High school debate teams are being overseen by left-wing censors who punish students who dare to use words or phrases that challenge the woke worldview, critics told The Post.
Censorship, which has increased over the years, is accelerating as competitors are punished, and students in classrooms are reprimanded for saying anything deemed politically incorrect.
“If you have a judge saying that if you defend capitalism, defend the police, or defend Israel, you’re going to lose, no questions asked, think about what that represents,” said James Fishback, founder of Incubate Debate, which hosts free- speech debate tournament in Florida.
“If you use the word ‘illegal immigrants’ to refer to 10,000 illegal immigrants crossing the border, you automatically lose.”
“You can’t challenge that. You can’t talk that. And then it becomes an echo chamber with those views not being allowed,” Fishback said, calling it “indoctrination.”
James Fishback founded Incubate Debate to protect free speech in high school debate tournaments. Courtesy of James Fishback
Referring to competitors as “miss” or “teacher” is often prohibited and microaggressions — comments or actions seen as indirect or unintentional discrimination, which may be as harmless as saying “America is a melting pot,” or “I believe the most deserve should get a job” — can result in losses.
Fishback — who has written extensively about the left’s takeover of the sport — and several of his Florida-based students participated in a virtual event hosted by the New York-based nonprofit Restore Childhood last week to discuss the battle over free speech in the classroom.
Natalya Murakhver, an Upper West Side mother and co-founder of Restore Childhood, which supports children’s health, education, athletics and the arts, has seen the erosion of free speech long before students reach high school or join the debate team.
As the free-speech debate continues across the country, the battle is also raging in schools, say pengkritik.kasto – stock.adobe.com The nonprofit Restore Childhood, co-founded by Natalya Murakhver, supports children’s health, education, athletics and the arts. Courtesy of Natalya Murakhver
“There is so much policing of speech and fear among students to conform and say the right thing and not to voice dissent,” Murakhver told The Post.
“My middle schooler last year told me that in her 7th grade health class, girls are referred to as AFAB and boys are referred to as AMAB – assigned female at birth and assigned male at birth,” she said.
“If you tell kids they can’t say ‘girl’ and ‘boy’, the school is telling you what’s acceptable to say and what’s not, and to me, that’s censorship.”
Murakhver, whose family emigrated from the Soviet Union when he was six, said he previously took freedom of speech in America for granted.
Students spoke Thursday of being shut down when they questioned classroom teachings and Briana Whatley, a Florida junior, spoke of being ostracized for standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Senior Destiny Martinez shared the criticism she received for trying to get the school to acknowledge the September 11th attacks.
“It should be a safe space that if the teacher asks a question and the whole class answers, everyone can say their point of view is different, can say their answer is different because everyone has a different response to everything,” Martinez said.
Students say high school debates are being censored but so are conversations in their classrooms. Courtesy of James Fishback
“Everyone has a different point of view and that’s what our classroom needs to focus on,” he said.
Fishback said he was encouraged to see the New York group also focus on preserving free speech and open debate.
“Florida is a very good place to get a pulse because this should be where you wake up to die,” he said. “But if this can happen in a place like Florida, we know it happens almost anywhere else.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
