High school valedictorian denied diploma over graduation speech

[shadowstalker]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/valedictorian-denied-diploma-speech-hell-134805221.html

An Oklahoma high school valedictorian who used the word "hell" in her graduation speech in May has yet to receive her diploma.
Kaitlin Nootbaar graduated from Prague High School with a 4.0 grade point average, her father, David Nootbaar, told KFOR-TV. But school administrators told him that Kaitlin would have to submit a written apology in order to get her diploma.
"We went to the office and asked for the diploma and the principal said, 'Your diploma is right here but you're not getting it. Close the door, we have a problem,'" David Nootbaar told the network.
"She worked so hard to stay at the top of her class," he said. "This is not right."
In her speech—inspired by a similar address in "Eclipse: The Twilight Saga"—Kaitlin recounted how annoying it is to be constantly asked what she wants to do as graduation approached. "How the hell do I know?" she said, according to her father. "I've changed my mind so many times."
In the version she submitted to the school for approval, "hell" was "heck." But in the version she delivered at graduation, "hell" it was.
The school declined to comment. "This matter is confidential and we cannot publicly say anything about it," Prague schools Superintendent Rick Martin said in a statement to KFOR.

[Carmody]

IMO and IME, she should apologize..and then address the idea that she needed to apologize as a weakness of character in a 'groupmind' and 'groupthink'..that was issued as a diktat* from a group of irate dogmatic mumblers.

For if she does not apologize and moves to stubborn, this could slow her life down, more than a deft bit of public akiddo that a bit of apologetic lip service would be. Attack from freedom, not from deficit. It's a simple equation when the emotions are removed. Galileo and Bruno could have done much more if they had learned or acted from that simple point.

*A diktat is a harsh penalty or settlement imposed upon a defeated party by the victor, or a dogmatic decree.

[Dennis Leahy]

IMO and IME, she should apologize..and then address the idea that she needed to apologize as a weakness of character in a 'groupmind' and 'groupthink'..that was issued as a diktat* from a group of irate dogmatic mumblers.

For if she does not apologize and moves to stubborn, this could slow her life down, more than a deft bit of public akiddo that a bit of apologetic lip service would be. Attack from freedom, not from deficit. It's a simple equation when the emotions are removed. Galileo and Bruno could have done much more if they had learned or acted from that simple point.

*A diktat is a harsh penalty or settlement imposed upon a defeated party by the victor, or a dogmatic decree.Brilliant, Carmody, just brilliant.

Dennis

[Lazlo]

Let them keep the piece of paper. It won't stop her from being accepted at a college or university. In fact, she's probably already enrolled as classes start this week for many institutions.

[Unified Serenity]

I think it's called freedom of speech, and if she had gone on preaching some new age ideas they'd be just happy with it and probably thrown in a few gift certificates at burger king. Because she dared to mention a "Christian" concept she must pay.

Home school you kids!

[zebowho]

IMO and IME, she should apologize..and then address the idea that she needed to apologize as a weakness of character in a 'groupmind' and 'groupthink'..that was issued as a diktat* from a group of irate dogmatic mumblers.

For if she does not apologize and moves to stubborn, this could slow her life down, more than a deft bit of public akiddo that a bit of apologetic lip service would be. Attack from freedom, not from deficit. It's a simple equation when the emotions are removed. Galileo and Bruno could have done much more if they had learned or acted from that simple point.

*A diktat is a harsh penalty or settlement imposed upon a defeated party by the victor, or a dogmatic decree.

In a perfect world I would agree but we are not and until then the above simply becomes "being politically correct"? That girl not only isn't defeated, she is the victor. According to educational requirements, she earned that diploma. End of story. She and her dad should stop at nothing short of that principals job. Where I come from blackmail is just that.

To further my thoughts on this, by NOT giving lip service she is still standing her ground on freedom. Lets face it corruption follows the corrupt (in this case as in "it makes a good story"). All that lip service will do is add to "their" power base. The media will never follow up on her reasoning (as you've suggested Carmody) for the "lip service". The only thing that will ever be seen by her apology is "how to tow the line".

The profound subtleties have fewer places these days IMHO and get easily overlooked by the masses. Too bad really.

-z

[westhill]

It seems this last HS experience is her most important one!
No way does she owe an apology (it wouldn't be sincere anyway).
This completely baffles me.

[Flash]

If I were her, I would apologize for myself using the word and at the same time I wuld apologise for all the great men in history who used it by giving the line in which they used it, starting with Shakespeare.

as a 4.0 student I may also present my apologies wih something like the following:


This is sometimes spelled in eye dialect as "wotthehell" or the like.
Don Marquis's character Mehitabel in "archy and mehitabel" immortalized
this usage in the field of English (lowercase) letters:

wotthehell wotthehell theres life in the old girl yet

"What the hell" is sometimes seen with an exclamation point, but should
not be written in this usage with a question mark (or pronounced as a
question); "What the hell?", often with multiple question marks, is
short for a true question, like "What the hell is going on?" or "What
the hell did you say?".

Another fixed phrase is "The hell you say" ("*The hey you say"),
expressing (often surprised) disbelief at the last thing the speaker has
been told. It can function merely to express shock, or as an active
challenge, equivalent to calling your conversation partner a liar.
Conventions vary, and one should not use this phrase in a speech context
without having heard it used there before, and understanding its
implications.

The other uses of "the hell", on the other hand, have plenty of syntax.
It appears to be short for "in the hell", which is also heard, along
with "in hell", though less frequently. Both "in the hell" and "the
hell" are restricted to WH-questions, where they follow the
interrogative WH-marker.
NB: either, but *not* both, of (in) and (the) may be deleted in these

Who (in) (the) hell is that?
What (in) (the) hell are they doing?
How (in) (the) hell did she get invited?
Where (in) (the) hell did he come from?
Why (in) (the) hell did you do that?
When (in) (the) hell is this rain going to stop?

This also applies to embedded questions, which have different syntax:

I don't know who (in) (the) hell that is.
I don't know what (in) (the) hell they're doing.
I don't know how (in) (the) hell she got invited.
I don't know where (in) (the) hell he came from.
I don't know why (in) (the) hell you do that.
I don't know when (in) (the) hell this rain is going to stop.

"the hell" may not appear with just any WH-word; "which", for instance,
is out, though "what" is OK:

*Which (in) (the) hell did he choose?
What (in) (the) hell did he choose?

and "whether", since it represents a yes/no question instead of a
WH-question -- essentially being identical to "if" -- is also out:

*I don't know whether (in) (the) hell he's coming.

In compound interrogatives, like "how big" or "what book", as in

How big is it? I don't know how big it is.
What book is it in? I don't know what book it's in.

"the hell" goes between the interrogative and its complement:

How the hell big is it? I don't know how the hell big it is.
What the hell book is it in? I don't know what the hell book it's in.

("in the hell" is much less likely than "the hell" in this construction)

Pragmatically, "the hell" functions as an intensifier, usually
indicating at least surprise, and often unpleasant surprise, and there
is almost always another word in the sentence that receives contrastive
stress to indicate that it is the focus of the surprise. Co-occurence
of other interjections and topic particles like "well" is also common.
The idea seems to be to mark the sentence strongly, iconic with the
strength of the emotion to be expressed.
(I indicate contrastive stress in capitals)

Well, how the hell big IS it, then?
Why the hell did you DO that?
How the hell did SHE get invited, anyway?

"Hell" is considered by many (but not by as many as it used to be) to be
a taboo word, like "death" or "cancer". Therefore it spawns euphemisms,
which are words meaning the same thing as a taboo term, but considered
safer for bystanders by experts in word magic. Frequently-encountered
euphemisms for "the hell" include:

"the hey" for the "wotthehell" construction only
"in the world" for the question construction only (obligatory "in")
"heck" which may be freely substituted for "hell"

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/thehell.html

[Carmody]

IMO and IME, she should apologize..and then address the idea that she needed to apologize as a weakness of character in a 'groupmind' and 'groupthink'..that was issued as a diktat* from a group of irate dogmatic mumblers.

For if she does not apologize and moves to stubborn, this could slow her life down, more than a deft bit of public akiddo that a bit of apologetic lip service would be. Attack from freedom, not from deficit. It's a simple equation when the emotions are removed. Galileo and Bruno could have done much more if they had learned or acted from that simple point.

*A diktat is a harsh penalty or settlement imposed upon a defeated party by the victor, or a dogmatic decree.

In a perfect world I would agree but we are not and until then the above simply becomes "being politically correct"? That girl not only isn't defeated, she is the victor. According to educational requirements, she earned that diploma. End of story. She and her dad should stop at nothing short of that principals job. Where I come from blackmail is just that.

To further my thoughts on this, by NOT giving lip service she is still standing her ground on freedom. Lets face it corruption follows the corrupt (in this case as in "it makes a good story"). All that lip service will do is add to "their" power base. The media will never follow up on her reasoning (as you've suggested Carmody) for the "lip service". The only thing that will ever be seen by her apology is "how to tow the line".

The profound subtleties have fewer places these days IMHO and get easily overlooked by the masses. Too bad really.

-z

You seem to be missing my point completely.

She should save her voice for places where it counts and does not result in deficit from a position of deficit.

It is an incredibly simple equation.

If one does not put the emotions aside, in the right time and place, they end up like Giordano Bruno or Galileo. Bruno was burned at the stake and Galileo was imprisoned for quite some time.

Give them the lip service they want and then go on the attack when free..while planning and acting to stay free.

[markpierre]

You seem to be missing my point completely.

She should save her voice for places where it counts and does not result in deficit from a position of deficit.

It is an incredibly simple equation.

If one does not put the emotions aside, in the right time and place, they end up like Giordano Bruno or Galileo. Bruno was burned at the stake and Galileo was imprisoned for quite some time.

Give them the lip service they want and then go on the attack when free..while planning and acting to stay free.


She's a kid. It took us a lifetime. She surely should have this all over facebook and Youtube by now. She can be a celebrity.

[Carmody]

You seem to be missing my point completely.

She should save her voice for places where it counts and does not result in deficit from a position of deficit.

It is an incredibly simple equation.

If one does not put the emotions aside, in the right time and place, they end up like Giordano Bruno or Galileo. Bruno was burned at the stake and Galileo was imprisoned for quite some time.

Give them the lip service they want and then go on the attack when free..while planning and acting to stay free.


She's a kid. It took us a lifetime. She surely should have this all over facebook and Youtube by now. She can be a celebrity.

In the end, it is whatever works.

I worked hard to make as many mistakes as I could, as a kid and in my teens.

Can't fix it if it ain't broken.

[zebowho]

IMO and IME, she should apologize..and then address the idea that she needed to apologize as a weakness of character in a 'groupmind' and 'groupthink'..that was issued as a diktat* from a group of irate dogmatic mumblers.

For if she does not apologize and moves to stubborn, this could slow her life down, more than a deft bit of public akiddo that a bit of apologetic lip service would be. Attack from freedom, not from deficit. It's a simple equation when the emotions are removed. Galileo and Bruno could have done much more if they had learned or acted from that simple point.

*A diktat is a harsh penalty or settlement imposed upon a defeated party by the victor, or a dogmatic decree.

In a perfect world I would agree but we are not and until then the above simply becomes "being politically correct"? That girl not only isn't defeated, she is the victor. According to educational requirements, she earned that diploma. End of story. She and her dad should stop at nothing short of that principals job. Where I come from blackmail is just that.

To further my thoughts on this, by NOT giving lip service she is still standing her ground on freedom. Lets face it corruption follows the corrupt (in this case as in "it makes a good story"). All that lip service will do is add to "their" power base. The media will never follow up on her reasoning (as you've suggested Carmody) for the "lip service". The only thing that will ever be seen by her apology is "how to tow the line".

The profound subtleties have fewer places these days IMHO and get easily overlooked by the masses. Too bad really.

-z

You seem to be missing my point completely.

She should save her voice for places where it counts and does not result in deficit from a position of deficit.

It is an incredibly simple equation.

If one does not put the emotions aside, in the right time and place, they end up like Giordano Bruno or Galileo. Bruno was burned at the stake and Galileo was imprisoned for quite some time.

Give them the lip service they want and then go on the attack when free..while planning and acting to stay free.

I don't believe I missed the point. I understand how to "pick your battles" but when is enough enough?