New Trier's Big Mistake

Earlier this week, distinguished and proud New Trier alumnus Donald Rumsfeld, former U.S. Congressman and former Secretary of Defense for three (3!) different presidents, visited New Trier to talk to students about his political experiences. As one of New Trier's most acclaimed yet controversial graduates, Mr. Rumsfeld's visit could have been an opportunity to hear one of America's greatest leaders speak. Despite this, New Trier completely screwed up on handling this.

Instead of making Rumsfeld's talk known to the New Trier community so that everyone could benefit, the school instead kept the talk as a secret from everyone. What message is the school sending here? This action is downright appalling and completely disrespectful to Mr. Rumsfeld. The fact is that the school was scared of Mr. Rumsfeld's visit because he is such a controversial figure. While I understand that this is true, and that many people have many different opinions, it should not have changed the fact that New Trier was terrified of an opportunity to promote a better learning enviroment for all New Trier students. the school attempted to protect it from its students, which goes against our American values. Does New Trier really think that we are not capable of taking advantage of this once in a lifetime chance? I am a New Trier student and I deserve to know about this event; I absolutely would have attended if I had known about it. 

Secondly, the New Trier administration screwed up by forcing certain classes to go while not allowing other classes to be in attendance. The school selected certain classes to be the ones that had to go while other classes (in many cases, which would have liked to attend) were not allowed to go. This gets rid of the freedom of choice that should be given to each class at the teacher's discretion; if the teacher wanted his students to see Mr. Rumsfeld, they should be given this opportunity. By not allowing choice for each class, classes that did not want to go went and all others that did could not see Mr. Rumsfeld speak.

This incident has made me ashamed of the school that I attend. New Trier, a public high school that is looked as a leader across the country, has completely ditched the motto they hold so dear: "To Commit Minds to Inquiry, Hearts to Compassion, and Lives to the Service of Humanity". Mr. Rumsfeld's visit to New Trier was an opportunity to better the school as a whole, but the school made an inexplicable mistake. New Trier's character has shown through this issue through their actions in handling this event.