WMC-TV 5 V.P. & General Manager Lee MeredithMEMPHIS, TN -
Memphis City School board member Kenneth Whalum Jr. was again engaging in wrong-headed thinking last week when he tried to muscle an education support group into canceling a student debate. The student debate featured students from Kingsbury and Whitehaven high schools and the topic the students were going to debate was the proposed consolidation between Memphis City and Shelby County schools.
Clearly, this is an issue that deserves a complete discussion among all interested parties, students included. The debate did go on as planned despite a threatening email sent by Whalum where he vowed to pull the funding for the Memphis Urban Debate League if he didn't get his way.
Whalum may have legitimate concerns about the debate group, but he should also be smart enough to understand that his attempt to censor a student discussion of a vitally important topic could not make him look worse.
On a positive note, Whalum's bullying tactics did give the students some useful insights for their civics class.
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