There were times when I found myself in a minority of one at school over various things. One teacher used to read from the New Testament every morning for 15 minutes or so. One day he asked if any of us objected. I alone put my hand up, no doubt cementing my reputation as a weirdo: Who in their right mind would prefer to be learning about grammar or science instead of happily zoning out during a Gospel reading? Outcome: Can't remember. It never even occurred to me to be embarrassed that I was the only student to oppose the teacher.
Then there was the school newspaper I helped to edit. Someone submitted the joke about catching a polar bear, with the punchline "When the bear comes to take a pea, you kick him in the icehole." I thought this crude and unfunny, and argued against including it. Outcome: Everyone else (including the supervising teacher) thought it was hilarious, and I was overruled.
And also the time when a high-school English teacher played two popular songs, one of which was "Working Class Hero" by John Lennon, and I can't remember what the other one was, probably some harmless ditty by Paul McCartney. We were supposed to contrast the two songs, and critically evaluate which was better as social commentary. No prizes for guessing what the teacher was hoping to hear. Unfortunately for me, I could not get past the language: "You think you're so clever and classless and free/But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see." That one word shut me down and made it impossible for me to address the topic. My entire essay consisted of an explanation of why I couldn't answer the question. Outcome: At the end of that term, rather than assessing our grades himself, the teacher lined us all up in a row and asked us one by one what each of us thought we deserved to get. Eventually the school replaced him with someone more conventional, which was a great relief to me.
I've got mixed feelings about whether any one student, or his/her parents, should have veto power when the school is conducting its business in a way they don't like — a Christian parent shutting down a Halloween fun day, for example, or the school uniform being changed because one or two families don't like the current one.
I guess the question would be, "What's the alternative?" and maybe also, "How many other people can I convince?"
