This is a series of dazibao written for the explicit purpose of being mass produced and shoved in locker slots in High Schools. It isn't hard to print out a dozen and slip them into random lockers, and as far as I know it's not against the rules, either (this will vary from school to school, obviously). If anyone is following this and goes to a public High School, please print out a few of these and spread the word.
The First Amendment is Illegal
But don’t worry; it’s only on school grounds. Once you get off the school grounds are on a public street, you can wave angry sign posts in the air and hand out pamphlets and immolate yourself in protest and no one will lift a finger to stop you unless you step on a crotchety old guy’s lawn. You can campaign for a cause as ludicrous as impeaching Barack Obama on the grounds that he’s being mind-controlled by aliens who are trying to take over the world. But set foot on school grounds, and you can be suspended or expelled for saying something that the administration doesn’t like (or, if you’re not actually a student, you can just be arrested for trespassing). I’m sure the ruthless repression of free speech is the best way to prepare the next generation for life in a representative republic.
Of course, that brings up what you’re supposed to do about it. You’ve probably got better things to do than wave a sign around and yell angrily at a big government building hoping that the official inside it will somehow hear you through a three foot stone wall and half a dozen closed doors, but fortunately that’s not what I want. If you agree with the general concept that teenagers deserve the same first amendment rights as adults, on or off school grounds, then look up the Education Liberation Front on facebook.
-Ashen, educationliberationfront.blogspot.com
The New Drapetomania
Back before emancipation, there was once a southern psychiatrist named Samuel Cartwright who “discovered” (read as: made up) a mental disorder called Drapetomania. Drapetomania is the manic desire in African slaves to escape. In other words, the slaves aren’t trying to escape because the conditions are miserable and they have no hope of freedom, they’re just crazy!
Now in retrospect it’s easy enough to see that Drapetomania is idiocy, but I’m sure at the time it seemed valid. But what other things might be similarly valid reactions to horrible conditions, but which are today considered mental disorders? How about ADD and manic depression? Sure, maybe some teenagers actually have a chemical imbalance, but when you’re forced to do schoolwork that has little to no bearing on reality with the entirety of your future held in front of you like a carrot leading along a donkey, things start to seem a little hopeless. Suicide is obviously a bit of an illogical solution, but that doesn’t change the fact that if the system were changed, there’s decent odds we’d see the rate of diagnosis for these “mental disorders” drop like a rock.
If you’re interested in a new system like this, look up the Education Liberation Front on facebook. If you agree with what we have to say, do us a favor and join. The more members we have, the more impressive we are to politicians, and the more likely we are to change things.
-Ashen, educationliberationfront.blogspot.com
Making Abridged Revolution
What are you doing reading this paper when you should be getting to class? Haven’t you got better things to do than read a political rant by someone you’ve never heard of? Shouldn’t you be busy learning? Actually, that’s a good question. You should be busy learning, and that’s why I’m not terribly fond of school. You see, memorizing, for example, the formula for the calculation of projectile motion on, say, Mars, is not terribly useful if you don’t intend to go into astrophysics or design physics engines. Actually, every Math class after Algebra I is loaded with useless baggage that at least half the student body would be just as well without. There are, in fact, other kinds of Math besides Calculus. Why aren’t things like number theory an option? Why do we all need to take advanced Math classes anyway? And, this is tangential, but why on Earth do we have to run on such a strict bell system? I can’t think of a single workplace in America that runs its workforce on such a tight schedule.
-Ashen, educationliberationfront.blogspot.com
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