The Ottawa media last week debated the pros and cons of the cancelled trip to Ohio by Catholic Orleans students. Was the trip partisan? Was it pro-choice? Why not hitch onto the Romney campaign instead? Why study American politics? Did the teacher have a hidden agenda?
There ensued learned discussions about the value of civics education, about experiential learning, about the need to keep politics out of schools, about Canadians messing in US elections.
Jeff Spooner of The Ottawa Citizen referred to the cancellation as “an illustration of everything that is wrong with the much-praised social media.” But social media had its up-sides: the day after the cancellation, students began a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #TeamSearle to clear the name of their teacher fingered as the culprit in planning the trip.
One point seems to have been overlooked in the numerous reports I read and heard: the school and the board caved in to bullies. After all, the cancellation resulted from anonymous comments reported in an article on a pro-life website. Isn’t that much like what the cyber bullies have been doing to school kids?
So instead of using the comments as a teachable moment about staying the course with your plans, defending your beliefs, ignoring the nay-sayers, the kids learned to give in whenever someone criticizes you, even anonymously. So when these schools teach kids to stand up to bullies, aren’t they being hypocritical?
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