Subject: A Principal's message
Wow"!
A CALIFORNIA PRINCIPAL'S OPENING
MESSAGE TO STUDENTS
From: Dennis Prager, principal at a high school in Redding, California, on the first day of classes in 2010: To the students and faculty of our high school:
I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people. I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school.
> >>
> >> I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the
> >> ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked
> >> against you, against your teachers, against your parents, and
> >> against our country. Therefore: First, this school will no
> >> longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your
> >> racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow, or white. I could not
> >> care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian, or
> >> European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or
> >> on slave ships. The only identity I care about, the only one this
> >> school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your
> >> character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national
> >> identity this school will care about is American. This is an
> >> American public school, and American public schools were created
> >> to make better Americans.
> >>
> >> If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, or religious identity
> >> through your school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end
> >> all ethnicity-, race- and non-American-nationality-based
> >> celebrations. They undermine the motto of America , one of its
> >> three central values -- E Pluribus Unum -- "from many, one."
> >>
> >> And this school will be guided by America 's values. That
> >> includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that
> >> divide students based on any identities. This includes race,
> >> language, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever else may
> >> become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.
> >> Your clubs will be based on interests and passions -- not blood,
> >> ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just
> >> cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self
> >> -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond
> >> yourself. So, we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders
> >> and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already
> >> speak, math, carpentry, and more. If the only extracurricular
> >> activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on
> >> ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that little
> >> outside of yourself really interests you.
> >>
> >> Second, I am not interested in whether or not English is your
> >> native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you
> >> leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as
> >> possible. The English language has united America 's citizens for
> >> more than 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is
> >> one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has
> >> always come to be one country. And if you leave this school
> >> without excellent English-language skills, I will have been
> >> remiss in my duty to ensure that you are prepared to compete
> >> successfully in the American job market. We will learn? other
> >> languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak
> >> English . But if you want classes taught in your native language
> >> rather than in English, this is not your school.
> >>
> >> Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything
> >> in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This
> >> means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress
> >> accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for a
> >> meal at a nice restaurant than they do for church or school. Those
> >> people have their priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a
> >> formal dress code at this school.
> >>
> >> Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this
> >> school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at
> >> athletic events. If you can't speak without using the "F-word,"
> >> you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by
> >> the Federal Communications Commission plus epithets such as the
> >> "N-word," even when used by one black student to address another,
> >> or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is
> >> my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be
> >> among the few of your age to distinguish instinctively between the
> >> elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.
> >>
> >> Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-
> >> esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained
> >> it until the state of California decided otherwise a generation
> >> ago -- by earning it. One immediate consequence of this is that
> >> there will be only one class valedictorian, not eight.
> >>
> >> Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and
> >> away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to
> >> scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about
> >> sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be
> >> devoted to condom-wearing and teaching you to regard sexual
> >> relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no
> >> more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you
> >> are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual, or not
> >> Christian. We will have failed, if any one of you graduates from
> >> this school and does not consider himself or herself inordinately
> >> lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.
> >>
> >> Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the
> >> flag of the United States of America . As many of you do not know
> >> the words, your teachers will hand them out to you. |
