Punishment for sit-in too severe

I'm writing this letter in response to the Morton West High School anti-war sit-in on Nov. 1.

My initial response was pure annoyance. I was shocked to discover freedom of speech was considered such a crime.

Adults encourage children to take an interest in the world they are living in, but then they got punished for doing just that. The school board could have easily embraced this situation by turning it into a lesson for the students.

The "punishment" for disrupting class time could have been a writing assignment on the war rather than expulsion.

They represented their stance peacefully and non- violently, so why take the consequences to such an extreme?

On Nov. 14, fourteen of the 18 students were sent back to school. All of these students still sat with the threatening possibility of expulsion. This threat on the students and their families was completely unnecessary.

The 14 students were out of school for 8 days, and the other 4 were out for 11.

Without a doubt, the students realized they were going to face consequences. But for a peaceful sit-in on a peaceful cause, none would have guessed the severity of the punishment.

It shouldn't have been that big of a deal. Personally, I praise those students for speaking out for peace.

Kimberlyn McBlaine

Elk Grove Village