Five teens were sentenced to read books for vandalizing an old school building in Ashburn, Virginia. The teen painted the building with swastikas, obscenities, and the phrase "white power". The old school building was actually The Ashburn Color School. It was established in 1892 to provide local African-American children who belonged to an adjacent church an education. The sentence the teens have requires the teens to read one book per month for the next 12 months from a list including titles like Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," Elie Wiesel's "Night" and Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart." Also, the teens have to attend the United States Holocaust and the American History Museums and write a research paper on the message their vandalism sent to the African-American community. Hopefully, this sentence will change the views of the teens so that they will become more accepting of different races.
Questions:
Do you think this sentence would work?
I think it will work because It would expose the teens to racial diversity and change their views.
If you were the judge, would you give the same sentence?
I would probably give a different sentence such as having them do community service but the reading books is definitely a game changer and could probably work.
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Replies
Good summary but you didn't reply to any student comments which is worth 20 points.
I personally would of punished them worse because they are destroying history and those kinds of acts from kids are very disrespectful. I would also just put them in jail until further notice because it was vandalism and destruction of our history.
I don't believe that this sentence will work very well because it would be like some people in school, you get the work done and you don't think about it until you have to again. I would have given a more strict sentence like the community service or even make them volunteer at certain events.
I do think this sentence will work. There just a bunch of teenager, they probably aren't aware of the horrible treatment of minorities throughout history. I think this type of punishment will be more effective than the traditional punishment. I would've given the students the same sentence, they need to learn and be aware of what their actions mean.
This will work because the teens will learn about African American history and see how far they have become in equal rights. I probably would not have come up this as a punishment and just gave them community service I think this is really good.
Yes and No. yes because if they actually read the books they we learn a lot about their culture and probably will change their ways, but No at the same time because how can you make they read the books unless you make they keep a reading log or something like. Yes, but I would probably fine them and make them clean it up.
I do think the sentence will work. It will help them better understand what different races went through to achieve their rights. I think their views may be changed when they see and understand racial diversity. If I were the judge I probably would give them a harsher sentence along with this because this isn't really a punishment for them and they are getting off a little easy.
I think that this sentences will be good for them because now they have to learn a little bit about the past time, but I also think that it won't work because it's not like they are really being punished. Yes they have to read books and write papers but they also get to do it on something interesting. If I was the judge I would have done the same thing but I would have also made them do something else. Maybe community service.
Personally, I don't believe it will work entirely, as the judge and the community wishes. Most of the teens would mostly do these tasks only to "get it over with" and without the investment of a person's respect for the culture, they will most likely remain racially biased. If I were the judge I would have sentenced the teens to attend a juvenile detention center; these acts shouldn't be treated as a small offence. It's continuously damaging the community of people of color and dividing us, when we should be coming together to form a peaceful world.
I think the sentence is pretty easy going for what they did. If i was one of the kids i would be thankful that's all i had to do. I think the sentence would work a little for changing their perspective on different races.
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