Opinions on Michael Moore's "Join My High School Newspaper"

Michael Moore's argument about suppressed freedom of speech of high school students had a strong appeal to me. What made me interested in the issue is that through my own experience, I am pretty sure that Korean high school students' freedom of expressing their own political viewpoint is almost completely objected. I do not know whether American high school students experience the same kind of prejudices and objections as us Korean students do, but as Michael Moore presents political assembly of students as something "unusual experience," I do not think there is much difference.

Some arguments against high school students expressing "too much" opinions of theirs are that some regulations on students' freedom of speech, because growing students are more prone to dangerous perspectives. Is that really so? For example, let's say there is a high school student who has some voice to speak out against the problems of his school, such as that teachers do not respect the students enough or that the school facility is too old and inconvenient. If he or she wants to publish his opinions on the school newspaper in order to inform everyone, however, his or her opinions will be censored because the teachers would consider those to be too radical. Of course, some can also argue that there are other means of expressing students' own voice, such as many online community sites. However, due to the fact there are tons of facts floating out there on the Internet, I doubt that many people would consider those voices anything more than whimsical complaints toward grown-ups.

For such a reason, I regard Michael Moore's idea of creating an uncensored, liberal press containing high school students' political viewpoints is a great idea. Adults might say that students' duty is to study, but we also are human beings with their own perspectives; the fact that we are young does not justify the ignorance of our voice.

3 motions I derived from Michael Moore's arguments:

1. THB that students should be able to speak out their own perspectives toward social issues more clearly.

2. THS high school students making their own press.

3. THB that censoring teenagers' opinions should be banned.

Opinions on the "Story of Stuff"

I have read or watched many materials covering environmental protection and imminent danger of resource exhaustion, but this one, a video clip named "the Story of Stuff", is obviously the most provoking one I have ever encountered. In fact, the speaker in the video was so firmly into her belief that it seemed as if it was pretty plausible, and at some points I was persuaded to the claim of this video too. However, there are obviously some dubious points about the claim of the speaker in this video, and I slowly recognized how biased the video is in various sides.

There is no doubt that the speaker is speaking the truth at least in some points. For example, we all know how many trees are cut down and how many innocent animals to die in order to provide us food, clothing or other necessities. However, is that really all? What I'd like to say is that the video addressed only one part of the issue and greatly exaggerates it sometimes that it becomes a biased propaganda rather than a source of correct information. Let's take an example of the speaker explaining the corrupt relationship between corporations and government. She claims that such a connection exhausts natural resources more quickly and makes other weaker countries to suffer as a result. What she does not mention is that there are many efforts of companies to protect the environment, such as that eco-friendly products made by technologies with less pollution. Else, take an example of her mentioning the 'resolution' to such a problem. She suggests that current method such as recycling is ineffective, and instead asserts that a whole production system to be changed from linear to circulatory. While at first this might sound fancy, in fact she is not providing any tangible alternatives; all she do is to blame the larger companies for the crises on Earth with logics so prejudiced and radical, as if the problem will be resolved if we get rid of the companies anyhow.

I was pretty surprised to figure out the fact that "the Story of Stuff" is in fact used in many schools as an appropriate material to educate the consequences of environmental crises. As I mentioned above, this video is biased in many ways, and therefore other materials must be integrated in order to make students judge environmental problems on their own upon an unbiased, logical ground. Thoughtful educators should not rely solely on this video to teach students, but should provide an information that this is not the whole story.

3 Motions I derived from this video:

1. THB teachers have their own rights to choose materials being used in class.

2. THB politically sensitive issues should not be allowed to be taught in class.

3. THS the shift of current manufacturing system.