Vagina gets girls suspended from school.

I have long thought that the American school system is under the control of morons. In fact I thought then when I was a school kid. I remember our teachers going on strike one time, because they said they were too lowly paid -- no salary increase satisfies them -- and watching these people picket the school. What annoyed me even then was how several of them had misspelled words on their picket signs. Not the hallmark of good teachers.

Education in America has become a redistribution program that confiscates money from parents, so they can’t afford a good education for their children, and then redistributes it to the lackluster, under performers who run the schools. It is a system that is meant to keep the teachers union happy.

Now we get yet another indication that morons run the schools. The moron in question is Richard Leprine, principal of the John Hay High School in Westchester, NY.

There was some event at the school recently on a Friday night and various students did readings. Three girls, Megan Reback, Elan Stahl and Hannah Levinson, all honor students, read excerpts from Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. The girls were suspended from class for one day for saying the word “vagina”.

Now of you want an indication of exactly how moronic this alleged educator is consider this. Principal Moron says the girls were not suspended for saying the word “vagina”. Oh, no, not at all. They were suspended for not obeying his order to not say the word vagina. To quote the head moron himself: “the girls were punished not because of what they said but because they disobeyed orders not to say it.” That is not censorship, he says, but insubordination. And this man is in charge of people teaching children! This man shouldn’t even be a janitor at a school.

This sort of logic justifies every single authoritarian action around. If you wish to ban a religion you don’t ban the religion you just order people not to practice it or believe it and then arrest them for disobeying orders. And you proclaim you respect freedom of religion. You don’t install price controls, you just order people to sell at a specific price and then arrest them for disobeying orders while claiming you support free markets. This is lunacy.

Principal Moron claimed that because the event was open to the public the word mustn’t be used just in case a child heard it. Remember the schools have sex education courses where the word vagina is used all the time. So this doesn’t make any sense. Vagina is not a dirty word any more than eyeball or finger. Now had they said asshole, to refer to a body part and not the Principal, that might be a dirty word though in the latter case it would appear to be accurate. And there is no indication that children under high school age were in attendance. Though it really wouldn’t make a difference if they were.

What is frightening is not just the irrationality of this man but his pompous nature. He reminds me of the bumbling bureaucrat, Gordan Brittas of the BBC comedy The Brittas Empire. He portrays himself as a “leader” who inspires his followers. He speaks of a “passionate commitment to a dream (vision)” . But a principle is not a leader with followers. He is supposed to be an individual providing a service. If the local grocery store owner referred to himself as a leader and his customers as “followers” he would be out of business. His entire statement about his self perceived role is pompous and condescending. He’s arrogant on top of being stupid.

But if you read his “vision” you understand why he suspended the girls. He truly does think he’s a leader and everyone else is required to obey him. He does see this as insubordination. He’s the George Bush of schooling. I do recommend you read his vision only because it is intentionally written in a pompous way. He doesn’t want to teach children to think for themselves he wants a “passion that elicits higher order critical thinking skills”. His words drip with pomposity.

People like this shouldn’t be teaching. You don’t teach “higher order critical thinking skills” by demanding obedience. He’s not just a pompous moron but a hypocritical one as well.

UPDATE: It appears that public outrage over the pompous principal and his punishment is causing something of a rethink. One of the girls has said she was told that the punishment has been postponed for at least a week so the Board of Education has time to meet first. There is almost zero support for the principal in this case so it maay not be a surprise if the punishment is cancelled.