What’s the matter, Colonel Sanders?
When arguing with a chicken, a grain of corn is always wrong.
- African proverb
Yup, you heard right: High School Student Smuggles Chicken Out of School Project.
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So the story goes, a high school science class in Kansas had their students raise chickens, then take part in the whole kill & clean process in order to teach them where their food comes from. 16-year old Whitney Hillman (pictured) objected to the project and on slaughtering day grabbed her assigned chicken and made a run for it, eventually handing the chicken to the Chicken Underground Railroad! No, not really… but she has kept Chicklett’s location since the escape a secret. Chicklett now has his own Facebook page (and more friends than me =P).
Whitney turned herself in later and was suspended for 2 days. The school board sided with her teacher. Her parents sided with her.
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Whitney and her supporters say that the school should have, firstly, allowed students the chance to opt out of this project… Secondly, that they really should not have encouraged the students to form emotional bonds with the chicken only to have to participate in their slaughter a month and a half later.
The school said they believed it was important that young people learn where their food comes from…that it would give anyone (who eats meat) a much closer link to that process. The class’ teacher said later that students were given option to opt out of the project and that she never approached him to discuss alternatives.
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Despite this being a blog, I wasn’t planning on going off about whose side I’m on, why the other side is wrong and why you need to agree with me. But I will say that I think it’s super interesting (and maybe even good) that a 16-year old should be faced with an ethical decision like this, decide where she stands for now and willingly face the consequence of her decision.
Often when we think about what teenagers are supposed to learn in high school, we think of math, history, languages, science. But you could argue that decisions and life experiences like these are every bit as important to learn about at that age. I’d encourage you to look at both sides of this story (especially the side you might not agree with at first!) and make up your own mind.
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