High School Student is Punished for Making Funny Face in her School Photo

Stacy Lunsford
December 3, 2009
Sociology 313-003
Instructor: Colin Olson
Blog Post #9

High School Student is Punished for Making Funny Face in her School Photo

A high school student is being punished because she made a funny face in her high school photo. The school officials made the decision not tho publish her photo in the yearbook. A 15 year old girl says she made a funny face because she wanted to make people smile, to have a good laugh. On the day the photo was taken, she said that the photographer hesitated before snapping her picture. The photographer looked at the girls mother and asked if she was alright with that and the mother replied that she was. The school administrators did not approve of the picture. The school officials compare the expression in her school picture to that of a gang sign. The school officials released a statement saying that the yearbook represents the school and the students and those who make inappropriate face or hand gestures will be asked to take their photo again. The school hasn't asked the high school student to retake her picture.

Citation:
www.cnn.com/high-school-student-is-punished......

I think the school is acting completely irrational. The high school student isn't even showing her hands in the picture, all she did was have her mouth open and show a surprised, funny look. For this picture, the school is now saying that she is a gang member, which is most likely not even true. I think this is a form of control because she deviated from all the other high school students facial expressions. Now the school wants to send a message to all the other students, which is don't deviate from the norm or else we'll associate you as a gang member. I think most people have had those school pictures and yearbooks with that one student who made a silly face or put bunny ears on the person next to them. The school officials are blowing this incident way out of proportion.