Thespian Constitution
I hate to delve into the petty personal politics of WSHS but people I love are being hurt by others' childishness.
Apparently it has been proposed that the Thespians ought to amend their constitution so that there is an amendment explicitly stating that the Thespians abide by Seminole County Public Schools' student activities policy, on and off campus. While such an amendment is completely unnecessary (unless members of the Thespian Honor Society have suddenly been granted some sort of tribal autonomy from the laws that govern Winter Springs High School), it clearly has symbolic importance. Or else it would not have been proposed.
So let us examine the causes of this proposal. I assume it is in response to some alleged incident in which some sort of legal or illegal mind-altering substances were consumed off campus in which no one was harmed or negatively affected, until perhaps some adult authority was informed of the incident. For some reason, then, a group of people, or a single person, suddenly felt within them an urge to publicly support a policy that usurps the privacy of kids that go to Winter Springs.
But why? I'd really like for people who support this to answer me on that. Really.
I'm always flummoxed by people keen on interfering in the private lives of others. What makes them so interesting to you folks? Is it a desire to make your moral standards the ones everyone should live by? Is it a 'safety issue'? A 'health issue'?
In response to those concerns: I think most who are involved with high school theatre are more aware than most of the many different beliefs about morality that are out there. Some have been harmed by the actions of others intolerant of their outside-the-mainstream sexualities, ideologies, or whatever. The theatre-world, though, is again and again held up as a haven for people with behaviors not accepted by the mainstream. And I'm talking pretty much exclusively about sexuality here. Let's consider this. The Seminole County School Board, like many around the country, has chosen to emphasize the laws that ban substance abuse in its extra-curriculars policy (they make being under the influence off-campus a "Level 2" offense, worse than using a fake ID). What if, instead, the School Board saw sexual misconduct as more of a threat to the stability of its student body than drugs and alcohol? After all, sexual misconduct can spread fatal diseases, foster distraction in a learning environment, encourage disobedience, and just generally weaken the moral fiber of students. Let's pretend that off-campus sexual misconduct (which is any sexual act minors engage in, according to the Code of Conduct) was turned into a Level 2 offense. That means that if the authorities were told about you doing something sexual with someone- maybe even at a full-fledged party with sex illegally provided to you- and the story was confirmed, you could be banned from extracurricular activities for the year. That would be really fucked up right?
And let's not even go into the violations of the serious state sex laws (statutory rape, sodomy- the law prohibiting all sodomy acts wasn't struck down by the Supreme Court until 2003).
This personal choice to 'violate the law' by having sex, a choice made in privacy, is no more legally defensible than the choice to consume alcohol or drugs.
But there's a bigger issue here. As Michael put it, the Thespians, as a group of supposedly free thinking artists, should be fighting the county's substance-activity policy, not enshrining it in their governing document. It is a policy that violates privacy and encourages the ostracization of substance users.
Furthermore, on a practical level, under this policy had school authorities been informed of our off-campus actions, I, Michael, Davis, Joey, and Keith McMillan, for starters, would have theoretically been barred from running Young Democrats of America, participating in plays or Districts or States, playing at football games and band concerts, singing at chorus concerts, being Parliamentarian of the National Honor Society, playing at Battle of the Bands, being Tri-M officers, and winning the Guitar Hero competition. If you think that would have been justified, then you should by all means support the amendment to the Thespian constitution.
But honestly I think what we did outside school was none of your fucking business.
Please respond.
Apparently it has been proposed that the Thespians ought to amend their constitution so that there is an amendment explicitly stating that the Thespians abide by Seminole County Public Schools' student activities policy, on and off campus. While such an amendment is completely unnecessary (unless members of the Thespian Honor Society have suddenly been granted some sort of tribal autonomy from the laws that govern Winter Springs High School), it clearly has symbolic importance. Or else it would not have been proposed.
So let us examine the causes of this proposal. I assume it is in response to some alleged incident in which some sort of legal or illegal mind-altering substances were consumed off campus in which no one was harmed or negatively affected, until perhaps some adult authority was informed of the incident. For some reason, then, a group of people, or a single person, suddenly felt within them an urge to publicly support a policy that usurps the privacy of kids that go to Winter Springs.
But why? I'd really like for people who support this to answer me on that. Really.
I'm always flummoxed by people keen on interfering in the private lives of others. What makes them so interesting to you folks? Is it a desire to make your moral standards the ones everyone should live by? Is it a 'safety issue'? A 'health issue'?
In response to those concerns: I think most who are involved with high school theatre are more aware than most of the many different beliefs about morality that are out there. Some have been harmed by the actions of others intolerant of their outside-the-mainstream sexualities, ideologies, or whatever. The theatre-world, though, is again and again held up as a haven for people with behaviors not accepted by the mainstream. And I'm talking pretty much exclusively about sexuality here. Let's consider this. The Seminole County School Board, like many around the country, has chosen to emphasize the laws that ban substance abuse in its extra-curriculars policy (they make being under the influence off-campus a "Level 2" offense, worse than using a fake ID). What if, instead, the School Board saw sexual misconduct as more of a threat to the stability of its student body than drugs and alcohol? After all, sexual misconduct can spread fatal diseases, foster distraction in a learning environment, encourage disobedience, and just generally weaken the moral fiber of students. Let's pretend that off-campus sexual misconduct (which is any sexual act minors engage in, according to the Code of Conduct) was turned into a Level 2 offense. That means that if the authorities were told about you doing something sexual with someone- maybe even at a full-fledged party with sex illegally provided to you- and the story was confirmed, you could be banned from extracurricular activities for the year. That would be really fucked up right?
And let's not even go into the violations of the serious state sex laws (statutory rape, sodomy- the law prohibiting all sodomy acts wasn't struck down by the Supreme Court until 2003).
This personal choice to 'violate the law' by having sex, a choice made in privacy, is no more legally defensible than the choice to consume alcohol or drugs.
But there's a bigger issue here. As Michael put it, the Thespians, as a group of supposedly free thinking artists, should be fighting the county's substance-activity policy, not enshrining it in their governing document. It is a policy that violates privacy and encourages the ostracization of substance users.
Furthermore, on a practical level, under this policy had school authorities been informed of our off-campus actions, I, Michael, Davis, Joey, and Keith McMillan, for starters, would have theoretically been barred from running Young Democrats of America, participating in plays or Districts or States, playing at football games and band concerts, singing at chorus concerts, being Parliamentarian of the National Honor Society, playing at Battle of the Bands, being Tri-M officers, and winning the Guitar Hero competition. If you think that would have been justified, then you should by all means support the amendment to the Thespian constitution.
But honestly I think what we did outside school was none of your fucking business.
Please respond.