CB> Reposted with permission from the American Federation of Teachers, 
CB> By Albert Shanker, President
CB> Two years ago, the seventh-grade students at Broad Meadows Middle 
CB> School in
CB> Quincy, Mass., met a famous person who changed their lives. The 
CB> celebrity
CB> was Iqbal Masih, the 12-year-old Pakistani children's rights activist 
CB> and
CB> former bonded laborer.
CB> Iqbal Masih seems to have made a powerful connection with the 
CB> students at
CB> Broad Meadows. This was partly because of the contrast between their
CB> comfortable lives and the unimaginable hardship of his. Amanda Loos, 
CB> one of
CB> the students, put it this way: "He was so tiny. He had a scar on his
CB> eyebrow, where he was hit by an overseer.... The whole time I was 
CB> with him,
CB> I kept thinking we grew up with luxuries, as spoiled brats. And they 
CB> were
CB> working for my luxuries"
    Guilt-tripping a captive audience of students is a totally inappropriate 
use of public schools and public school students.
    I can't think of this same public school having provided a similar forum 
to an American 12-year-old equally dedicated to his cause, particularly a 
conservative cause.  Would this school have allowed its students to be used 
as a captive audience for a 12-year-old Bircher wanting to get the U.S. out 
of the UN?
    If public schools are to keep the allegiance of the public, they can't 
afford to be places promoting trendy causes to a captive audience of 
guilt-tripped students.  Several years ago, the Guilford County Schools lost 
a bond referendum in _very_ large part because it was doing that.
--- Simplex BBS (v1.07.00Beta [DOS])
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