The Log
Questions and answersFriday, March 05, 2010 By JACKMAN OCHS
I wanted desperately to start my article like this: It’s only February and the chit chatter of prom is already in full force. There’s the usual "where will you eat?" or "what color is she wearing?" But one question that is not as popular with the prom season is "are you allowed to take her?" My original intent with this article was to expose corruption and become the catalyst for social change. I wanted to be the voice of the students. I wanted to call DHS out on their unfair policies regarding same sex couples and the heinous abuse of the First Amendment. I was ready to ask Ed Mckinney the tough questions. "What are the current rules concerning same sex couples at prom? Have you ever discriminated against a same sex couple in concerns to prom at your time here at DHS?" With every searing question I asked, McKinney had a smooth, yet non-rehearsed, response. "We have no stance on heterosexual couples, nor on same sex couples," or "I don’t want to stomp on anyone’s legal rights. We’ve always allowed same sex couples [at prom]." Where was my story? My opportunity to expose injustice and bring about change was gone. But I still had questions. If what they said was true, then why do we believe that DHS willingly discriminates? Then, for the first time here at DHS, I was glad for something the administration had done. They had no biases. They had saved me from being the voice of a student body too afraid to ask questions. The real problem here is that students believe that it’s the duty of those in charge to spoon feed every piece of information to them. It is a student’s job to ask questions. Why wouldn’t we do this for something as special as the tradition of prom? |