University School’s mission statement begins with the sentence, “University School inspires boys of promise to become young men of character who lead and serve”. In pursuit of this goal, we have made certain sacrifices, such as that of our free speech.
In the school environment, we are constantly told we cannot say or do certain things because it is not considered to be “Politically Correct”. For instance, Mr. Singer had a talk with students over the using an outdated term to describe the mentally disabled. We prohibit the use of certain terms because they offend groups of people. However, by fostering this prohibition, we are also endorsing the censorship of free speech.
For a school that wants to create men who lead and serve, it is counter-intuitive that we are putting restrictions on what students can and cannot say. We cannot put limitations on speech for the sake of making sure that others are not offended. That is not to say that everyone should walk around cursing at each other, but too often, many comments and situations are completely blown out of context. This is not only the case in our community. In 2015, students at the University of California-Santa Cruz protested after burritos were served at an outerspace sci-fi club meeting because they thought that the event had connected Hispanic immigration to the term “illegal aliens”.
Situations like these end up doing harm to our culture because people no longer feel they can say or do anything without offending or publicly shaming anyone. Controversial subjects such as race, sexual orientation, and religion become almost impossible to talk about in this kind of environment. Such an environment means people are no longer being exposed to different points of view. These exceedingly important issues can no longer be addressed. So, while censoring speech will prevent hurt feelings, it creates a narrow-minded culture, where people only see things from certain perspectives. Sacrificing our freedom of speech in order to make sure all are appeased is completely ludicrous. Removing this concept of “political correctness” is the only way to ensure that important topics in today’s society are addressed and taken care of.
Regardless of the legitimacy of his presidential candidacy, Donald J. Trump is a great example of what to do. Many Americans laugh at him and mock him for his boorish language, but his terse speech has successfully inspired national conversation on controversial subjects like race. Though he may be offending others with his words, he is bringing these topics to the table, and making sure that perspective is heard.
Now is the best time for this to happen because we have yet to completely mature into men, so our minds and opinions are still flexible. Eliminating “political correctness” will allow for people to talk about what they want, when they want, whether that may be political issues or issues on religion and ethics. People’s’ horizons will be broadened. They will gain insight on important topics. This will help to achieve the mission statement of the school, as students will be more fit to lead and more fit to serve when they can understand others’ thought processes, and when they are not sheltered from other’s viewpoints.