Free Expression or Just Plain Juvenile.

I was lecturing in class today about the importance of speaking freely about the things that trouble you. The idea I was trying to get across was that we can't be afraid to censor ourselves if we are ever going to understand how we feel about a given topic or if we are ever going to uncover our own biases. The thing I tried to stress was that although we should not be afraid to converse about what could be seen as potentially volatile material, we should be mindful not to offend anyone. In other words, we should give everyone the same respect that we want accorded to ourselves. This suddenly reminded me of a conversation that I had with one of my students after the first day of class.

He approached me after class and expressed his excitement about his expectations for the semester. In short, he was happy that I was going to allow him to write about whatever was on his mind. I thanked him for his kind words and assured him that nobody should be help back from trying to uncover their own "Truth" through discourse; however, I reminded him about being respectful to other.

In fact, I used the words, "That's all fine as long as you don't say anything inflammatory that would offend someone else."

His response: "Well, I didn't come to college to learn to be politically correct."

Now, I was faced with a problem at this point. I could sit there and try to explain to him that being PC and adhering to the customs of common courtesy are not necessarily the same thing. I could already see that he was ready to argue with me until he was blue in the face. He obviously had those two concepts confused. I had to leave because the next class was already filtering into the room.

Instead, I settle with: "Well, just don't say anything disrespectful to anyone. Think before you speak. But it's OK to try to work with others to understand a situation better. Use common sense. There's a difference between freely expressing your ideas and being a jerk."

I'm hoping that he got the idea. He wasn't in class today. Also, he left class in a tiff last class period while I was trying to make sure everyone understood how to form a citation for a works cited. Class was running over a few minutes as I was rushing around checking everyone's citations. I heard him speak as jammed his backpack full of books and folders, "Fuck this. I ain't waiting. I got to go." He burst out of the classroom.

So, today, this is what I thought about as I stood on my soapbox. To tell you the truth, I was happy to see he wasn't there today. But this isn't over. Oh no. The battle has just begun.