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I told her he was at the dentist having oral surgery. She said, "Oh, so they're just gonna talk about it?" READ MORE
Teen Years (13-18)
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Editor’s Note: This year’s co-contributor to the Teen Years, Ann Long, was recently fired as editor of her student newspaper following a story in which she profiled, by name, three students who discussed their gay or bisexual orientation. Following is the senior’s take on the matter: Of all the random occurrences in the 18 years I have spent on this green Earth, never has one event so utterly consumed my life and opened my eyes to the crushing reality of high school politics. By now, most of Orange County and the surrounding area know that I have been embroiled in a journalistic battle over a story that was published in December, entitled, “Taking a leap of faith.” In this story, I described the emotional states of three teenagers as they contemplated revealing their sexuality to their family and friends. I did not obtain permission from the students’ parents to speak with or quote the students. The premise of the aftermath is simple: The administration said that I needed permission, and I didn’t get it. I said, I didn’t know. My journalism adviser said she told me on multiple occasions and that I concurred every time. The only way to redress this egregious error, the administration said, was for me to either resign or be removed. After hearing the administration’s final ultimatum, I felt trapped inside a web from which I could not escape. If I didn’t resign, I’d be removed, which would have the same effect. I decided I would rather be removed because of my disagreement with the administration’s interpretation of the situation, but I was unsure about whether or not I should even attempt to fight the system. I felt that the punishment did not fit the crime, and that I was being singled out unfairly. But what could I do? A student is always at the mercy of the school, especially for a high school student without a college acceptance letter in hand. In the end, my removal was quite anticlimactic. No bolt of lightning struck me where I stood, no voices were raised and no violent uprisings sprang up around school. The principal handed me a letter that solidified his support of my adviser, and I was left to pick up the pieces of 3 1/2 years of journalistic endeavors. I realize now that my removal was inevitable; because my article posed a potential liability to the school, a threat, I understood that the administration had to find the easiest and most face-saving solution possible. The adult world operates on rules such as this: the greatest good for the greatest number of people, even if the good does not seem to be unequivocally fair. Rules are meant to be followed, and I’ve always known this. But I guess what I didn’t know is that, when growing up, sometimes accepting the fairness involves swimming against the tide of your own beliefs. Ann Long, of Troy High School in Fullerton, graduates in June. |
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