Am i Racist

I'm glad to say I'm not racist!... said by the Implicit Association Test. After a series of questions and tests my result was, "you have no automatic prefference between African Americans and White Americans." The test is very confusing, but i can see how it works and how its affective. The test matches good and bad with different ethnicities, and you must put the right word or picture in the right spot. The test records how many you get right and when you get it wrong, it looks at why you might have gotten in wrong. Lets say you match up bad words with African Americans when its supposed to be bad words in a different category, the test would take that information and would say that this person identifies African Americans with these bad words.  During the test i was getting frustrated because it was making me feel like i was supposed to be racist, for example when bad words and African Americans were on one side, i was affiliating the two with each other because i had to.
I think that my results from the test are because of how i was raised in my family and in Deerfield. The website, tolerance.org, said that, "Social scientists believe children begin to acquire prejudices and stereotypes as toddlers. Many studies have shown that as early as age 3, children pick up terms of racial prejudice without really understanding their significance." If this is true, then it would be almost impossible to stop prejudice and racism in this nation alone. If we as a nation want to seriously try to put a stop the racism then we need to make many small steps, such as working together in communities to fix the problem.

Issue #4 Can your parents discipline you however they see fit?

Sadly, the law does not protect children from their own parents. "The U.S Constitution doesn't require states to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens from the acts by private individuals." The judge in the case of state v. Arnold said that, "parents right to discipline his or her child 'clearly has his limits.' When they're exceeded, the parent may be criminally liable." The question that we now have to answer is: what is the 'limit" on disciplining a child?

Issue #3 Can you dye your hair or wear a nose-ring to school?

A 15 year old boy Robert Olff was told that he could not go to class until he cut his hair. In the school rule book, their were hair rules for males but not females. The Olff's sued the school for not letting him have freedom of expression. The court ruled in favor of Robert Olff because the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom to determine your own hairstyle and personal appearance. This is also the same with religious expressions because the right to have religious expressions is also covered by the U.S. Constitution. Now here's a quick thought: Should private schools be able to take away more freedoms than a public school?

Issue #2 school drug testing

Students and parents today are getting offended and angry with school districts wanting to randomly drug test athletes. In protest Jimmy Acton sued his school district for wanted to drug test him, the Acton's said that the drug test was an unreasonable search and seizure. The court ruled in favor of the school district because their was probably cause for starting the random drug testing. The goal of the testing was to lower drug use in athletes. something that the book said that i found interesting was, "... the U.S. Supreme Court considereed a student's expectation of privacy. You surrender some privacy when you go to school. Your parents turn over temporary custody to the school, for education and disciplinary purposes when necessary." By trying out for a school team and participating, you are surrendering even more privacy rights because you must give forth insurance information, a physical exam, and change in front of others in the locker room.
Many students believe that drug testing for extracurricular activities is too much as well. The court believes that because these activities are voluntary, it justifies the rule. In my own opinion, just like the students here i would also be angry and frustrated. But, because your volunteering to do the sport(s) for your school, you are  surrendering your privacy and also volunteering to follow the rules.

Issue #1: Sexual Harassment at School

One of the many issues that Thomas A. Jacobs goes over in his book, "Teens on Trial," is sexual harassment in schools. I found that its a very important topic because this comes up in the media quite often whether its student-teacher relationships or sexual assault by a teacher to a student. More recently, this topic has been talked about a lot due to what has happened at Penn State... But I'm not going to get into that.
In the case of gebser C. Lago Vista Independent School District, a 13-year-old girl Alida Gebser and Frank Waldrop had been working together for tutoring purposes. Over time Mr. Wldrop would make sexual remarks to Alida, in the classroom and at her home. The remarks eventually went further as the relationship progressed. It turned into kissing, fondling, and even sex. Alida did not report any of this behavior to an adult and did not tell anyone at all. This was not found out about until a police officer found them having sex in a parked car. Mr. Waldrop was fired and had his teaching license revoked. Alida and her mother then sued Mr Waldrop and the school district, "claiming negligence and discrimination based on sex. Alida and her mother also held the school district responsible for failing to prevent the teachers misconduct."
In the court decision, the Supreme Court ruled the school district not liable because they had no way of finding out. Alida never reported the incidents so there was no way of anyone knowing. The school found out of this once they were caught by the police officer, where Mr. Waldrop was fired immediately after. The courts made their ruling so that the Gebser's would be able to sue Mr. Waldrop for damages, which is what they did.
If the school was informed before hand of the sexual harassment before and did nothing about it, then Alida and her mother would be able to sue the school district. Alida is also at fault because she didn't tell anyone about these acts and let it continue for quite a long time. Once a school had knowledge of such illegal acts, they can be held responsible if no action is taken.
I think that this is very reasonable for the school district and the students. There's no possible way that a district would know that a teacher would be sexually assaulting students if nothing is reported, and if there is no past record then it would not be able to be seen. Alida should have taken responsibility and told an adult of what was going on so it could have been stopped before it had gotten too far. If a school does not treat complaints or problems then they can be sued for those problems and not recieve immunity from the court.

Invisible Children

After watching the rough cut video and clicking through the organizations website, i was at how much Deerfield High School could help. Deerfield is well known for good academics and athletics, but we also do a phenomenal amount of fundraising. The one page of the website, it shows leaders of teams and individuals who have raised the most money. The second top ranked team was a high school that raised 20,000 dollars. Last year Deerfield High School raised almost 100,000 dollars and im very confident that we will go above and beyond that number. Some things that are pushing the students is that its a organization run by the youth, and its for the youth. Also to think that our school would build enough money to have our own radio tower with the DHS name on it would impact everyone in the north shore of Chicago and that radio tower would stand tall with our name on it for a very long time. If we are able to send one student to Uganda and bring back a picture of the tower with DHS on it, it would be well worth our efforts and time.

Teens on Trial by: Thomas A. Jacobs, J.D. Post #1

I chose the book, "Teens on Trial," because it has direct relation to what our class is about, and it also has direct relation to me. The book goes over important cases that have gone to the supreme court that involved teenagers, then gives other examples surrounding the issue so that the reader may better understand it. The book covers issues that we have gone over in class such as the death penalty, Privacy in school, drug testing in school and more. The book also covers issues we haven't gone over such as sexual harassment, be hospitalized, and permanent records. I decided to use this book for my semester project because it directly relates to our class, and it would give me more understanding of what we are learning and i would be able to better understand what rights i have in and out of school.