Do You Have Any Adivice for Me Directly and Openly Disobeying School Policy as a Matter of Principle?

Question by MoonWolf: Do you have any adivice for me directly and openly disobeying school policy as a matter of principle?
Some background, I am not in the USA or Europe, so my school is a little behind the times. It is an internationally recongnised (nominally) Christian private all boys school.

The school has a system for suppressing dissent – it actively encourages fanaticism. It has previously done this subtly, and only through the prefect body, so it is difficult to pin on the school, but recently they have overstepped.

We are required to yell fanatical slogans at compulsory breaktime meeting where intimidation, especially of younger boys, is rampant.

Fanaticism is responsible for the vast majority of the bloodshed and cruelty humantiy has experience. Terrorism for example is just realised fanaticism. My grandmother despises potatoes today, because all she had to eat for 6 years was potatoes – all because of facist and communist fanatics.

It is disgraceful that fanatisim is allowed to replace sanity in an educational institution.

I refuse to take part in activities with death tolls.
By the way, I am in me final year and have gained the respect of my peers (some of whom are now prefects) and teachers with a history of stuborn defiance, honest sincerity and ruthless intelligence.

Please don’t read this as boasting – I believe that I am the only student in my school ever to seriously take up an issue with a teacher via the mobilisation of 132 pupils when that teacher did not listen to reason.

The evidence is easy to produce: it is printed and all over the internet. I just need to be able to consistently prove that it constitutes fanaticism and that fanaticism is harmful.

I am just wondering how to start: a written statement to the authorities, refusing to co-operate with prefects (who are my peers), etc. For instance, should I accept punishment that comes from refusing to go to these meetings or refuse it and wait until I eventually get refered to the diciplinary council (a sort of school run court for serious offenses)
Thanks for the concern. I do realise their are risks invovled, but nothing as extreme as being killed or seriously beaten up – the final year student body, which would be the body called in, has experienced my resolve in the past and would not risk that kind of confrontation, and the country isn’t *that* primitive. And it does have a constitution.

I will refuse to participate, even if I cannot change it. An educational institution is exactly the kind of place that should never encourage fanaticism of any kind – it is being used to quash dissent and generate money from alumni.

Fanatical behaviour has affected my parents and their parents for as long as we can trace their history. If I cannot convince them that fanaticism is to be avoided, I can at least cite family history to support my aversion.

But really, in an age where bigotry, fundementalism and intolerance is rampant, fanaticism should be utterly condemned.

Best answer:

Answer by Rah2006
Good for you & keep it up.
Just remember than fanatics do not go down easy. Your school is not going to say, oh well, I guess you beat us. You will get in trouble, and they may suspend or even expel you if you refuse to follow school rules. You need some sort of power that you can leverage over your school… like doing a “tell-all” interview with the local paper, or taking them to court. Try to get more students on your side. One voice may not be heard, but with enough voices, administration will be forced to listen to you.
Good luck!

Answer by mike1942f
Protest works when there are a lot of people or a lot of publicity. You are unlike to get the former in a private school, so you are going to have to work on the latter. A small digital recorder that you carry all the time (mine has a long cord and will hang under my shirt) but record only when you wish will allow you to build up a file of evidence – don’t keep it on the school computer!
The greatest problem is when a private institution has the role of a public one – theoretically you can leave the school, but if it is the only one or the almost required route to higher education, the pain of leaving is very great. But it also makes them vulnerable – if “everyone knows” the school has this dominant role, then they are more likely to be subject to community pressure if they violate community values.

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