For most schools, the Day of Silence was yesterday, though for some reason it was Wednesday at my school. Almost all of my friends vowed to be silent the whole school day. And for the most part we all followed though.
By 7th period my friend Hayley still hadn't said anything all day. Our
teacher gives this thing randomly once a week. It's called ROT or Random Oral Testing. There are over 200 cumulative vocabulary words that he quizzes us on ORALLY. It can happen any day of the week, but it just happened to be the Day of Silence. We all go into the room and get settled, and our teacher says "Put away your notes, It's ROT time." Hayley and I and everyone else in the class, even if they were talking sort of looked at him as if to say "Really? Today of all days?" Mr. 'Teacher' tells us "I realize it's the Day of Silence and I support it, but you have to make a choice. If you chose to continue your silence, you will receive a zero, or you can suspend your silence and not put your grades at sake."
Hayley and I looked at each other. There wasn't even a choice. We were going to continue with our cause, no matter what. We are both relatively good students and could afford to fail once. There wasn't a second's hesitation for me. We sat in silence as he went though the different rounds. He always included us to give us a chance to speak if we wanted to, but every time, there was silence.
Mr. 'Teacher': "Emma, Onomatopoeia"
Emma: "......"
The whole class looking between him and I, to see if I'd give in.
It was a little intimidating, but it felt really good to stand up so fully for something I believe in. Then at the end of class, Mr. 'Teacher' always gives us a chance to hear how we did out of 25 points, in front of the whole class. He'd be like "Connor, would you like to know your grade?" Connor would of course say yes. Everyone always says yes because they don't really mind people hearing their grade. When he called my name, there was silence. I couldn't talk for myself and everyone knew I'd failed. However one kid I know, who's sort of a clown called out "Tell her!" He meant it in a totally joking way, and Hayley and I understood that but Mr. 'Teacher' didn't take it that way. He flipped out at the kid telling him, that he was doing what Hayley and I were protesting. When the kid tried to say something in his defense, Mr. 'Teacher' just told him he had nothing to say.
We all sat there in silence watching this, and when class ended, the Day of Silence ended too. Hayley and I walked out together proud of what we'd done, but not thinking of giving it a second thought.
They next day, the heads of the Rainbow Alliance at my school, walked up to me at the beginning of a class. They pulled my into
the hall and asked for my opinion of what had happened. I told them. They said that our principal had already heard what had happened and would be talking to the teacher, but they wanted me to talk to her and fill her in on my side of the story. I did, but I also told her that I was completely aware of the fact that I was going to fail when I acted.
People have told me that they have been talking about it in their other classes. Teachers have come up to Hayley and I telling us that what happened was wrong and that we should fight for a grade. The Rainbow Alliance is taking the teacher to JCOMM (the judicial committee in our school) about what happened. They say that even if we don't care about the points, no one should have to choose between grades and a cause they believe in.
I guess it all goes to show, you never know what you're getting into when you stand up for what you believe in. I wouldn't have done anything differently though.
Did you participate in the Day of Silence? What were your experiences?
If you didn't, was it because you have different opinions on the cause? If so, I'd love to hear them.
Maybe you didn't participate because your school made it difficult, how did your administration support or not support the Day of Silence, was this expected or unexpected?
6 comments:
Emma, I applaud you and Hayley for having the guts to stay silent and stand up for what you believe in! That takes courage. That zero is not only worth it, but something to be really proud of.
I didn't participate in the Day of Silence because it was my school vacation, but I will absolutely look into participating next year (depending on the school schedule). I am 100% in support of the Day of Silence, because even in my nice little private school, I hear so many "gay" comments. I know for a fact that there are gay, bisexual, and questioning students in our school (I'm not sure about transgender), and I'm friends with some of them. Since I'm in 7th grade, no one's really "come out", but I know that when they do, some people will really give them hell. And no one, absolutely no one, deserves to go through that. I'm more than willing to get in trouble at school for standing up for such a worthy cause.
hi. that was a really brave thing you did, and i had no idea there was a day of silence. but i think it's a very worthy cause and i'm definitely going to participate next year. thank you for opening my eyes.
I'm glad you both will participate in the future! The fact that by telling you this, you have learned and will join in makes the zero even more worth it.
A few of the people I know have come out, but I'm sure that at my high school reunion many more of them will have come out, once they pass the traumatic experience of middle and high school.
I'm homeschooled, and I don't participate in the day of silence (I didn't actually know when it was) I think mostly because no one would see that I supported it except my family, and they don't really care(maybe?)/already know.
Emma, you were really brave to do that. I think that your teacher was wrong to force you to choose. Hopefully that will get settled peacefully, and things like that won't continue to happen.
We don't do the Day of Silence at my scool, which may have to do with the fact that we're all girls and very small, or maybe not=/
Congrats Emma! That's awesome!
I was thinking about the reasons that we do the Day of Silence in the first place and I have a question for all of you blog-goers: if you were/are a LGBTQ student at your school, what would that be like? Every school is different, so every experience is as well. At my school, there are a handful of gay kids who haven't publicly come out, but it's interesting because I think a lot of people aren't anti-gay, but really uncomfortable with the idea. Some of my old "friends" knew practically nothing about homosexuality and really didn't care to learn. What's it like at your school?
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