By 10 am this morning more than 30 students had already benn called to the office for participating in the Day of Silence. They were told to participate they had to go home with an unexcused absence, but they were an educational distraction to be silent all day.If you're experiencing resistance or opposition from your school, please visit the Report It form and let us know. A representative from Lambda Legal may be in contact to assist.-----School personnel are telling me that I cannot support it by putting a printed piece of paper on my shirt telling why i am not talking. And an attendance clerk said to me "I am not playing these stupid little games."-----Administrator sent an e-mail saying to bring all the students participating in the day of silence to the office.-----We can not discuss in class nor give materials to students. Students who choose to participate must report to a counselor. We have been denied having a GSA even after several groups of students have asked for one. We have a transgender student who needs our support. I'm being asked to take down the poster in the library and not hand out bracelets to my group.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Student Experiences of Day of Silence Resistence
We receive a lot of emails and comments at info@dayofsilence.org, but some of the most upsetting are the ones outlining the ways that schools are restricting the rights of youth participating in the Day of Silence. Here are a few comments we've received this morning. It's strong reminder of why the Day of Silence is so important.
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12 comments:
My school was amazing. They had stations in the lobby where they sold shirts and bracelets. They had two sticker booths, one for "Silent Supporters" and one for "Vocal Supports". The lines were out the door. Nearly all my teachers were vocal supporters and most people in my classes were silent. The class lessons were "silent-friendly" and my teachers even let students leave class to get their sticker. Yesterday was our Day of Dialogue where we had lots of guest speakers. Overall the experience was great and I went 6 hours and 40 minutes without talking :)
I am a teacher who helped the students organize and out of our 250 students, we had 160 get stickers and be silent! I am so proud of them! This was in Lincoln Heights, California.
Our school was also very friendly to this event. In the commons, student volunteers had been selling "Day of Silence" t-shirts to students and staff members for the past several days. I saw several students wearing them to school today. Also, this morning, student volunteers were also handing out pins that showed that one was participating in this event. All of my teachers were very friendly and accepting toward this. I'm very grateful to my school for doing this.
All of my teachers supported it.Many of the students didnt.They said "whoever doesnt speak right now is gay!".I stayed quiet, ignored them, and wrote down "Could you please stop sayind direspectful things?".My BEST FRIEND tried to guilt trip me to talk.I responded by wrighting "If you dont stand up for something youll fall for everything."She ignored me for the rest of the day.My mother was extremley rude and actally made me cry.So was one of my brothers.They refused to read what i wrote.Even with all the hardship i still tried to keep quiet and make my point.
I wouldnt really say I like my school because of all of the drama, but it was nice to see that some students actually cared and participated in the day of silence. It was nice because the hallways were quieter, people were not as talkative in the classrooms, and a lot of people wore red to show that they supported it.
Wow, you're lucky your school was supportive. I organized the event at my school by getting a list of people participating, then giving them an envelope with details and a speaking card. It got really popular, and a bunch of people participated, so I gave out a lot of envelopes with details. On the DOS, the school announced over the intercom that someone had been handing out "illegal" fliers and a bunch of other stuff about how they didn't support the DOS. Even though they didn't say my name, I'm pretty sure that most of the middle school, including my teachers, either knew who they were talking about, or found out. Completely humiliating. And I wasn't handing them out to random people. I either gave them to my friends, who I knew supported the DOS already, or kids who asked me for the stuff to participate!!! How hypocritical. On the morning announcements, they always talk about kindness, and justice, perseverance, and standing up for what's right. Our principal gives a "zero-tolerance bullying" speech at least once a year. In class, they always talk about how great our country is, because of the constitution, and our rights like freedom of speech. Yet, when students try to exercise those things, they shoot us down. If it was a day of prayer, we wouldn't have gotten in trouble either. They said a Christian prayer at an assembly once, and no one got mad about THAT. Even though that was a specific belief being endorsed by the school, this was students sharing the non-controversial idea that no one should get bullied, and I clearly wrote on the details that the event was not endorsed by the school, and that participants still needed to answer to teachers and speak when needed in class. So I doubt the principal even read the "illegal fliers" I "passed out."
My school was great too!!! The principal made an announcing telling everyone how important this day is and how it is important to show a lot of respect today!!!! In the lobby you went and wrote your name on a sticky note if you were supporting and stuck it to the wall and the wall was filled with sticky notes!! Everyone was carrying around rolls of red duct tape and probably about half the school had their mouths taped!!! It was great. All the teachers were really supportive
My School is rocking it. We have stickers and flyers everywhere. Mini flyers on Lunch Tables explaining what is going on with inspirational quotes about equality and Tolerance. Lemonade Sale to break the silence at the end of the day.
My School District Is Completely Unsupportive Of Even The Words "Gay". "Lesbian", "Bisexual", OR "Transgender"; Let Alone A Full Day OF Supporting These Things! There Are Students Who Do, But The School Board Has No Tolerance For It. it;s Completely Rediculous, I Wish There Was A Higher Level Of Power That Could Help Me & My Supporters Here. /:
Most people at my school were really good about it. Our GSA leader said that if someone gives us a hard time about it instead of firing back at them to raise your hand, break the silence, and ask to leave the room. Some guys in my biology class were trying to get me to talk they were making fun of me for it. I was nearly to the point of tears and almost raised my hand to ask to leave the room but I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing they had upset me.
I didnt participate this year. I am definatly going to be part of it in 2012. Even though I havent been bullied about being bisexual (probably because I havent come out yet) I see that their is a problem with bullying and it makes me sick. It sucks.
If anyone said anything to me that was negative I flashed them the note that my mother had written for me which shut up a lot of the negativity and even got people to participate! I got most of my friends to participate as well. In fact someone who has flat out told me that they can't stand me wore a pink shirt and had ductape over their mouth.
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