{"id":1278,"date":"2014-06-07T03:49:20","date_gmt":"2014-06-07T03:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2014-06-07T03:49:20","modified_gmt":"2014-06-07T03:49:20","slug":"newton-student-penalized-for-democracy-notes-in-china-messages-are-called-out-of-bounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/newton-student-penalized-for-democracy-notes-in-china-messages-are-called-out-of-bounds","title":{"rendered":"Newton student penalized for democracy notes in China-Messages are called out of bounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ellen Ishkanian | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JUNE 06, 2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\u201cI hoped the kids would read it and think about why this foreigner was writing this,\u201d Henry DeGroot said.
\nMATTHEW J. LEE\/GLOBE STAFF<\/p>\n

\u201cI hoped the kids would read it and think about why this foreigner was writing this,\u201d Henry DeGroot said.<\/p>\n

Newton North High School senior Henry DeGroot was visiting a school outside Beijing on a semester abroad this year when he decided to have some fun and also make a point by writing prodemocracy messages in the notebook of a Chinese student.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy is for cool kids,\u201d he recalls writing. \u201cDon\u2019t believe the lies your school and government tell you,\u201d said another message, and \u201cIt\u2019s right to rebel.\u201d
\nBut when Chinese school officials found out, he had to serve five hours of detention. And when he returned home, it got worse: Newton school officials barred DeGroot from his prom.
\nNewton school officials say he violated semester abroad rules, embarrassed the principal of the Chinese school that was hosting Newton students, and showed so much disrespect for the Chinese that the longstanding relationship with the school may be harmed.<\/p>\n

DeGroot sees it differently.<\/p>\n

He says his rights were abridged by the Newton school system. The school system, he says, taught him the importance of civil disobedience and speaking his mind, but then punished him when he practiced what he learned.<\/p>\n

Instead of the prom, DeGroot said he and his date, dressed in formal attire, went to Five Guys, the local burger restaurant. \u201cI\u2019m missing a lifetime of memories,\u2019\u2019 he said.
\nThe controversy over free speech is taking place against the backdrop of the 25th anniversary of the events in Beijing\u2019s Tiananmen Square, where Chinese government troops opened fire on student prodemocracy protesters who had occupied the area.<\/p>\n

Newton School Superintendent David Fleishman said the problem is not that the 18-year-old expressed his opinions but that he did so on a school-sponsored semester in China, violating a code of conduct clearly spelled out to students before they left.<\/p>\n

Newton North senior Henry DeGroot held a souvenir poster that he bought on the student trip to China.
\nMATTHEW J. LEE\/GLOBE STAFF<\/p>\n

Newton North senior Henry DeGroot held a souvenir poster that he bought on the student trip to China.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly want our students to be thoughtful and critical thinkers,\u201d said Fleishman. \u201cWe encourage that, and we pride ourselves on giving students that opportunity. But this is not about free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeGroot was among a group of eight Newton students on a four-month study abroad program, under a longstanding partnership between Newton and the Beijing Jingshan School. The episode happened when the Newton group visited another school, in a small town outside of Beijing.<\/p>\n

At the end of a two-hour visit with the Chinese students, school officials asked the Newton group to write their e-mail addresses in the students\u2019 notebooks so they could stay in touch. That\u2019s when DeGroot said he wrote the prodemocracy phrases in one of the notebooks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely stupid, but I hoped the kids would read it and think about why this foreigner was writing this,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd hopefully they would be critical, or at least think about how their school and government interacts with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a Chinese teacher who reads English saw the phrases and told principal Fan Luyan of the Beijing Jingshan School, host to the Newton students.<\/p>\n

The principal was highly insulted, according to DeGroot.<\/p>\n

Fleishman said the phrases DeGroot wrote in the student\u2019s notebook have nothing to do with speaking his mind or free speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he did chilled the rest of the entire trip. It put a strain on the visit,\u201d Fleishman said. He said students are taught the intricacies of Chinese culture and social norms before they leave for the exchange, and they sign a detailed code of conduct, which he says DeGroot violated.<\/p>\n

Consequences of students breaking the code can include being sent home from the student exchange at their own cost. Fleishman said that option was not considered for DeGroot because there were just two or three weeks left in the semester abroad when the controversy played out.<\/p>\n

Fleishman said writing the phrases that insulted his Chinese hosts was a clear violation of the standards of behavior that DeGroot agreed to before leaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about adhering to the program standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While in China, Newton teachers had instructed DeGroot to write a letter of apology to Fan, principal of the Beijing Jingshan School.<\/p>\n

He did, but he included an explanation of his reasons for writing the prodemocracy message. \u201cI felt as a human being on this planet I have an inalienable right to free speech if I\u2019m doing it in a non-vulgar, appropriate way, as this private conversation was,\u201d DeGroot said in an interview.<\/p>\n

He said he eventually agreed to rewrite the apology letter, but he refused to deliver it in person to the principal. \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to go out of my way to take a 30-minute train ride to deliver the letter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Because of the prodemocracy note, he said, the US and Chinese school officials made him stay in detention for five hours while his classmates went on another trip. He was later told he could not attend the prom, a disciplinary action Fleishman said high school administrators chose because of the lateness of the school year.<\/p>\n

Fleishman said he is concerned that DeGroot\u2019s actions could have an impact on the entire exchange program. The Newton schools have had a relationship with Fan and his school since 1979, and have been involved in the school exchange since 1988.<\/p>\n

\u201cI applaud kids who want to be politically active, and I believe this program helps kids be active citizens of the world,\u201d Fleishman said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to jeopardize that goal by one student doing something that could end one of the longest-running exchange programs with China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Hamilton, chairman of the school exchange committee, said the Beijing Jingshan School is considered an elite institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor something like this to happen, it\u2019s embarrassing for principal Fan,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cIt\u2019s losing face for him, and in Chinese culture that is like losing your reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton likened what DeGroot did to embarrassing someone in their own home, and then refusing to apologize.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad Henry apologized as he was requested to do, we easily could have repaired the problem. Now it is a little harder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hamilton said Fleishman and representatives of the Newton school exchange have a scheduled telephone meeting with Fan on June 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Henry\u2019s behavior and the consequences will be discussed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For DeGroot, who is heading to UCLA this fall, the incident left him with a feeling that the Newton school system he\u2019s loved for the past 13 years has let him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey refused to take any stand to support the principles they taught us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

From:http:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/metro\/2014\/06\/05\/newton-student-reprimanded-over-pro-democracy-messages-during-china-semester\/5WrQ0viYPZTnCNfi6folwK\/story.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ellen Ishkanian | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1343,317,315,316],"views":918,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1279,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions\/1279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}