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<p>You think if Peterson was a white girl mocking black Lville students on public media, that she also would have gotten off w a slap on the wrist?</p>
<p>I know of elite prep school students who have gotten expelled for much less.</p>
<p>So why does the school seem to tolerate other forms of offensive behavior? Confederate flags? Minority kids being mocked? Look, I don’t think this girl is the right kind of person to be in student leadership. She is a polarizing figure, to say the least. It sounds as though she won the election by reaching out to students who did not previously feel they had a voice on campus. But after that, she used her power inappropriately and I can see why she alienated people.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I still fail to see how the sweatshirt and hockey stick were racist or insulting to young white men on the campus. Lots of kids play hockey. Lots of kids aspire to go to Yale. Many are conservative. Maybe it was the hashtag “#peakedinhighschool” that really got to them.</p>
<p>I really doubt that a NJ prep school is “lined” with Confederate flags. I also think most of the “white” students, she had targeted where more upset about #confederate than #peakedinhighschool. And lets not forget her response when folks complained about her picture. "“Yes, I am making a mockery of the right-wing, confederate-flag hanging, openly misogynistic Lawrentians,” . No one likes being called a racist and a misogynist, by the class president. </p>
<p>If they WERE racist and misogynistic, why shouldn’t they be called that? Seriously, why is there even one Confederate flag hanging in a dorm at that school?</p>
<p>In the end, I only blame the school’s administration for seemingly fostering a culture that is divisive and tense. For $53K a year I would expect better.</p>
<p>She appears to be a first class jerk. I say good luck and good riddance. </p>
<p>But my guess is you haven’t heard the end of this from her side. </p>
<p>I think this is an example of how people can react differently to a situation. Some people see a reaction to the picture as over reacting and others do not. Some topics are sensitive. </p>
<p>I think we also have different expectations of people in representative positions. Even if there were students at the school behaving badly- as others have noted- that was their individual behavior and that can be addressed by the school. This was the class president, and I think there were higher expectations of a student in that position. She was elected to represent the student body, and also the school. I think the expectation was for her to promote unity, not division. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t expect any consequences for her in college and I think she will do well there. One thing her actions did was to make public a problem that I hope the school works to solve. I also think, as a high school student, her actions reflect a sort of youthful passion for change in the world, but at this age I’m not sure students are aware of the possible interpretations of actions like this. As she matures, I hope she finds ways to use her passion to create a less divisive world. </p>
<p>You can read what students think if you head over to the Lawrenceville thread on the Prep School Admissions forum. It’s interesting to contrast her actions based on her election promises:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lawrenceville.org/news/item/index.aspx?pageaction=ViewSinglePublic&LinkID=7900&ModuleID=76&NEWSPID=1[/url]”>http://www.lawrenceville.org/news/item/index.aspx?pageaction=ViewSinglePublic&LinkID=7900&ModuleID=76&NEWSPID=1</a></p>
<p>And to read a classmate’s opinion which also includes Maya’s response to the backlash:</p>
<p><a href=“http://suicidebycat.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2014/07/01/in-defense-of-lawrenceville/[/url]”>http://suicidebycat.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2014/07/01/in-defense-of-lawrenceville/</a></p>
<p>When I asked about her future, I didn’t think it would effect her college plans.</p>
<p>I was wondering if she would readily make friends with her new college classmates. I think most people would consider her a “hot potato” and not risk the controversy.</p>
<p>As for future employment, who knows.
A hiring friend did an internet search on a potential candidate and found her in a ‘Girls Gone Wild’ video. Decided fairly it would have no impact her ability to perform the job and hired her. Alternately, I heard about a man who listed a pig as his best friend on Facebook and was rejected from a job because of it. I cannot imagine any valid justification for that action.</p>
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<p>She’s going to Wesleyan; she’ll be just fine.</p>
<p>I 've seen far worse, and I don’t see the big deal, frankly. Drug use if could be proven is usually an offense that results in expulsion; these schools are very strict about contraband and make the rules about that v-e-r-y clear, no misunderstanding there. But other things, unless the were truly racist, bigoted, I don’t know… I think too much fuss is being made about this.</p>
<p>She’s just another teen with big ideas, thinking herself to be very smart indeed. That she feels Barack Obama is like her, black, Latino, gay female… well that’s one out of four. </p>
<p>For college, there might be some impact, might not be any. Not a sure thing at all. Test scores and grades will be more of a determinant of than this behavior. Jobs are a whole other issues as well as law suits. Some acquaintances of ours were surprised that their attorney did FB and googled their daughter before agreeing to take a case. This is becoming routine these days. For jobs, it all depends upon the opinion of those who are reviewing the applicants You get one who had a cameo once upon a time on GGW or such, you’ll more likely get a pass if you so appeared. You get a prig, you’ve most likely lost that job opportunity.</p>
<p>@MaterS </p>
<p>That’s why one has to be very careful about what one posts on a social networking site. Even calculated. I always stress to my daughter that you never know the value systems of those who are in hiring, admissions roles…</p>
<p>Will never, ever feel sorry for a bunch of white kids claiming they’ve suffered reverse racism.</p>
<p>Move along. </p>
<p>Next step will be for Janet Reitman to run down there and write an “expose” for Rolling Stone. Her patented hanging-with-the-kids-and-partying-hoping-to-catch-something-sexy schtick. And then the lynch mob can descend on Lawrenceville, that epicenter of racism, homophobia, and misogyny. /sarcasm</p>
<p>@clandarkfire Because throwing around the term “Confederate” to label a group of students based on their race is totally ok. Racism isn’t limited to certain groups–it’s universal.</p>
<p>clandarkfire,
No one cares whether bigots feel sorry for them or not.</p>
<p>spencer, I think you missed the bit that suggests some kids at Lawrenceville apparently DO have Confederate flags in their rooms.</p>
<p>It’s funny–I doubt any white student at my children’s high school has been called a Confederate by any of the hundreds of minority kids there. No, I don’t think Lawrenceville is the epicenter of racism and misogyny, but it does seem to be facing challenges (and resistance among some people) due to the changing complexion of the student body.</p>
<p>Nothing different than what is happening on almost every college campus in the country. Change is never easy.</p>
<p>Sure, I’ve seen Confederate flags posted publicly elsewhere in New Jersey, but Peterson erred by trying to swallow that issue whole and not pose critical questions about it. OK, so a kid hangs the stars and bars, in his or her dorm room. You can do the hard task of engaging that student or you can yell about it, or sit around and complain that no one loves you. Sounds like this young woman needs to read a bit more Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X.</p>
<p>The sad part is the continuing presence and tolerance of Lawrenceville for students displaying Confederate flags outside historical Civil War contexts is in direct contrast to another private high school which suspended students for publicly displaying such flags as the school admin rightly felt it didn’t accord with school values:</p>
<p><a href=“Teens expelled from Long Island Catholic school for displaying Confederate flag, wearing blackface”>New York News - New York Daily News;
<p>Sad part was while both schools seem to have serious issues with racial tensions on campus, one school is trying to be proactive about dealing with some of the root causes…and it isn’t Lawrenceville. </p>
<p>What’s more sad, considering the Civil War ended with the Confederates being officially rightly consigned to the scrapheap of history, southern White elite attempts to continue the antebellum order with Jim Crow laws and poll taxes up until the late 1960s, and widespread outcries over the displays of the Confederate flag among minorities who were victimized by military forces/folks flying that very flag and some patriotic Americans who felt that flag is a historical symbol of disloyalty/betrayal of the US, is the fact Peterson or anyone should be engaging in a critical discussion on this issue. </p>
<p>This is the equivalent of feeling the Creationists/ID folks have a point in insisting the biological scientific community “critically engage” them on their points when it has been evaluated, debated, and soundly rejected after the creationist/ID folks’ theories cannot withstand scrutiny of testing through the scientific method. </p>
<p>I liked Brother Cregan’s explanation and perspective, as he explained why the Stars and Bars was not appropriate at that school in Long Island. He did a better job than Peterson, but of course he has the benefit of being the adult in the room. By the way, didn’t the mental midgets that Cregan expelled realize that the Klan was (and some say still is) vehemently anti-Catholic? It’s too funny for words.</p>