Civil Disobedience
Imagine that an administrator were to walk into this classroom right now and dictate to you the following message:
"Starting today, Arapahoe will have a closed campus. Students are not to leave the grounds during the school day for any reason. This is designed not to punish you but for your own protection. In order to accommodate the extra students in the cafeteria during lunch, the school day will be extended by one hour. Any questions you have need to be submitted in written form to the principal."
How would you react? What actions would you take (or not take)? How far would you be willing to go? Use one quotation from Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" to support your response.
"Starting today, Arapahoe will have a closed campus. Students are not to leave the grounds during the school day for any reason. This is designed not to punish you but for your own protection. In order to accommodate the extra students in the cafeteria during lunch, the school day will be extended by one hour. Any questions you have need to be submitted in written form to the principal."
How would you react? What actions would you take (or not take)? How far would you be willing to go? Use one quotation from Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" to support your response.
posted by Kristin L at 5:54 AM
15 Comments:
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I would be very mad. If school went an hour longer, that would mean that sports practices would also go an hour longer. Then I wouldn't have as much time to do my homework. That would be horrible. I would probably write a long letter to Mr. Booth. Thoreau says, "That government is best which governs least." He thinks we should have more freedom. Thoreau would not be in favor of a closed campus. He would think the students should have freedom to go off campus if they wanted to. Open campus is a great privilege. I would be upset if all of a sudden we didn't have it.
I think that if that were to happen, I would probably be the type of person who wouldn't have the guts to stand up to the administrator or do anything to drastic. I would, of course, be very angry and want to do something about it, but I don't think that I would actually be able to stand up to the person in control. Thoreau said that "All men recognize the right of revolution; that is the right to refuse allegiance to, and resist, the government, when it's tyranny or its inefficiency are great".
I would immediately say something to the administrator. I would ask for further reasoning and explain my points on why I think his desicion is a bad one. They took away most of the resposibility of young adults by taking away off campus. The more that the administration interferes, I believe the more 'lawbreakers' there will be. As Thoreau says, "The government is best when it governs the least" (85). I would definately write a letter, and express my complaints. I would join others in protest at whatever it was, but not to the extent of jepordizing my grades or my academic school life.
I would immediately say something to the administrator. I would ask for further reasoning and explain my points on why I think his desicion is a bad one. They took away most of the resposibility of young adults by taking away off campus. The more that the administration interferes, I believe the more 'lawbreakers' there will be. As Thoreau says, "The government is best when it governs the least" (85). I would definately write a letter, and express my complaints. I would join others in protest at whatever it was, but not to the extent of jepordizing my grades or my academic school life.
I would immediately say something to the administrator. I would ask for further reasoning and explain my points on why I think his desicion is a bad one. They took away most of the resposibility of young adults by taking away off campus. The more that the administration interferes, I believe the more 'lawbreakers' there will be. As Thoreau says, "The government is best when it governs the least" (85). I would definately write a letter, and express my complaints. I would join others in protest at whatever it was, but not to the extent of jepordizing my grades or my academic school life.
I would be very upset and angry. I would take action by writing letters and having sit-ins with my fellow students. I would be willing to go to a semi extreme state in order to not let this happen. I think that having open campus lets students get away for a little bit and escape all the stress of school for small portions of the day and with that being taken away school would be even more stressful. Then if there was an extra hour added to the end of each day it would be more overwhelming then words can describe on top of sports and other things that students participate in outside of school. One quotation by Thoreau that supports my response would be "That government is best which governs least"(85). Although Thoreau was talking about more extreme measures I think that if the school were to have us so sheltered, they would have way too much control over us, causing students to create havoc that did not even need to occur in the first place if they would’ve let us continue on with our open campus freedoms.
I would be very upset and angry. I would take action by writing letters and having sit-ins with my fellow students. I would be willing to go to a semi extreme state in order to not let this happen. I think that having open campus lets students get away for a little bit and escape all the stress of school for small portions of the day and with that being taken away school would be even more stressful. Then if there was an extra hour added to the end of each day it would be more overwhelming then words can describe on top of sports and other things that students participate in outside of school. One quotation by Thoreau that supports my response would be "That government is best which governs least"(85). Although Thoreau was talking about more extreme measures I think that if the school were to have us so sheltered, they would have way too much control over us, causing students to create havoc that did not even need to occur in the first place if they would’ve let us continue on with our open campus freedoms.
I would be very upset and angry. I would take action by writing letters and having sit-ins with my fellow students. I would be willing to go to a semi extreme state in order to not let this happen. I think that having open campus lets students get away for a little bit and escape all the stress of school for small portions of the day and with that being taken away school would be even more stressful. Then if there was an extra hour added to the end of each day it would be more overwhelming then words can describe on top of sports and other things that students participate in outside of school. One quotation by Thoreau that supports my response would be "That government is best which governs least"(85). Although Thoreau was talking about more extreme measures I think that if the school were to have us so sheltered, they would have way too much control over us, causing students to create havoc that did not even need to occur in the first place if they would’ve let us continue on with our open campus freedoms.
I would be very upset and angry. I would take action by writing letters and having sit-ins with my fellow students. I would be willing to go to a semi extreme state in order to not let this happen. I think that having open campus lets students get away for a little bit and escape all the stress of school for small portions of the day and with that being taken away school would be even more stressful. Then if there was an extra hour added to the end of each day it would be more overwhelming then words can describe on top of sports and other things that students participate in outside of school. One quotation by Thoreau that supports my response would be "That government is best which governs least"(85). Although Thoreau was talking about more extreme measures I think that if the school were to have us so sheltered, they would have way too much control over us, causing students to create havoc that did not even need to occur in the first place if they would’ve let us continue on with our open campus freedoms.
I think the best way to respond to this situation, would be to rally together in some form of protest. If we rallied the whole school in some form of march or sit-in the administration would have to change their minds. By haivng a protest we would be living life deliberately. Thoreau would have most likely taken a more drastic approach, however Thoreau was a very drastic man. Some students may not wish to participate in our protest but "The world is run by those who show up." In civil Disobedience Thoreau believed that a night in jail was worth learning what life was really like. he would say that no matter how much trouble we got in, it would be worth it because we would be standing up for what we believed in.As Thoreau says on page 85 the government does not keep teh country free, or settle the West. It is the people that make these things happen. We are people, and we can make things happen for us to.
Once the administrator left the room I would be very upset then I think I would get a group of people who also felt the same about the new rules and then have Mr. Booth come talk to us. Like Thoreau said, "All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable”(pg.88). I think enough people would come together to hopefully change the new rules back.
Once the administrator left the room I would be very upset then I think I would get a group of people who also felt the same about the new rules and then have Mr. Booth come talk to us. Like Thoreau said, "All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable”(pg.88). I think enough people would come together to hopefully change the new rules back.
I would speak up at that point to the administrator. By asking questions on the spot the administrators would be able to go back and think about the answers. Why is this being established now? What has happened to make this so? Sitting there and staring will do no good. No action will take place to change, or attempt, back to the way it was. If school went an hour longer then the sports practices would go longer creating less time to sleep, eat, and do homework. The students would be very worn out by the end of day and not to mention the week. I would also write a letter to the principal to demand a response. I might even walk out of school when the 2:13 bell rings. However, I would not do so if it jeopardized my future in an unfixable way. I believe that more people would follow at being outraged too. Like Thoreau says, "The government is best when it governs the least" (85).
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