Skool Rulez! Takin Action

[AnarchyAo2]

I'd just like to take a moment of your time to tell you guys that school policies make no sense at all. We're not allowed to draw violence in schools (swords, guns, etc), nor can we draw nudity. Which is just rediculous and hypocritical. The english department MAKES students read books where people get murdered and raped. Now, tell me whats the difference between a graphic image transfered from someone's head onto paper and a book supplying the mental images for that violence? I'm not seeing it. I decided to ask my art teacher about this. She said it was for "Student's safety that no one creates graphic images." What does she think I'm going to do with my doodle of a sword? Am I going to pull it out of the paper and start hacking people apart? If the art department can't draw violence and sexual images, then the english department shouldn't be able to hand out books that have the same content.

[Locrian]

I'm so glad I went to a more enlightened highschool. I was a senior when the whole columbine thing happened. If I went to any other highschool I probably would have been bombarded by silly dribble from lots of stupid people just cause of the way I dress (dark colors. black/death metal tshirts. long hair. black trench coat during winter.) I think I only received one comment about the trench coat and it was from photo teacher in jest. I also spent my many many free blocks sittin on the couches in the hall drawing (usually guys fighting with swords or guns). Sigh I miss that school.

[AnarchyAo2]

You had couches in the hall way?! We used to have these shitty benches the shop class made. We got those taken away because some student hid pot in them. And, we're not allowed to draw in study hall ( I do it anyway because the teacher thinks I'm doing homework), yet sleeping is tolerated. :rolleyes:

[WildSpruceMoose]

My school if it has these rules does not enforce them. Now what you should do is draw a picture of the aftermath of a violent act. Or do a piece with students in uniforms with those ball-in-mouth gags and chains attaching them with the phrase "CENSORSHIP IF FOR THE PRUDISH AND SQUEAMISH!"

Warning: These, especially the second will get you expelled/suspended.

[AnarchyAo2]

Haha. Yeah I probably will. My friend's brother got O.S.S because he worse a shirt with a "Pez Gun" on it. They told him not to wear it again, he duct taped the Pez Gun, and wore it the next day. Stupid huh? O yeah, I got an hour of detention for leaving a sandwich on the lunch table and "sassing" the principal. I told him that it was the janitor's job to clean the cafeteria.

But, I'm seriously thinking of presenting this to the school board. I doubt anything will be done, but as long as I piss off someone I'll be happy. If I piss them off it means I've caught onto something they're worried about, and why should they be worried if what their doing is legit? Haha, maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get english books banned. I won't have to read crappy books because their "classics". Pfft, I wouldn't use books like Huckleberry Finn to wipe my ass.

[Jianna]

my school is the exact same way. less so about violence i suppose, but nudes are about the worst thing you could ever do. I had an aquaintance get a referral for drawing a girl's figure in a pose without the clothes, but also without anatomical detail, for the purpose of putting the clothing on second so as not to muck up the cloth folds. thanks guys :bash:

[bRyaN]

Wow...

This is some of the craziest shit i have ever heard...

Thank god i live in NYC, when i was in school we were urged to take nude figure drawing and let our imaginations run rampart...

[Alex K.]

Originally posted by AnarchyAo2
Haha, maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get english books banned. I won't have to read crappy books because their "classics". Pfft, I wouldn't use books like Huckleberry Finn to wipe my ass.

Isn't that a bit hypocritical? I mean, you're saying that you want them to take something that you're against even further. You're asking them to ban books? What good could that possibly do?

It's ridiculous that they are approaching you about your drawings though. I can see where there concern is coming from, but it's still kinda silly. Does your school policy explicitly prohibit this kind of expression?

[cotron]

virginia is the dumbest state about school policy... I went to high school in northern va, and they suspended a girl for taking aspirin when she was on her period. a seventeen year old girl getting in trouble for a tablet of ASPIRIN. it's ridiculous, our county was one of the most ass-backward places to go to school.

[epiphany]

im a game design student and i can't surf game sites. cool huh. to unbanned such a site for research will take weeks.

[AnarchyAo2]

Its not that I don't like books. Its just that we are forced to read these dumb books that are all the same just because "important" people like them. For instance, we had to read 9 books last year about black people. I asked my teacher why we were reading all of these types of books. She told me so we will know the suffering they went through. Okay, so white people were wrong to abuse black people. I get it. I don't need read stacks of books on it. I just don't see why they won't let us read our own books. I mean, I love to read. I don't read books to spot the symbols and analzye them. I hate doing that, but I love the stories.

Oh yeah. They've also got a dress code. If your tank top straps are less then an inch wide, you get B.I.P. for a day. My sister almost got BIP because her straps were 1/2 an inch wide. My mom called the assistant principal and yelled at her about it. Another example of the dumbness: I got called up to the office. Had to wait an hour for the principal. I get in there and a group of my friends were already there. She says "Do you know why your here?"
I had done nothing wrong, so I said no. Its like they just want you to admit something they didn't already know about. I should have said "Yeah, I raped a girl out in the parking lot. I'm sorry." Hehe. Too bad I don't have the guts to do it.
"Well, then I'll tell you. Someone here left a sandwich on the table today at lunch! Which one of you did it?"
"Oh...sorry, I must have forgot it."
"Now, who do you think is going to pick up that sandwich?"
"The janitor?" I was serious, I thought it was the right answer.
"Don't you get smart with me, mister."
I was about to laugh at this point. I had to look at the floor because every time i saw her face, I saw the genuine anger in her eyes. It was so damn funny.
"Um...I'm sorry I'll try to remember next time. I guess I just forgot about it while I was talking to my friends."
"Yes, well, your going to have an hour of office detention because you forgot."

You know, if I get an hour detention for being dumb enough to leave a sandwich on a table. She should be beat to death for being that much dumber then me. I mean, all she had to do is pick it up and throw it away. The sandwich was even in the paper bag! She didn't have to touch it!

Alex K.- Yeah, we can't have asprin either. But, I take it anyway. Motrin has a little travel case of asprin, it looks like a chapstick tube. I just tear the label off and no one can tell the difference.

epiphany: Hehe yeah. Tons of sites are banned at our school. Their old filter was a program on the PC. I would just ctrl alt delete and delete the filter. Haha, then they got smart and upgraded to a filter another filter. Though, its easier to accidentally find a unbanned porn site, then it is to find a unbanned gaming site. Its strange.

[AnarchyAo2]

In art class today, we were given the assignment of making a drawing. I got on the interent to find a photo reference. I go to picsearch.com, type in nazi. Find a picture of two naziis walking down a street and print it off. I start to draw it, and a girl comes up and said, "Why are you drawing naziis?"
I explain to her that I wanted to find a good WW2 picture to draw and I just liked that one. Nothing more, nothing less. My art teacher over hears me, and walks over. She sees the picture and asks me why I'm drawing it. I tell her
"I was looking for WW2 pictures and so I typed in Nazi and found this."
"Don't you think thats going to offend people?"
"Maybe."
"Tell me, what offends you?"
I thought about it, and nothing came to mind. I couldn't think of anything that I'm really offended by.
"Nothing is coming to mind."
"I find that hard to believe. Do you care that your going to offend people with this picture?"
"Not really."

This is the picture I used.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/nazi_police_state.htm


"Thats selfish, thats a selfish thing to say."
"Yeah, I'm selfish, so why do I care?"
"Okay, your going to stay after class, we're going to talk about this and I'M going to pick out a picture FOR YOU."
"Why can't I draw this?"
"Its going to offend people--"
"It offends me that you won't let me draw the picture, considering that I have every right to."
"The constitution ends as soon as you walk through those doors!" She pointed to her classroom door. "And your intolerence is unbelieveable!"
"If everyone is so tolerent but me, then why can't the tolerent people tolerate my intolerence?"
"I'm not even going to answer that. The only way your going to draw that picture is if you have a message or a statement."


Fine if she wants a statement, I'm going to give her one. I'm going to write on the top of the picture. " OFFENDED?! WELL, I COULD CARE LESS."

You know, not everything is so damn pleasing to see. I'm not going to limit my drawing subjects just to please a group of people. And if she doesn't accept the picture, I'm going to tape it to my shirt and walk around with it on.

[Skank]

lol

you gave me a much needed laugh at work here man...

[Alex K.]

he said:
she said:
"The constitution ends as soon as you walk through those doors!"

Sounds a bit creepy coming from someone who works for a pretty much authoritarian organization.

Heh, maybe she's so offended because the nazis remind her of herself.


All jokes aside, that has to be the most demented school I've heard of. If you think they are enforcing rules that aren't in the school policy, contact ACLU or something.

[bizarre]

hehe... at my school, we're just not allowed to do drugs in open view... heh. well, no.

yesterday, two girls got run over in the parking lot because of the car surfing thing that happened, and then the.... uh what's it called. oh there's a girl in the hospital who od'd on coke. yeah. and my buddy Todd was involved with both incidents. BOTH! he's bad luck, i tell you.

we're just not allowed to draw stuff innapropriate for children under 18. so no cigarettes, booze, or nudity. and violence is okay as long as it's some sort of symbolic thing, or if it's not too too gory.

ok kids have fun!!!

[malicious]

my high school has gone to hell since i graduated. not that it was a center of free expression while i was there. i basically avoided the fine art classes for the same reasons anarchy is outlining. i was on the publications staff most of the time i was in high school, and through three different school administrations, we constantly had to worry if what we were writing would get censored after it went to print. we got lucky most of the time, but we were forced to be extremely conservative.

since i've graduated, stories have filtered to me through other grads and family back in that part of the country. a number of students were expelled and subject to an FBI terrorism investigation for playing shadowrun during lunch period, discussing said game, drawing art related to it, and here's the real winner, plotting to take over the world with microwaves in 2012. the FBI quickly washed its hands of the whole situation, but i believe the students were still expelled. sorry i can't provide any links to articles on the fiasco, it's a shamefully laughable story.

[Devilock138]

You know, none of my teachers ever cared that I hade some nude drawings in my sketchpad in school and I come from the Bible-belt One teacher said, 'just don't go showing it about or you'll end up getting into trouble (Sykes was the coolest; she was 24). Anyway, I quit school in 10th grade and took American School corrospondence. I took my art electives and in one of the books they sent me there was a section on figure drawing with brief/partial nudity in it. But in the first years of highschool I had two teaechers tell me to hang on so I could get a scholarship to Scad (they picked a few students a year) but our school had a very limited art program wich was due to funding, not teaching inability - so I spent more time then I can remember at the library getting books on art since... hell since I can remember.

"The constitution ends as soon as you walk through those doors!" She pointed to her classroom door. "And your intolerence is unbelieveable!"
"If everyone is so tolerent but me, then why can't the tolerent people tolerate my intolerence?"
"I'm not even going to answer that. The only way your going to draw that picture is if you have a message or a statement."

That made my day. Wow, has so much changed in 8 years? Every art teacher but one of mine were all totally cool. Anyway, I've always had an authority problem myself; not in obeying the laws, but the moment I think someone is trying to force an opinion on me or being an 'independant thought police' then I get downright fucking enraged. I got referred to the office 64 times the last year I was in school in incident related to 'insubordination.'

[AnarchyAo2]

I may argue a lot here on the forums, but in school I'm rather quiet and keep to myself. I only speak when I have something important to say, I don't ramble like other people. So, when I start arguing loudly (almost to a yelling) with the teacher, then you know that I'm pissed. By the end of the conversation my hands were shaking, my face was completely red (which isn't a big deal because I blush a lot, its a symtom of having red hair :P), and a kid told me in math class that one of my eyes was bloodshot. Kids kept coming up to me in the hallway, asking me if I had drawn the picture at home. I told them no, I'm going to draw it in front of her face.

Our school adminstration thinks that all kids should bow down to their authority. Well, I agree with their rules until they go beyond the point of common sense and start getting involved with personal opinions. This is my art, its just a fraction of my mind, and I'll do with whatever the fuck I want with it. Shes entitled to her opinions but I'm not going to let her censor my work. I have art class again tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm in the office by the end of the class. In fact, I'm kind of hoping I'll be in office. :rant

[Locrian]

"The only way your going to draw that picture is if you have a message or a statement."

Your statement is "My art teacher is a Nazi." Draw the uniforms and then ask her to sit still so you can draw her face in instead of theirs.

[shadow]

Wow, im kinda glad ive never lived in the US. In Canada, ive nevr experienced these traits, i can draw anything, under freedom of expression. Good luck dealing with your school rules Anarchy, or hey, just move to canada:D

[AnarchyAo2]

Well, I came into art class late today. And I knocked on the door for the teacher to let me in and she didn't even look at me. I walked in a grinned at my friends at the table. Grabbed my sketchbook from my self and tossed it on the table with the already started nazi drawing on it. She came up and said "You going to need to get another picture."
"Why? I got a statement, just like you asked."
"No, your going to pick another picture anyway."
"How about I don't make a bad message and just say something like this: "Why do Naziis need such big coats?" then make one of them saying "Jeez, who knew it was so cold in hell?" You know, that way I'm not offended anyone. Except the Naziis, you know."
"If you need to use the interent to pick out a picture go ahead and get on."

I even tried compremising! I had every right in the first place to draw it! I shouldn't have been that nice! Jesus. I've got another idea that she'll have to let me use. I'm going to draw Care Bears dancing around, with knifes in their hands. My message is the world isn't has happy as it seems.

I would have started another big argument about it, but lets face it. "You can't fight city hall." I'm not going to ruin my record of being a legitmate kid by arging with the most ignorant people I've ever met. Its sad but its true, ignorance is possibly the greatest shield of them all.

[WildSpruceMoose]

"If everyone is so tolerent but me, then why can't the tolerent people tolerate my intolerence?"

That is awesome. Haha. Well don't ruin your record, but try and make a work that speaks out about the unrest this censorship has caused you. If done right, it could actually emotionally affect people.

[AnarchyAo2]

Ha ha, its strange. Whenever I try to be funny, I'm not. But, when I'm serious, I'm usually funny. Its strange. I kind of came to an agreement with my teacher. I wouldn't draw naziis but I could draw weapons, as long as their not being used. It seems like a fair deal because I like guns better then nazis.

[Silvertone]

Would you be allowed to draw nazi care bears?

Dude- you better get out of Virginia before your friggin head explodes!

[dfacto]

Draw Nazis with guns but omit the swastika. Then nobody but you will know. Stick it to that teach'!

[WildSpruceMoose]

Haha, yeah its not a nazi if it doesn't have the swatztika ;)

[AnarchyAo2]

Well, we just had the "art show" today. Its not really a show. Its just a bunch of meaningless art thrown together in the library. Its a complete embarrassment to my skill because I can't try on school art projects. I just never had to modivation or inspiration to do well on them. Anyway, many people had drawn pictures of Saddam, and Bin laden. So...why couldn't I draw Nazis? I really don't understand how the school can be such a hypocrite. What baffles me more is that what made my situation so different that I couldn't draw nazis? I mean, if Saddam has been called the Hitler of our time, then why can't i draw Nazis? I should demand those pictures be taken down because I'm offended. You know, since I HAVE to be "tolerent".