Cecile DuBois has run into an ignorant teacher who is more interested in humiliating her for her views than in teaching English. You or your children may have had the same experience, so you might be encouraged by the support Cecile has received.
Cecile made the error of sharing her excellent, but non-politically-correct review of Mary Wollstonecraft's famous Vindication on the Rights of Woman. Cecile's views were based on accurate observation and correct judgment, which is an area quite foreign to her English teacher.
Unfortunately for this teacher, Cecile has a weblog and her situation has been publicized by many influential weblogs including Instapundit and Samizdata. This is not a scenario I would want any child exposed to, and it is a relief to see how many others are as concerned as I am.
Fortunately, she possesses great courage and integrity. I predict we will be hearing more of her in the future. She has the makings of a great writer.
It will be interesting to see if instant exposure to scrutiny and comment will have an effect on such travesties of education in the future.
All of this made me think that educators everywhere should recognize the power of blogs to motivate teens to WRITE. Exposed to the Internet and their blogging friends, they would discover a social pressure to SAY something someone would want to hear and to say it in an intelligible way. I used to teach English, and internal motivations for writing well are hard to come by. Blogging is cool. I would think English teachers everywhere ought to consider encouraging their students to participate in this technology.
Posted by: Denny | Feb 03, 2004 at 01:40 PM
Excellent post! I came upon her site earlier today and was appalled at her teacher and how Cecile was treated. Good for you for helping spread awareness about this. :-)
Posted by: Carrie | Feb 04, 2004 at 03:09 PM