Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Michigan High School Teacher Under Fire For Refusing To Let Student Write About Her Gay Moms For 'Take A Stand' Assignment

Michigan High School Teacher Under Fire For Refusing To Let Student Write About Her Gay Moms For 'Take A Stand' Assignment
MLive.com / YouTube Screenshot

An unnamed Michigan High School teacher is coming under fire for tasking students to passionately take a stand for or against an issue in their world.

But then the teacher refused to actually let them do it.


Students and other educators alike agree that the teacher's stance is the complete antithesis of the assignment.

The assignment sheet for the "Take A Stand" speech starts out:

"Both John Proctor and Arthur Miller risked their lives when they took a stand against abusive authorities. For both men, the risk paid off."

It then goes on to briefly explain how and why these men taking a stand changed things for them and their communities. The assignment asserts that every generation and every time and place has issues that people can, and should, stand up for in order to make the world a better place.

It then tasks students to find an issue that resonated with them personally, take a stand either for or against it, and give a speech.

Destiny McDermott knew exactly what she wanted to take a stand for—same sex marriage.

Her mother and step-mother fought hard for their marriage and faced abusive authority figures in the process. The issue was about as close to Destiny as an issue could be.

She felt passionate about it and ready to take a stand.

The teacher said no because she might offend someone in the class. Destiny asked if she could poll the class to see if discussing same sex marriage was offensive to anyone.

Again, the teacher said no, but this time for more personal reasons.

It wasn't necessarily that the teacher said no that Destiny found offensive. It was how the teacher said no.

The teacher told Destiny in front of the rest of the class:

"I don't want to hear about it, I don't want to read about it, and I'm the one who has to grade it."

Destiny would later find out she wasn't the only one to have her topic denied because someone else might not like it; as if the things John Proctor and Arthur Miller had to say were universally loved and celebrated. At least one other student in her class had their chosen topic—animal cruelty—denied.

The teacher essentially said "Take a stand—but not like that. Take a stand for something everyone already loves or against something that everyone already hates."

Or more accurately, only take a stand on something the teacher wants to hear about and read about.

Destiny ended up writing to administrators who, rather than deal with the teacher, just switched Destiny into a new class. As far as her and her family are concerned, this doesn't actually address the issue.

Ironically, by refusing to let Destiny write about taking a stand on an issue, the teacher forced Destiny and her family to actually take a stand in a bigger way.

After talking to administration didn't get anywhere, Destiny and her family spoke out to a broader audience:

www.youtube.com

Destiny and her family aren't the only ones who feel that the teacher was in the wrong. Multiple students wrote letters in support of Destiny and the assignment the teen wanted to do.

The teacher remains unnamed and undisciplined, but Montrose Community Schools Superintendent Linden Moore did tell media outlets that the teacher needed to be much more clear about assignment expectations in the future. He told MLive.com that he felt the main issue was that the teacher was thinking smaller and the kids were thinking bigger.

We would like to remind you that these are Junior and Senior high school students, not elementary school kids.

It seems to Destiny, her family and many of her classmates that what the teacher really wanted was for them to take a stand on a non-issue just to get the assignment done.

The book series Taking A Stand offers insights into groups that stood up for their rights, sometimes succeeding and sometimes having their rights and lives disregarded by society. The books are suitable for middle and high school students.

The book Parkland Students Challenge the National Rifle Association (Taking a Stand) is available here.

The book The Standing Rock Sioux Challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline (Taking a Stand) is available here.

More from Trending

Lorne Michaels
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Lorne Michaels Just Explained The Thinking Behind His Big 'Saturday Night Live' Cast Shakeup

Saturday Night Live turned 50 last year and a lot of former cast members and major celebrities joined in the season long celebration, but it's a new year and it's time to get back to business.

Which, with SNL, usually means some cast changes—out with the old (and sometimes not so old) and in with the new. Show creator and producer Lorne Michaels recently announced SNL would return on October 4 with a literal handful—five—cast changes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kari Lake; Charlie Kirk
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Kari Lake Slammed After Warning Parents Not To Send Their Kids To College After Charlie Kirk Murder

Speaking during a memorial service for far-right activist Charlie Kirk at the Kennedy Center, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake—now the Trump administration's Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media—called U.S. colleges “indoctrination camps” and urged parents not to send their children.

Lake ignored the fact that Kirk was killed while speaking at a college, in this case Utah Valley University (UVU), the largest university by enrollment in Utah.

Keep ReadingShow less
JD Vance; Charlie Kirk
Real America's Voice

Vance Claims Kirk Never Insulted Black Women's 'Brain Processing Power'—And Here Come The Receipts

Vice President JD Vance served as host of the late far-right activist Charlie Kirk's podcast this week and was called out after claiming Kirk "never uttered" words about the "brain processing power" of Black women—even though Kirk said as much in 2023.

Vance made the claim after Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah—a Black woman—said she was dismissed from the paper following social media posts on gun control and race after Kirk’s assassination.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Donald Trump
Fox News

Trump Swiftly Fact-Checked After Making Bonkers Claim About How Many Americans Died From Drugs Last Year

President Donald Trump was criticized after attempting to justify the bombing of a suspected Venezuelan drug boat by asserting that 300 million people died from drugs last year.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump was asked about the order he gave earlier this month to destroy a boat he suspected of transporting drugs off the coast of Venezuela, rather than simply intercepting it. All 11 people on board the boat were killed.

Keep ReadingShow less
A woman's hand hold up a pink paper constructed heart that is on fire.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

People Reveal The Pettiest Reasons They Stopped Hooking Up With Someone

Sex is a powerful weapon and a natural part of life.

But it can bamboozle and surprise you.

Keep ReadingShow less