Desert Vista High Girls spell N word (Buckeye: rental car, rental)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

How stupid! I would not want my face plastered over every newspaper across the country.

With that said, I suspect the African American slag "N*gga" (which is a non-derogatory word) is diluting the meaning for the "N" word especially for the new generation Z. Either way, they still are idiots. It is definitely bad press for AZ!

[jimj]

So, let's drop the outrage and break down what was seen in the picture.
Did these kids spell out anything other than NI**ER? Nope, in fact reading it actually means nothing as it's not a word at all.
Did they intend to spell out a bad word or is this just something that people are reading into it? If in fact they were trying to be "cute" and in fact were trying to spell that word without actually spelling it out then I think the punishment they're getting is appropriate given the backlash (blacklash) that they will get from their peers and friends.

According to the TV report I saw one black girl was interviewed and she was close friends with one girl and (self described) real close friends with some of the parents of said girls. I can imagine the conversations that will follow between parents,kids and fellow students who know all these girls and I'll be it won't be pleasant or comfortable.

This is one case where I'm inclined to let their peers/families set them straight if in fact there's reason to do so.
They've got lots of explaining to do...

[GeneR]

Don't 'cha just hate that "free speech" thing in this country? There oughtta be a law!

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

How stupid! I would not want my face plastered over every newspaper across the country.

With that said, I suspect the African American slag "N*gga" (which is a non-derogatory word) is diluting the meaning for the "N" word especially for the new generation Z. Either way, they still are idiots. It is definitely bad press for AZ!

Yeah. Kids are so inured to things from constant media bombardment that they take little of it seriously. On the other hand. the girls knew it was "naughty" or they would not have done it. Keep in mind that this was an upper middle/upper class school. The white kids and blacks kids both come from the same privileged demographic. They are friends, they date each other, hang out with each other including those on the chorus line as evident from the interviews. It is not a hotbead of racial tension, I am certain. Maybe a meathead or two, but overall it's not what this incident might suggest to some. As for another black eye for AZ, so be it. It would not matter much were it not for the governor and legislatures dragging our state through the mud for the last 8 years. They are the real problem, not some kids with poor judgment.

[imagineAA]

They did a horrible thing and should be punished, that's it.

Why it's national news that teenagers did something for shock value is beyond me. Testing boundaries is a normal developmental step of adolescence. No indication there's a failure in parenting here--kids test boundaries as part of growing up. If it's not spelling a bad word, then it's something else. Or and something else.

The only reason we even know about it is because of the Internet. I remember when Speak n' Spell toys came out, and kids kept spelling bad words on them. It's just a thing kids do.

Not a trend. Not news. Move along, nothing to see here.

[BuckeyeBoyDJ]

The younger generation simply just doesn't know the direct pain behind that word which is why it's used so freely. I remember when I was in college there were these white frat bros on on my dorm floor that used that word in a "playful" matter as they put it because they didn't think it was a big deal just like those 5 girls didn't think it was a big deal. They used to say things like "Shutup ni**a" to one another and what have you. I thought it was very tacky and low class. However, I do not believe these young ladies should be expelled but an apology to the school and their peers is in order and they should make all five of them sit down and watch the movie ROOTS 5 times in a row until they get that degrading word out of their system!

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by imagineAA

They did a horrible thing and should be punished, that's it.

Why it's national news that teenagers did something for shock value is beyond me. Testing boundaries is a normal developmental step of adolescence. No indication there's a failure in parenting here--kids test boundaries as part of growing up. If it's not spelling a bad word, then it's something else. Or and something else.

The only reason we even know about it is because of the Internet. I remember when Speak n' Spell toys came out, and kids kept spelling bad words on them. It's just a thing kids do.

Not a trend. Not news. Move along, nothing to see here.

There is a difference between an elementary school child doing something dumb and a senior in high school making a concerted effort to exhibit racism during their senior yearbook day and then to brazenly post that proudly on the internet. That is a failure in parenting. If my child did that, I would certainly hold myself accountable and so would any other decent parent. We wouldn't be making excuses or trying to be apologists for what they did. Unfortunately, a lot of people diminish racism and go so far as to blame minorities for being overly sensitive or will argue that since they use that word then it's okay for everyone else to as well. I think it's a reflection of our society. That racism is suddenly okay and in vogue. You look at the racist rantings of Donald Trump and part of the reason he is so popular is because he says what a lot of people think, and they cherish him for that. Likewise, you have apologists for this event and say "Hey, what's the big deal, it's just teens being teens" to essentially diminish what they've done. I know if this occurred 15 years ago, this would be a bigger story. Racism has sort of become tolerable again.

[PhoenixSomeday]

They are nearing the end of high school. This means they've had both world history and US history (I did; high school in the late 90s). They know they importance and pain and severity if they had a teacher that was worth a damn. They do. There's no way they don't.

[BoiWonder13]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

It absolutely happened at school.

The ABC 15 article is some what shoddy, but clearly harkened at school

It was senior picture day and there were a group of students that spelled out a larger phrase

Then this smaller group broke off and acted stupid, then put it on Snapchat, which everyone should know by now is very easy to capture from

Absolutely should be suspended.

The 5 days is probably a little light. Should definitely be supplemented with some outreach and they shouldn't be allowed to walk graduation either

Idiotic and disgusting

I'm somewhat heartened to see not many are defending them

Agree Fingerlaker,

They should have no graduation walking rights and the suspension should be two weeks instead of 5 days.

They're names and college applications have been put online and its spreading up to their perspective schools they plan on attending, oh how karma bites in the A**

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by BoiWonder13

Agree Fingerlaker,

They should have no graduation walking rights and the suspension should be two weeks instead of 5 days.

They're names and college applications have been put online and its spreading up to their perspective schools they plan on attending, oh how karma bites in the A**

Oh please, they're just kids being stupid. I couldn't imagine having every stupid thing I did growing up be scrutinized nationally like this

They're learning their lesson already, no need to pile on.

Originally Posted by PhoenixSomeday

They are nearing the end of high school. This means they've had both world history and US history (I did; high school in the late 90s). They know they importance and pain and severity if they had a teacher that was worth a damn. They do. There's no way they don't.

These are AZ K12 Schools we're discussing

We can't judge kids on the same standard that we judge ourselves. I'm sure this post won't be a popular post in this thread, but this is over the top. It should have ended already but it's going to get more and more viral instead.