Forced Apology Sparks Debate - Student Speaks Against McDonalds

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Forced Apology Sparks Debate

By RICK GREEN

The Hartford Courant

 

Jun 3 2001 12:00AM

 

STONINGTON - The public punishment of a 15-year-old student has left the

school system in the middle of a debate over what constitutes free speech -

and what is acceptable high school behavior.

 

Tristan Kading is a 15-year-old vegetarian and a seasoned protester who said

he saw the necessity to speak his conscience when McDonald's showed up at his

school recently looking for summer employees for its restaurants.

 

Administrators at Stonington High School instead saw a disrespectful and

disruptive student unwilling to cooperate in a special assembly on job

interview skills that the McDonald's Corp. had agreed to host.

 

Hours after speaking out against the hamburger giant, Kading was forced to

read an apology to the entire school over the public address system, in which

he said he described himself, with the principal's approval, as " a bad

student " that no teacher would want to have.

 

" They say we have a lot of rights. Then I test that, and I don't, " said

Kading, a blue-eyed boy with a bristle haircut who likes boats and computers

and is a veteran of recent protests against deer hunting, Nike sneakers and

neo-Nazi sympathizers.

 

" I thought the Supreme Court supported free speech and free expression in the

school environment, " he said. " We just studied protests in my American

cultural studies class. And then this comes up. " The incident occurred late

last month, when sophomores were sent to a mandatory assembly in the school

cafeteria. They watched a film about working in a fast-food restaurant and

were given juice and cookies by company officials wearing McDonald's hats. In

return for filling out job applications, Kading said, students were given

coupons for free meals at McDonald's.

 

Kading said he was upset at being required to attend a presentation from a

company he views as responsible for destroying South American rain forests in

the name of raising beef for hamburgers.

 

A representative from the company then asked for volunteers for mock job

interviews. After one student made a juvenile remark in his interview and was

told to sit down, Kading volunteered.

 

" She asked me about myself, and I said I hate large corporations like

McDonald's, " he said. " She said that won't get you a job at McDonald's.

 

" She says `Give me back the mike,' and I said I would not want to work for a

company that falsely advertises its French fries, " Kading said, referring to

a recent controversy in which McDonald's revealed that it uses beef flavoring

in its French fries.

 

Kading's comments drew loud applause and high fives from his friends, but

administrators quickly removed him from the room, telling the group that he

was " an embarrassment to the school. " He then met with Principal Stephen

Murphy. Fearful that he would be suspended, and at Murphy's urging, Kading

agreed to read the apology over the intercom.

 

" I've never heard of this kind of punishment of putting the kid on the

intercom and making him apologize, " said Liz Kading, Tristan's mother. " We

raised him to speak his mind. I hope we raised him to respect other people's

opinion, but to have his own opinions as well. "

 

She said the family has been flooded with support from the community since

Tristan wrote a letter about the incident to the New London Day and the

newspaper followed up with a story.

 

Thursday, after meeting with the Kadings, Murphy got on the public address

system himself and said he was sorry if he " unintentionally humiliated "

Kading by making him apologize so publicly. But he stood by the disciplining

he imposed for the boy's behavior.

 

Kading - who notes that he wouldn't hesitate to speak up again - said

Murphy's apology isn't enough, because the message to other students is that

it's not OK to speak your mind.

 

Murphy did not return a call for comment. Superintendent of Schools Michael

L. McKee said the real issue is how Kading chose to voice his opinion, not

what he said.

 

" The pillories went out in New England long ago, " McKee said, agreeing that

it would have been better had Kading not been required to read an apology

over the school's public address system for a relatively minor infraction.

 

But, he said, students are required to express their opinions in an

appropriate fashion.

 

" We provide time when students are given the opportunity ... to make the

kinds of statements that they feel necessary to make, " he said. " We have a

newspaper run by kids. We have lots of town meetings where students are given

the opportunity to say what they need to say. "

 

" School is about having kids think for themselves and making good decisions.

I don't think there is any argument that the youngster was thinking for

himself, " McKee said. " Did he make the best decision on how to do it? "

 

Patrice McCarthy, deputy director and general counsel for the Connecticut

Association of Boards of Education, said the law is on the side of school

administrators. If a student's behavior is viewed as disruptive, free speech

can be curtailed, she said.

 

" In the school setting, you clearly have less rights than you do out on the

town green, " McCarthy said. " The courts have been fairly consistently

deferring to school officials about what would be disruptive. "

 

Thomas Mooney, author of " A Practical Guide to Connecticut School Law, " said

Kading's case also fails one of the key tests of protected speech.

 

" Any time you talk about free speech you have to ask yourself whether there

has been a forum created, " said Mooney, a Hartford lawyer who often

represents school boards. " This was an educational exercise. School officials

have the right to regulate students' speech in school-sponsored activities.

It is not a forum, it is just a disruption. It's a failure to participate in

an appropriate way. "

 

But the case is about more than law, supporters of Kading say.

 

To the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, the issue is fundamental.

 

" We believe that students have First Amendment rights just like everyone

else. A student giving his opinion should be able to present his opinion, "

CCLU lawyer Toya Graham said. " We are certainly concerned when we find out

about a student who has a history of speaking out. We wonder what the

motivation of the school is. "

 

" There are a lot of concerns about children in schools and issues of

violence, " Graham said. " You have to be careful that you don't stifle all

communication. We want to encourage children to think on their own. "