Dude.
It's her platform. She can say whatever the fuck she wants on how shitty her experiences were. She thanked a lot of teachers, if you see the video. She has the right to point out the issue with the school, not in a private setting, but calling their ass out.
And then there's you, calling her out on the internet, without knowing her or her experiences.
Local paper? You'll say FAKE NEWS.
Online paper? FAKE NEWS.
Protest? LOL
She used the perfect platform to talk. You just don't know how to justify someone else's experience without pretending you were there.
Did you hear about the teacher getting arrested? No? Then news will not do SHIT. This is the only way. She has nothing to gain here, and her speech will improve the school, not ruin it.
I hope more people speak up about their experiences like this. You indeed have no idea of the truth, even when she is literally spilling the truth in from of thousands.
I don't agree with a lot of what you say, but I do find the idea that as a valedictorian she earned the right to have a platform to say whatever she wants, as a solid one. Again, I'm not around that school and have no knowledge or experience with what's going on there, but I've also had plenty of shitty experiences with people blowing shit up to large proportions when they don't get what they want (anyone who's ever worked a service job will experience this on a near daily basis). They don't usually understand limitations of the system, their own responsibility for follow-through, or empathy for the people in these positions. That does not mean that I don't believe her. I just refuse to take someone for their word when I have no firsthand experience in cases like these. It could be true or it could not be. That said, it was her platform and if she thought that was a good use of her time, then I suppose I'm fine with it, but with how one sided such a situation is, I don't find it that useful. If it resonates with the people who actually go there and it initiates action, I guess it wasn't for nothing. I think there could be more constructive ways of approaching this situation.
As an aside for the people who think the kids liking this moment means anything, here's an example for you that shows how kids can get stuff wrong. I remember one day as a senior prank, a group of kids brought a bunch of chickens in to the school and let them loose. It was a disaster. Kids literally booting chickens off balconies, trampling them in the halls, just outright torturing them. It was a chicken apocalypse. The kids had a great time, cheered on the pranksters. The parents of the kids who did it mostly thought it was all just fun and games. Meanwhile, the school faced investigations, some traumatized students, and at least one fired faculty member over the incident because some other parents thought the school didn't do enough to prevent this. The kids cheered that on too despite the school really having no way to stop this from happening (it wasn't a huge school with a lot of resources). Mob mentality doesn't mean the offending students and parents were right in the long-run, they just liked the chaos of the moment.
