If a High School Senior Displays a Swastika at his School, Should Colleges be Told?

If it were say, an African American student who put up some sort of incendiary statement of some kind against another group of people, I think I’d be inclined, as either an educator or administrator, to take the student aside for a serious discission about his/her future, and how an action of that sort could impact it going forward. With accompanying disciplary action. What I would NOT do is inform potential colleges (unless I perceived the student to be an actual threat of some sort), because that’s only going to get a student blackballed.

High school students do dumb things without a lot of forethought. Unless a clear pattern has been established I think there’s more benefit to trying to give the student some insight rather than trying to ruin the student’s college chances.

Whether it be a swastika, gang symbol, or other sort of slur.