Opt Out As a Free Speech Movement
I produced the video below not only to proclaim that Opt Out is a Freedom Movement, but that it has become, due to attempted repression by school authorities, a Free Speech movement as well. Some elected officials have said that no public employees should have the right to speak out on the issues of the day, but if we apply that criteria to schools, we end up sharply narrowing our vision of what schools should do. Silencing principals, teachers and parents who wish to speak honestly about testing and curriculum sends a chilling message to students-namely, that a school is a place to learn obedience, not to appreciate differences of opinion and the battle of ideas. Those who want an Opt Out free school come perilously close to wanting a thought free school, or at lease a school free of independent thinking. This is yet another reason why the stakes in this conflict are very high. The kind of citizens we want in the future are being shaped by the kind of schools we have in the present.
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