Odessa

A Wisconsin teen is suing his high school because he got a zero on an art project for depicting a religious symbol.

His teacher, Julie Millin, asked him to remove the reference to the Bible, saying students were making remarks about it. He refused, and she gave him a zero on the project.

Millin showed the student a policy for the class that prohibited any violence, blood, sexual connotations or religious beliefs in artwork. The lawsuit claims Millin told the boy he had signed away his constitutional rights when he signed the policy at the beginning of the semester.

Supposedly, other classmates had drawings of demons on some of their drawings but nothing was said to them. For some people, those could be construed as religious symbols, so where is the fairness?

The boy tore the policy up in front of Millin, who kicked him out of class. Later that day, assistant principal Cale Jackson told the boy his religious expression infringed on other students' rights.

Jackson told the boy, his stepfather and his pastor at a meeting a week later that religious expression could be legally censored in class assignments. Millin stated at the meeting the cross in the drawing also infringed on other students' rights.

How exactly? This was his own artwork, turned in for an assignment. It did not need to be displayed for the teacher to look at it and make a judgment. Perhaps I might be offended by the display of demons. Does that mean those items should be removed? What about a Buddha, or Shiva?

Art class is all about expressing ones self. I can understand barring violent and sexually explicit material, but religion? Many have felt the need to express their faith. Furthermore, if Christian imagery offend these up and coming artists, they better avoid going to most art museums - that is a fact. This kind of intolerance does nothing to foster understanding. Perhaps the educational process would have been better served if the class discussed their beliefs together, rather than the students making remarks to the teacher.

Wait, that's right, our schools aren't about education and fostering independent thought. Their goal is to suppress independent thought and create the next generation of automatons.