言論自由 Making fun of classmates and teachers=suspension?!

I heard a story today from a friend who told me about something that happened at her son's elementary school. Apparently 2 girls were suspended for uploading videos which made fun of 3 of her classmates and teachers onto Youtube. Needless to say I was shocked and amazed! First of all, how can grade 4 kids know how to produce a skit making fun of someone, videotape it, and post the videos on Youtube. Secondly, what happened to the freedom of speech?! Thirdly, does making fun of people constitute a school suspension?

As we all know, kids make fun of each other all the time--sometimes the comments are hurtful (bullying) and sometimes less sinister; and yet, I haven't heard of anyone getting suspended for making fun of their friends. Now I have, with this case. The principal of that school also gave a speech to fourth graders about the dangers of internet and how predators are everywhere on the internet and that kids should be careful. What the principal said is very true, but it really doesn't explain why their peers would get suspended for posting a video on Youtube.

I am guessing that there must be a rule in that school's by-laws which prohibited bullying (or lack of respect), otherwise, the principal really don't have any grounds to suspend any student, especially when the right to the freedom of speech is so valued in the United States. However, if I am the parents of those students targeted as the butt of their jokes, then I may not have been so lenient on the 2 students who have been suspended.

It's obvious that the kids involved in this "prank" didn't try to hide their "actions" by using pseudonyms when they posted the videos on Youtube. They just did it without realizing that what they did would warrant a school suspension. These are regular kids, just like my kids. They are not even precocious. I do think the kids need to be held responsible for their hurtful actions, but I also think school suspension is a rather harsh punishment. In any case, I'm sure the kids have learned their lesson, but most likely not the kind of lesson we want them to learn. I'm sure they will learn to disguise themselves better the next time they want to make fun of someone else, especially on-line.

今天下午一位朋友來電聊了一下大家的近況也順便聊了小孩子。她告訴我一件讓我蠻震驚的事。她說她兒子班上(國小四年級)有兩位同學被停學,因為這兩位同學自拍了四個短片然後 po 到 Youtube 上給同學們觀賞。當然不是每位同學都看了這些短片,只是有同學在討論這些影片時被老師聽到。那老師立既上網點閱。不看還好,這一看就不得了。這兩位同學 po 的短片都在取笑別人。有三位同學及數名老師都是片中被取笑的對相。校長知道後,確認了這兩名同學的參與,當天就請這兩位同學回家,然後再下了停學的指示。

我一直覺得這校長對此案學生的處份有點太嚴厲了。但是言論自由畢竟還是這個案件的主軸。不管怎樣,學校一定要保持中立,決對不能忘記言論自由的重要性。但是話又說回來,如果我的女兒是短片批評、嘲笑的對象,我恐怕不能理解這兩位同學的作為,而要求她們一定要登門道歉。