talk show host with a national audience, and this tidbit came across my desk, I’d do the same thing. I’d kill two birds with one stone by stumping for the Fair Tax while expressing my disdain for government education.
But it seems to me, the student was lazy, immature and probably not up to the task at hand.
Am I wrong about this?
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