Valedictorian’s graduation speech gets cut off after he criticizes school’s administration
"Really? We're authoritarians?" Give this kid a full scholarship
They didn't realize that by turning off his mic, they amplified him for the whole world to hear.
Woah. Dude.
The Streisand Effect
Look at me
I'm the Yentl now.
Do not go Yently into that good night
Yage, yage against the dying of the light
People, can you hear me?
You're the Yentl now dog
Uuuuuuuh-uuuuuuh Barbara Streisand
This is the same community that sold their children for a profit to the prison/industrial complex. It is an area of the country riven by alchoholism and drug abuse and where small minded people thrive. It is a place that resents the opportunity the world has afforded to others but not to them.
This is what "Brain Drain" looks like.
google "kids for cash scandle"
prisons were brobing judges to give harsher punishments to children because once you get locked up your life is ruined and you become a repeat offender wich gets for profit prisons more prisoners.
and you become a repeat offender
Not necessarily. Sometimes they decide to skip that part and die.
Damn that's poetic
Qualifies as the Streisand effect
This is from 2017.
After being cut off by his school administrators, Peter Butera was tracked down by Jimmy Kimmel’s staff Kimmel allowed Butera to finish his speech on national TV in this clip from his show. Good for both of them!
Would have been hilarious if the dude had pulled his own megaphone out from under his robes.
If you don't have a megaphone, you can always improvise your own using nothing more than a squirrel, some string, and a megaphone.
Lol what
google dave the barbarian
Will do haha
Authoritarians are they way they are usually because they're compensating for their lack of intellect and creativity.
I can think of one major example of that's been in the news for the last several years.
Damn
Hello Barbara S
Powerful.
When does your diss track drop?
Give this kid a full censorship
As long as someone else pays for it, why not?
Administrators: "Did you hear them cheer? They loved us cutting his mic. We're just the best"
And if they do apologize, which they won’t, that would actually be their response.
Or that there were "technical difficulties" with the audio equipment and expect the students to be dumb enough to believe it.
They don't expect that. They expect that the students will play dumb if they know what's good for them.
Stupidity has no bounds.
Ironically, cutting him off will draw more attention to this than letting him speak would have ever done
Ahhh the Streisand effect strikes again
By far my favorite thing on the internet!
I wonder if she knows about it and whether it pisses her off?
She obviously knows about it by now, it’s a very widespread phenomenon
What's funny is that this is basically the only thing I really know about her. I know she was some sort of singer or actor a long time ago but I can't name a single song or movie she did. But I know all about the Streisand effect.
I grew up in the 80s, and her name seemed to be everywhere sometimes. But I can't remember anything she sang or any movies she was in. Which isn't to say she wasn't talented or anything like that, just that her work didn't make enough of an impression on society that it has lasting replay value.
She was a mecha-godzilla in southpark. I know that much.
🎶BA BU RA, BA BU RA🎶
It's so bizarre to me that this generation is just completely unaware of anything that was not a current trend during their adolescence. When I was a kid I was exposed to media from decades and decades before my time. What do you think changed?
There’s too much information at our grasp now that’s why, I’m 37, grew up on I love Lucy, honey mooners, dick van dyke, Mr Ed, Mr Roger’s, et, Pokémon, ninja turtles, power rangers, evil dead, evil dead again, lol
Now there’s way too many new ips, on top of new stuff and more new stuff, with all these “”””influencers” and Tik tok and you tube porn hub I mean seriously, too much to name. So it’s easier for kids now a days to stick to a trend.
it was literally named after her attempt to stop someone posting photos of her house which caused all the media to report on it instead
The term exists because of the PR fuckstorm it set off in which sharing pictures of her house became a meme.
I promise you, she knows.
Yeah well, we all know how corrupt and trashy school admins, or anyone in power can be. They don't care. They 'll continue to cause damage to society until a bigger asshole gets rid of them.
I didn't know barbara streisand was so powerful
And thus we see it here on reddit... Worldwide. Me, some random dude from Croatia. Idiots.
Hey, just wanted to tell you that I wish Croatia had beaten France in the 2018 World Cup final. That’s all.
Lmao, I guess its more about seeing France lose than seeing Croatia win, isn't it? 😂
Yes of course hahaha! But Modric deserved the glory of winning it all, and for Vrsaljko and his glorious facial hair! What a run that team had..
We were all Croatian on that terrible day.
Even the French?
No way, love Croatia! Plus my boy Puli has some Croat roots.
I was in croatia at the time of that final. My family and i watched every single game, and Croatia won. We then flew back to australia the eve of the grand final. Jet lagged, we watched at 2am as Croatia lost.
Moja baba i djed su od hrvatska (uprosti, ne govorim puno). Ja mislim da Australija nogomet je najbolji, ali išto volim tvoi nogomet.
(Sorry just wanted to take the opportunity to practise.) I'm sad croatia lost.
Same! Haha
The outpouring of support for this high school senior will be massive...
...oh wait, the video is from 2017. I'm sure the attention will do a lot seven years later.
It was posted here then too
There's a handful of these every year, none of them leading to change.
none of them leas to change.
This kid was just elected treasurer to the Wyoming Area School Board so he might actually be able to change some stuff.
you're free to speak as long as it's so meaningless even I will look bored sitting behind you
if you say something that actually matters though the veneer of agency will be stripped away and I'll quickly cut your mic off
This is funniest thing I have seen all day! 🤷🙄😅😀😊
This shit don't fly in an era where everything is recorded. Good on the students trying to have their voices heard.
And he can easily rerecord the whole speech, cut the two together, and put it up on a multitude sites the be viewed on.
And he can use AI to give the school board ninja weapons and have them jump down on stage and attack them and he pulls out a pen and defends the attacks and then powers up to ultra instinct, dodging all of the attacks while he continues his speech.
I want this dubbed in Japanese.
I only listen to valedictorian speeches with subs.
It is important to spend time with loved ones.
"Hoo, so you're approaching me?"
I admire that when he was asked to leave, he nodded respectfully and knew it was time to go. It wasn’t the time for a protest and now his message goes further. Kids will go far.
One of these days they'll cut the mic and the kid will just switch to the Bluetooth mic/speaker. It's getting really difficult to silence speech these days.
Would’ve been fuckin’ amazing if he then pulled a bullhorn from under his gown and continued
The next graduate to do this, take note!
Damn your profile pic!!!
I thought there was a hair on my screen so i started scratching i scratched so hard my finger went through the phone's screen and i'm a meth addict now.
He didn't get a bullhorn, but he did get something louder
It'd be funny if he went off script and roasted Jimmy Kimmel loool
Is that a bullhorn under your gown, or are you just happy to see me?
Happy to see the whole crowd. He’s bout to bust some knowledge on them
Go full Harvey Milk
Always be prepared! Like the guy with two buckets on his head.
Probably wasn’t enough room to keep it under there given his gigantic cajones
Name is Peter Butera. Last year he became a Wyoming Area School Board member
He genuinely came off as someone who wanted nothing more than to have kids learn and be taken care of. He wasnt being facetious, he just cared. So glad he's in a position to make kids the best they can be. I hope he took the job of whoever cut the mic off.
I hope he took the job of whoever cut the mic off.
It looks like Principal Happy Hogan had something to do with it.
He was Unhappy Hogan that day.
Sulk Hogan, when they hear something they don't like and decide to get petty.
The A/V guy? He could probably aim higher.
I like when younger and passionate people can actually break through before they get run down and jaded by it. This is why I kind of find the 35-year-old limit for presidency kind of nonsense, usually by that time any sense of passion has been dwindled. Hopefully he enacts some changes that could help future potential leaders to be like him and as a role model.
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But what’s the argument for 35? If the people want to elect a 30-year-old, why shouldn’t they be able to? 18 for adulthood/military, 21 to drink, 35 to be president. The number feels arbitrary to me
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While I understand your argument that with age comes wisdom, I think that the Baby Boomer and Gen X generation have shown pretty consistently that this is not an inherent truth.
Old people (here referring to 65+) are just as likely to be 'deceived by those brilliant appearances' as young people (here referring to 25-35). In fact, they are more likely to have their eyes and judgement clouded by the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia and the bindings of their traditions.
The concept of age being a prelude to wisdom is fundamentally Archaic. In the past, the elders were those with the information to make informed decisions. Today, that information is available at your fingertips. Knowledge begets Wisdom, not Age. We are in the Informational Age, and we can't have leaders who don't know how iPhones work.
The 'wisdom of age' of my mother and grandmother leads to them being bigots who complain that they can't hate gay people or immigrants openly any more. The 'wisdom of age' of my father and grandfather leads to them having a distaste for the poor and the struggling.
Personally, I don't see a point to lowering the age beyond 30 (where people's lives are mostly solidified in the modern world), but I certainly would say that if the fear of going lower is due to naivety or capacity to be swayed by emotion (which is what your quote is saying), then we should also seek to set a cap.
It wasn't on the back of 25-35 yr olds that America elected someone who has spoken at length of restricting American rights and whose rhetoric has fundamentally divided the nation. It was on the manipulation and fearmongering of the elderly.
Brexit was not on the back of 25-35 yr olds (or even 35-45). The wisdom of elders is what lead to what is now considered a mistake by most (55% believe it a mistake, 35% believe it was the right course of action).
Yes… as if there are just so few ways a brilliant, motivated under-35 year old can make a difference unless they’re President of the United States.
Silence him now. Just try it.
Wow! What a legend.
Thanks for mentioning that…
https://www.psdispatch.com/news/85366/butera-sworn-in-as-wyoming-area-school-board-member
Cut the mike, said the suit... Very democratic attitude.
WE ARE A CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Edit: missing the /s for those that can’t tell.
which is a type of democracy...
Yeah only the right people get to be criticized!
Hate to break it to you guys but schools are t a democracy where the student’s elect teachers and admin, haha
Someone voted non-capitalist, so the school had to assume direct control.
When you cut out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar. You are showing you fear what he may say.
Neither. You just go to jail.
Monarchs throughout history disagree
Believe it or not straight to jail.
Settle down Tyrion
He also won't be able to lick your arse anymore.
When in doubt, call them out.
I mean, a little more concrete evidence than just doubt would be best. If it’s evident that they suck then by all means call them out
What would they need to do? Cut the class president off when he says the highest student leadership position lacked leadership opportunities?
I think the commenter means in general. You shouldn't just put people on blast just cause you have a suspicion, so the phrase 'when in doubt, call them out' is a bit stupid and a footgun.
Just because it rhymes doesn't mean it's wise.
The world could use a lot more due diligence and a lot less reactivity.
In a world where everyone's profiting off of outrage, the most rebellious thing you can do sometimes is to refuse to be that. Be calculating. Do the homework. Be Sun Tsu about it.
"Rhymes" and "wise" do not rhyme therefore I shan't be taking your advice.
Kid is awesome. What school & city?
Wyoming Area School District in Wyoming, PA. Just down the road from Scranton area ( or 2 hours north of Philly). This kid is on the school board there now and is a solid dude.
Edit: should have mentioned - this is from several years ago now
One of Scott’s Tots.
Man I laughed way too hard at this!
I’ve made some empty promises in my life, but hands down that was the most generous
Ouch. Who’s gonna break it to him that he’s not going to college after this
"I've made a lot of hollow promises in my life, but this is by far the biggest"
Those laptop batteries really made a difference!
Why stop there, might as well be president.
Call the police! He can't say things!
Are you kidding?!? if the cops showed up to this, some innocent black kid in the stands would get shot.. /s
Except it’s true. Why /s?
Cmon. They’re not savages. They’d probably just rough them up and tase them before imprisoning them
Worked PR at my old job and we had numerous university and school district clients. Valedictorians had their speech approved and if they went off even a few words the mic was immediately cut, this happens waaaay more often than people think
I'm no PR expert but I'm fairly sure this makes the school look worse. By cutting the student off you just prove him right or at least that's the perception that people are going to have. Now it's going viral and being shared around the world.
you act like PR firms actually know what they are doing and know how to act logically. People with logical skills stayed far away from that industry...
Yea for a PR firm you'd think avoiding the Streisand effect would be like PR 101. Guess not hah
Pretty much my same experience. Only they conveniently discontinued having the school President speak in my case. Hmmm.
That's high schools everywhere. It doesn't sound like student counsels do very much.
But he's STUDENT PRESIDENT. Back in my day that MEANT SOMETHING. Wait, no it didnt.
Back in my day the student president could paddle the principal.
Catholic school?
Meanwhile in Anime those students councils run entire districts AND THE ARMY TOO
And to be honest, I don't think it would be appropriate to allow student councils to make many decisions that has potentially far reaching impact and consequences to the school for liability reasons. One bad decision can rile up a lot of angry parents who will be pissed at the school administration for allowing a student to be put in a position of significant influence or authority. Despite that, I'm sure there could be plenty of improvements made, perhaps more responsibly with increased staff oversight that would manage to circumvent these concerns. Personally I don't think this student approached this issue in the best and most mature way, but it certainly garnered a lot of attention, so I guess you can give credit to his effectiveness.
What the student did is fine. Nothing immature about it.
The issue is just that students are sometimes misled or otherwise unclear on what student council is about.
When I was in high school, I made nearly the exact, same criticism (submitted an op-ed for the school newspaper, and it got published). At the time, I was rep/treasurer. And the student council adviser and class president got really mad at me for it 😂
The kid isn’t wrong. And I wasn’t wrong. Student council IS glorified party planning. And it doesn’t have a say in important issues.
That much is true (just about everywhere).
But… what some students don’t really understand is that the purpose of student council isn’t to make big impacts. It’s just about role-playing the process of government.
Just to pad your stats for college applications
Student council overlapped with the artsy kids at slavery school I ever went to.
Edit: meant to say every, but I'm gonna let it stay.
They just want to brand themselves for his talent. They don’t TEACH kids that you are supposed to kiss the ring when they are given the chance to speak. They teach that it’s about the kid’s achievements and talent and bright future as an individual. But if he says anything truly from the heart that they don’t like, suddenly he is an “ungrateful little shit” like another commenter said.
I’ve never understood the customer/business relationship between students and universities. The students are paying customers of a business providing a service. Why are students expected to cow tow to the administration instead of demanding customer service?
Universities are funny in that they actually get to choose their customers. So if they don't like a particular customer they can and will boot him/her.
But payment stays..
This is high school. We are supposed to be endlessly thankful to these public servants (that our taxes pay for).
Overwhelming demand vs artificially limited supply.
Universities won't lose money because they're always operating at capacity. There are no University advertisements because high schools do all the advertising they need. The customers can be instantly replaced if they don't behave, so there's no need to provide a good customer experience.
This is a high school, not a university
That kid is a real hero.
The mic cut says everything
At least they learned that young free speech isn't actually free speech unless it aligns with their ideals. Good life lesson, get reprogrammed before finding yourself in a less than ideal situation
But let’s be honest… for a long time, student government has been a scam of “elected” puppets. Much like our current government.
Hope to see him on a ballot someday
He was elected to the School Board of Wyoming Area last year, he is currently the treasurer of the School Board.
You can see the teacher perk up almost right away, like he was waiting for him to start.
Weak ass shit. Go up and rebuttal if you're so offended. We need band aids for their feelings.
Thankfully, we live in a world where principals and "executive directors" don't usually end up as representatives and senators. If they did, they'd make North Korea look a democracy with how authoritarian they'd be.
Well he got to finish the speech on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFuU32EGUJo&ab_channel=JimmyKimmelLive
Good for him!
18 year Olds that think they understand things. Smh
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Frankly, a graduation speech is not the appropriate or fair time to have these conversations as stakeholders (parents, admin, state officials) are unable to offer a response.
I mean, the administration's response they gave was pretty telling. What he was saying was inconvenient so they cut him off and removed him. Pretty much confirming everything he was saying about them.
Allowing students to have a voice over student-centered entertainment like dances, rallies, school sponsored trips, etc. to make it more relevant is probably the most appropriate place to allow students to have a voice.
Student advisory committees to help administration make decisions for the school and student committees to deal with accusations of plagiarism or cheating are just a couple of ways student government should be utilized.
He should've refused to walk off and kept going without a mic. Make them physically drag him off the stage.
I think his nod and walk was perfect. He got his message across and the mic cut absolutely validated what he said. That's a person people will follow.
Students should not govern the school. The administration and faculty should run the school. Students should have room to develop within that.
There is a breadth of reaponsibility that can be placed upon student government associations that extends beyond prom planning and fundraising.
Sure. It’s not clear what this valedictorian means by a „real school government.
I mean he is not wrong in some ways, but there is a place and time to do these kinds of things. I dislike the school system a lot when it comes to the mental and physical strain it can have on the youth, which is why I want to be a teacher and fix it from the inside. I have come to understand that there are many students who feel asthough that their lives are meaningless and that they won't be able to succeed at life, due to failing at certain subjects at school. The education system is supposed to be about individual growth and pushing students to be the best they can be, not forcing them to become blindly obedient to authority and obsessed with the pursuit of false ideals of perfection. Students need to be allowed to fail and realize that one mark shouldn't determine their future. The school system doesn't do that, they place high expectations on good grades and destroy the student's chances of growing naturally.
Free speech era naaat
Hero’s are remembered, but legends never die
Any notice at the beginning of the video it say Wymoning Area School District
This kid would be banned in the teachers sub reddit.
Everyone is edgy rascal in today's internet age. More building, less tearing down.
Ahh yeah, this is how legends are made.
May I ask a question as an outsider from far away?
Is a request from a student to form a school government with decision making authority a reasonable thing to expect in a school in the USA?
Is it actually a thing?
That’s wild to think that students could run a school. I have only ever been to schools where you are the student and they are the teachers/principal and you follow the school rules.
The more I have thought about it as I am typing this out I like the concept. It would shift a teenagers mindset from us vs them, and school sucks I hate following the rules which are stupid, to one where there is possibility of change based on a sensible collaborative approach and partnership. I bet it would develop better behaved students who became invested in their school. What a way to accelerate growing up.
It has nothing to do with running a school, but could include things like directing class field trip locations and managing a budget for certain activities.
Actions speak louder than words or something like that?
Haha welcome to the rest of your life bro. Just wait till you have to get a real job and work for the exact same type of people.
To be fair he's upset that his fake presidency doesn't have real power. Class president IS a party planning position. Students aren't faculty, and they aren't administration. They don't get to decide how the school operates and how it spends its budget, and it's for a good reason.
If students are upset about something, their ability to make changes comes from organizing and refusing to participate in the system.
He didn't take every leadership opportunity available to him if he didn't organize his peers. He just blindly followed the established system.
Holy sh*t this is my high school. Class of 2002 here.
Shit, our salutatorian years ago used his speech to brag about cheating rings and drinking during ditch day, and they didn't cut him off! Probably because his mom was school board president. Sounds like a similarly shitty administration.
Not all heroes wear capes, some wear their graduation attire with a freaking cool cap.
As a teacher of 30 years, this spineless and pathetic display of cowardice makes me rage.
All in all it's just another brick in the wall...
Wow that school is run by idiots.
What power is he wanting as a student government?
That's a piece of shit school, run by piece of shit teachers and administration. Proves his point 100%.
...Wymoning?
While I am sure it was needed to be said, I don’t see great job ops there. While it was respected by students corps will see it differently. Drink the koolaid and maybe after he graduated hold a rally about it?
free speech and such, am i rite?
chocolate milk for everyone!
what else does student government do other than plan the dances? turning off the microphone was dumb, but what else would they do?
way to prove his point