Student says New York university forced him to remove Confederate flag

A student from the University of Rochester claims that the school violates his First Amendments rights by telling him to remove a Confederate flag from his dorm room window. Matthew Papay, a sophomore of the university puts a Confederate flag on his dorm room window but the residence hall advisor Catherine Christian told him to remove the flag because it offenses some people. Papay argues that “the school is blatantly ignoring my rights to express the cultural identity I choose to identify with, even though the school prides itself on how ‘culturally diverse’ it is.” As a rebuttal of Papay’s claim, Christian wrote an email to Papay that “it should not be in the window because of the discomfort it is causing people and because it does not necessarily represent the heritage of the whole house.” Consequently, their arguments sparkled a whole school debate on a Rochester University class of 2017 Facebook page. Some comments from Facebook page argues that the Confederate flag is closely related to moral issues about African Americans. Papay says that he will not put the flag up if it offends some specific people, but he emphasizes that he has right to express his ideas according to his First Amendment rights. I think the freedom of speech protects citizens’ expression from being prohibited. However, it is uneasy to tell that freedom of speech should protect some ethically offensive expressions like hanging a Confederate flag on window.

Student says New York university forced him to remove Confederate flag 

Military bases open their doors to home-schoolers

My boyfriend is in the Air Force Reserve and is currently deployed, so I decided that I wanted to start look more into some military news this week.  I found an article on FoxNews.com about the fact that military bases are starting to be more accepting of home-schooling.

The argument isn't that all military families should home-school, it's more that home-schooling is a more accepted option these days.  The article states that several military bases now have groups for parents who are home-schooling, so they can work together to teach their kids what they need to know.  Some reasons that military families might find home-schooling a better option for them are that it is easier when the family moves a lot because the child doesn't have to worry about being behind in his or her classes if a different school has a different curriculum and that there is an option of being able to work extra hard when the military parent is deployed so that they can ease up a bit when the parent is home.

I believe that this is actually a very interesting concept.  The article gives evidence by giving many examples of different bases that are supporting home-schooling as well as some stories of families that found home-schooling beneficial.  The article also states that there is very limited data on the percentage of military children that are home-schooled and about long-term social and academic effects.

This article provides a sound argument with a claim, warrant, grounds, qualifier and backing of the Toulmin model, as well as a rebuttal stating that there hasn't been enough scientific research done on it yet and that home-schooling isn't for everyone.

To read the full article go to: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/26/military-bases-open-their-doors-to-home-schoolers/