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I don't think that standards should be lowered for high school seniors. These are people who are legally allowed to vote, join the army, buy guns, etc.., and fo

I don't think that standards should be lowered for high school seniors. These are people who are legally allowed to vote, join the army, buy guns, etc.., and for these people it's go to Harvard. They should know that it's unacceptable to share memes about sexual violence, racism, and whatnot, especially on Facebook. When I was in 6th grade (I'm 21 now), my school gave us the talk about the internet, saying that whatever you post on the internet is forever. This might have been exaggerated, but definitely not for a Facebook account that had your name attached to it, and a group chat that's directly splintered from your incoming Harvard class group page. At the same time, I have a bit of a personal story. When I was in 8th grade, I made a Facebook account, and uploaded a random picture with a random caption involving rape - at the time my friends and I used the word like when you beat someone at a video game... Yeah it was pretty bad. My mom found the picture and responded by screaming at me and basically taking my computer away for a while, and my Facebook deactivated for much longer. I didn't understand at the time why it was such a big deal (maybe more explaining could have happened) but that interaction both makes me cringe every time I think about it and might have been the best thing to happen to me. Maybe getting the acceptences revoked is just the kick in the ass that they need.

misterbowfinger 9y ago
Maybe getting the acceptances revoked is just the kick in the ass that they need. That is MAJORLY different then getting yelled at by your mom. If you asked any of these 10 kids if they'd rather 1) Get yelled at by an authority figure, or 2) Have your acceptance rescinded I guarantee all of them will choose option 1. By the way, you're very lucky to have a parent who cares enough to teach you valuable lesson.
- misingnoglic 9y ago
  I'm not saying that they're equivalent. I'm just saying it's the kick in the ass they needed, because otherwise they would just be privileged guys going to Harvard, sharing offensive memes and not understanding why it's wrong until the next worst thing happens. Obviously the thing where their parents punish them is not happening anymore, they're adults now.
cafard 9y ago
At 18, you can't sign a lease without a co-signer, you probably can't rent a car. You can't purchase alcoholic beverages or tobacco products in the US. Yes, you can join the military, but there you spend time under very close supervision. Universities used to use the term "in loco parentis": I can see a deferral of admission being a suitable equivalent of screaming and taking the computer away.
pdeuchler 9y ago
And yet, they're young enough that many, probably the majority, require co-signers on their student loans. If we set out to send mixed signals about maturation to college students we couldn't have done a better job
weberc2 9y ago
When I was graduating high school not long before you, it was still socially acceptable to use gay slurs. The social change happened fast, and not evenly in all places. Society needs to have some grace of we aren't too have a huge group of people bitter about being punished for breaking a new social rule. Besides that, we have a tendency to oversimplify and assume every race-related thing is racism, so I don't trust or society to police speech.
- misingnoglic 9y ago
  For the record, here are the memes: https://thetab.com/us/2017/06/05/harvard-memes-rescinded-69413 https://thetab.com/us/2017/06/05/harvard-memes-rescinded-694... You can't tell me this is at all equivalent to calling someone "gay"
  - weberc2 9y ago
    There are more offensive slurs than "gay", but my point wasn't to make an equivalence, only to say that punishing someone in accordance with a relatively new social norm isn't a universally good idea.
weberc2 9y ago
When I was graduating high school not long before you, it was still socially acceptable to use gay slurs. The social change happened fast, and not evenly in all places. Society needs to have some grace of we aren't too have a huge group of people bitter about being punished for breaking a new social rule. Besides that, we have a tendency to oversimplify and assume every race-related thing is racism, so I don't trust or society to police speech.

misterbowfinger 9y ago

Maybe getting the acceptances revoked is just the kick in the ass that they need. That is MAJORLY different then getting yelled at by your mom. If you asked any of these 10 kids if they'd rather 1) Get yelled at by an authority figure, or 2) Have your acceptance rescinded I guarantee all of them will choose option 1. By the way, you're very lucky to have a parent who cares enough to teach you valuable lesson.

misingnoglic 9y ago
I'm not saying that they're equivalent. I'm just saying it's the kick in the ass they needed, because otherwise they would just be privileged guys going to Harvard, sharing offensive memes and not understanding why it's wrong until the next worst thing happens. Obviously the thing where their parents punish them is not happening anymore, they're adults now.

cafard 9y ago

At 18, you can't sign a lease without a co-signer, you probably can't rent a car. You can't purchase alcoholic beverages or tobacco products in the US. Yes, you can join the military, but there you spend time under very close supervision. Universities used to use the term "in loco parentis": I can see a deferral of admission being a suitable equivalent of screaming and taking the computer away.

pdeuchler 9y ago

And yet, they're young enough that many, probably the majority, require co-signers on their student loans. If we set out to send mixed signals about maturation to college students we couldn't have done a better job

weberc2 9y ago

When I was graduating high school not long before you, it was still socially acceptable to use gay slurs. The social change happened fast, and not evenly in all places. Society needs to have some grace of we aren't too have a huge group of people bitter about being punished for breaking a new social rule. Besides that, we have a tendency to oversimplify and assume every race-related thing is racism, so I don't trust or society to police speech.

misingnoglic 9y ago
For the record, here are the memes: https://thetab.com/us/2017/06/05/harvard-memes-rescinded-69413 https://thetab.com/us/2017/06/05/harvard-memes-rescinded-694... You can't tell me this is at all equivalent to calling someone "gay"
- weberc2 9y ago
  There are more offensive slurs than "gay", but my point wasn't to make an equivalence, only to say that punishing someone in accordance with a relatively new social norm isn't a universally good idea.

weberc2 9y ago