Principal interrupts valedictorian's criticism of Mainland
By REGINA SCHAFFER Staff Writer, (609) 272-7211
Published: Thursday, June 22, 2006
Updated: Thursday, June 22, 2006

Kareem Elnahal learned a lesson Tuesday night — even in graduation, the school still rules.
The class valedictorian surprised administrators and his fellow 2006 graduates at Mainland Regional High School when he opted to give an unapproved speech criticizing the school. Mainland, Elnahal said, does not encourage intellectual thought and the exchange of ideas.
The senior, in a detailed speech that referenced philosphers and ethics principles, referred to his education as “entirely hollow.” The speech was interrupted by the principal, and Elnahal cut his remarks short and left the ceremony.
Mainland principal Robert Blake said the speech insulted Elnahal’s classmates.
“That was so hypocritical of him to make that statement,” Blake said. “It was an insult to everyone here at this school ... he made inflammatory comments about the school in general.”
Reached at his home Wednesday, Elnahal said he regrets the way the situation unfolded. He was embarassed and apologetic.
“I put the principal in a very uncomfortable position — he’s a very nice guy, actually — I feel bad,” Elnahal said. “I feel bad that he had to deal with this.”
“I just wanted to finish up, I felt pretty guilty,” he said. “I felt embarassed that the ceremony had to happen this way. It’s supposed to be a day of celebration.”
At the same time, Elnahal said he is glad he had the opportunity to make his point.
“I went to two parties last night, and I’m their hero now,” he said.
“I felt like this was the right thing to do,” Elnahal said. “I couldn’t show the speech (to officials) beforehand because they would have rejected it. I could tell by the reaction from students that they felt the same way. I had to express it or I felt that nothing would change.”
In Elnahal’s original approved speech, he was to touch on the high and low points of school and the experiences that moved the class to maturity. But once he took the podium, Elnahal changed gears and began to speak about the shortcomings of the American education system — specifically, at Mainland, a school that prides itself as being one of the premier area high schools.
“In my reflection ... and I have reflected on this a great deal, I found that many of life’s important questions are ignored here,” Elnahal said, according to a copy of the alternate speech he provided to The Press.
He went on to say, “I speak today not to rant, complain or cause trouble ... rather, I was moved by the countless hours wasted in those halls.”
Blake said he and other administrators realized after a few moments that Elnahal’s speech was different than what was approved. Blake said he approached Elnahal, let him know he was disappointed with what he was saying, and asked him to wrap up his speech.
Elnahal described the incident the same way.
After he finished the speech, Elnahal walked off the stage and left the school grounds by his own choice.
“I thought it would be better for the ceremony to go on without me,” he said.
Blake noted that the very education system Elnahal criticized helped him get into Princeton University.
“He conveyed that he felt his education was worthless,” Blake said. “We have an outstanding education system here.”
Blake said the audience had a mixed reaction to Elnahal’s comments. Some yelled comments regarding freedom of speech after the speech was interrupted. Blake said he heard some students cheering and applauding Elnahal’s comments.
“I truly don’t believe they understood what he was saying,” Blake said. “My hope was they did not hear or understand what he was saying. Whether it was intentional or not, he was belittling the diplomas of every one of those kids.”
Blake said that as with every valedictorian’s speech, there is a process of review to make sure the speech is appropriate. Elnahal’s original speech was approved.
“This is a school (sanctioned) program,” Blake said. “We give them latitude. However, to say inflammatory things — no, I won’t allow that. We have several thousand people in the stands.”
“He has a right to his comments, but he shouldn’t have been using that pulpit to put forth his limited viewpoint,” Blake said. “Hopefully people kept it in context.”
David Hudson, a research attorney at First Amendment Center, said it is difficult to say in a situation like this who is right and who is wrong.
“The question becomes whether (the student’s) speech is student initiated or school sponsored,” Hudson said. “It’s a hazy issue.”
Hudson noted that students do not have full First Ammendment protection, and do not have the right to say whatever they want at a school event.
But at the same time, disliking a student’s speech is not a reason to stop it, Hudson said. If there was substantial concern that the student’s words could cause a problem, then someone has a right to step in, Hudson said.
Blake said that Elnahal’s diploma still is at Mainland. He has not yet contacted the school about obtaining it.
“I guess I have to go pick it up,” Elnahal said.

I think the question you should ask yourself is...do you really want teachers teaching that sort of thing. That's something that could be potentially very dangerous.

If done right, it could be very good. I don't think such a concept would be recieved well though. "When am I ever gonna need trig at the grocery store." Well, "When am I ever gonna need understand complex philosophical debate at the grocery store."

Honestly, I think college is a more appropriate environment for that, and I do think that high school should be more about pushing formula's and packing knowledge. Teenagers are almost always inept at forming well thought out opinions on a rational level.

i dont think its so much the system as it is the students. your friends brother represents what about 2% of his schools population in regards to his level of understanding and thirst for knowledge? the other 98% dont even want to memorize simple dates, its too much work, i dont wanna do that, i want to go to the party blah blah blah.

call it what you want, but kids today always look for the easy way out, the same they have for generations before and its never going to change.

once you get into college, then you have the philosophical debates, the what ifs? and so on, where you will have more than just one person in the class who is interested in different ideas on that given subject.

The funnest thing about this thread is that educational is spelled wrong. Not that that matters...tis the interweb that does it, and it happens to all of us....but it's fun.


So...

1. Schools are incapable of requiring more from students than society is prepared to expect. In many places, a failing student must be past on to the next grade if the parents request it. Last year 11 students failed my class, and all of them were past on by their parents...mostly, for fears of social isolation or stigma. Two years before that, a parent tried to get me fired because her son had a D. If you wanted schools to go as deep as that, it would require a lot sterner approach from society in general (which is very forgiving and soft on teens) and parents especially.

2. The brain is still in developmental stages on into the early 20's, so for most people that degree of abstract thinking is impossible at that age. For some, it will always be. Maybe offering more philosophy optional courses would be the route to go. But those will cost money, and these days the only way you'll get it budgeted is to make it an AP course...in which case every parent in town will try to stuff their unprepared kid into it.

past is also supposed to be passed

Perhaps the answer then is to look at how we position kids in school. Maybe the Magnet system available in some regions need to be further developed throughout the country. I know in highschool I saw the same 30 kids throughout the day, having taken advanced placement courses. And yes our level of thought exceded that of the most of school, but a majority of us still desired that it be pushed further. However due to the fact that we were constantly prepping for these standardized tests, we were unable to explore those areas.

so should schools cater to the few or the many? just because you and your friends feel you were beyond your classmates is in now way a legit reason to make things harder on those who struggle just to get C's.

they have special schools for you brain types, prep schools, that offer a much more challenging course load, but we are talking about, i presume, the public school system.

its tough enough to get students to pay attention and retain information that seems simplisitic enough to the average person, but not everyone is average, therein lies the problem

I definitely agree with you, Koser. I think we should adopt the German school system, as it's a lot more grounded in reality and practicality. I got really tired of my AP classes in high school being watered down. It should only be those who have a real interest in education. People who just want to work should have the ability to do so.

This sounds like a job for! *dun dun dun* SCHOOL VOUCHERS!

1. Schools are incapable of requiring more from students than society is prepared to expect. In many places, a failing student must be passed on to the next grade if the parents request it. Last year 11 students failed my class, and all of them were passed on by their parents...mostly, for fears of social isolation or stigma. Two years before that, a parent tried to get me fired because her son had a D. If you wanted schools to go as deep as that, it would require a lot sterner approach from society in general (which is very forgiving and soft on teens) and parents especially.

2. The brain is still in developmental stages on into the early 20's, so for most people that degree of abstract thinking is impossible at that age. For some, it will always be. Maybe offering more philosophy optional courses would be the route to go. But those will cost money, and these days the only way you'll get it budgeted is to make it an AP course...in which case every parent in town will try to stuff their unprepared kid into it.

A couple of examples...

Some canadians believe that Canada is larger than Russia! Since when 10 million square km is larger than 17 million?

One of my teacher back there, belived that Islam came before christanism...She was just 600 and somethings years wrong.

ah, this teacher was jewish and she claimed that she studied religions of middle-east, what makes her affirmation even more lame

this has NOTHING to do with the canadian school system, you schmuck. I could easily say ¨i knew an american who thought that Africa was a country¨ and therefore the I paint the entire US school system as crap.

Oh, and by the way, it is called Christianity, not Christianism. And you need to brush up on your grammar and spelling... just because you sucked shit at school does not mean the entire school system sucks.

this has NOTHING to do with the canadian school system, you schmuck. I could easily say ¨i knew an american who thought that Africa was a country¨ and therefore the I paint the entire US school system as crap.


Oh, and by the way, it is called Christianity, not Christianism. And you need to brush up on your grammar and spelling... just because you sucked shit at school does not mean the entire school system sucks.