Monday was their first day back in school and Kevin and Denise got to the office early with their Korean school records. As they expected, they were sent to Mrs Joyson, their counselor. She reviewed their Korean transcripts and their files.
“Okay, guys, it looks like you’re all set. You’ve got your schedules. I gave your teachers a memo about you back in September, but let me give you these notes anyway in case they forgot that you’d be coming in the middle of the term.”
Then they went off to their home-room classroom. The teacher took their notes and greeted them and then the two began to talk to some of the entering students, those who were social enough or curious enough to take notice of two new people. Their home room, it seemed, all consisted of seniors.
Soon the announcements came on, and then a list of names was read.
“Oh, no! Oh, shit,” a girl exclaimed, and began to cry.
“Damn!” a boy muttered.
Denise looked at the two. “Program?” she asked of no one in particular.
“Yeah,” a few kids around her answered.
Denise got up and went to the girl. Kevin looked, went to the boy, and brought him to Denise and the girl.
“You’re scared,” Denise stated.
“I can’t do this!” she sobbed.
Kevin whispered in Denise’s ear, “Honey, she’s almost like you were—look, she’s shaking. We have to help them, but let’s do it the right way now, okay?”
Denise nodded and took the girl’s hands.
“You really don’t have to, you know. Just don’t go. You too,” she said, looking at the boy.
“What do you mean? They make us!” the boy exclaimed.
The teacher came up. “You need to go to the office now,” she said.
Kevin said, “We’ll go with them part way... we need to tell them something.”
“Well, okay, but then come right back...”
The four went into the hall and Kevin told them to follow him. He led them to the hall near the office as more kids were walking reluctantly toward the office door.
“Hey, all you guys! Come here before you go in, okay?” Kevin called. They gathered around. “Do they physically force you to strip in there if you don’t do it?”
One of the guys answered, “No, the principal threatens with extra time in the Program and you can’t graduate.”
“The Program is changing, you know,” Kevin continued. “You can get away with refusing. Just don’t go in. Hey, if you’re over 18 you’re an adult—you don’t have to strip then, at all. They can’t use physical force. We heard that from some college students who successfully ran a school-wide Program resistance last year in California. If everyone refuses, like at that school, then the Program will die out, you know. Anyone over 18?”
A few were, including the two from Kevin’s classroom.
“You guys don’t have to participate at all, then,” Denise told them. “If you’re brave enough to participate, then go ahead and do it. But if you’re REALLY super brave, you’ll resist having this humiliation, turn around, and go back to your classrooms. And you’ll be supporting all the kids who’ll get called after you, too. Say this mantra: Just say no!”
They were all staring, open-mouthed.
“Wow, are you for real?” one teen asked.
“Very real. We saw a study done at Avery University from last year that showed that doing the Program drops student grades a lot,” Kevin explained. “So you’d be helping yourselves and other students if you refuse and it catches on. So be really brave; it’s a whole lot harder than just submitting—much, much harder than giving in to them. It’s passive resistance, and it’s really hard to do, but it causes revolutions.”
Denise went on. “We’ve got to get back to class, but remember, Just say no!”
She and Kevin turned and walked away; their two classmates rushed up behind them.
“Holy shit,” the guy breathed. “Hey, I’m Tony Mathers—this is Audrey Birch. Yeah, we’re both 18, and wow, this is exciting! Oh, look, no one is going in!”
The kids around the office area were beginning to scatter, heading back to their classrooms.
“We’re gonna be in deep shit, but I don’t really give an F,” Audrey muttered. “I was so scared I almost peed myself.”
Denise took her arm. “Just stand up for your rights. They can’t force you. And as an adult, you have the right of refusal too. The others—the younger ones—will have a tougher time so they’ll need your support. Tell your friends what’s happening and the Just say no movement will take off.”
They had reached their room, so the four entered.
“What?” the teacher said, startled. “Tony, Audrey—you’re supposed to be in the Program.”
“No,” Audrey replied. “We’re not gonna participate. We’re in the Just say no! movement.”
The class tittered and began chattering when the speakers came to life.
“Students, five minutes ago we announced the names of the week’s Program participants. You must come to the office at once. Those students are ...”
“What do you mean, ‘just say no’?” the teacher asked when the names were read.
“It means we’re not doing the Program,” Tony said. “We’re 18 and can’t be forced to strip.”
The teacher looked at them and then at Kevin and Denise. “You had something to do with this, I’m certain.”
Denise looked at her. “Yes, ma’am. We simply told them that they have personal rights and refusal to walk around naked is one of those rights. What they decide to do, then, is their choice, but Kevin and I feel this is the proper choice.”
The classroom erupted in cheers and a number of kids got out of their seats to talk to Kevin, Denise, Tony, and Audrey. The teacher shrugged and, since the bell would ring in a few minutes, decided to just let events play out. Home room was that kind of period, after all, when students organized their day and generally interacted quietly together.
Kevin and Denise found that they shared many classes with Audrey and Tony, who were both incredibly grateful to them for intervening when they had been called to participate. When the four reached their first class and Kevin and Denise gave that teacher their notes, the teacher was ready for them and gave them packets of work and assignments for work that was due that week. Then the bell rang. About ten minutes into the class, a man walked in and called for Audrey and Tony.
Tony asked, “Yes, I’m here, what is it?”
“You were to report to the office. You and Miss Birch. Come now,” he said.
“We’re not participating. We’re over 18 and we refuse,” Tony answered.
“You can’t refuse...”
“Sir? We certainly can refuse,” Audrey interrupted. “We are not participating. We have the legal right not to as adults.”
“I order you to come with me,” he responded.
“And if we go, what’s the purpose of going with you?” Tony asked.
“The purpose is that you are to go into the Program, and there’s now an additional penalty week added too,” he said, louder.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere then...” Tony began.
“Mr Winters, please. I need to continue this class. Apparently they won’t go, so you’ll have to find some other way to convince them. Please?”
“I’ll be contacting your parents over this, then. You’ll hear from me soon,” Winters said and left the room.
A few hours later, while at lunch, Kevin heard that Winters, who was an assistant principal, had visited a number of classrooms, while another person—a vice principal, had gone to other rooms, all trying to get the called students to participate. Kevin and Denise saw a few naked kids at a table in the lunchroom’s corner, so they went over.
“Hi, we chickened out,” one guy said as they came up.
A girl chimed in, “Yeah, my parents wouldn’t like my going against what the school says. There’s about five or six of us, but the others I know about—we don’t like doing this, but I’m gonna try. I spoke to four so far and we’re not gonna allow those Requests and we’re not gonna let teachers use us for any humiliating demos either. And if they try punishing us with additional time, they can go take a hike! So we’re doing the lite version of refusing, I guess,” she finished.
“Well, that’s really good, too,” Denise commented. “We just want to get the word out and however people can refuse, even if it’s just a little, will be super. It takes a lot to start something like this so don’t feel that you aren’t helping too.”
The next period, Denise and Kevin were called to the office.
“Well, here we go,” Kevin said as they walked to the office. “They probably figured out who started this movement.”
They were shown to a room and when they walked in, Mr Winters was behind the desk.
“You are Kevin Coris and Denise Roberts? Okay, I’m Mr Winters, the assistant principal. Please sit. I’ve learned that you two are behind this refusal to participate in the Program. Is that true?”
“Sir, Denise and I are opposed to the whole idea—the Program objectives are invalid and are damaging to students, both psychologically and academically, and that damage has been demonstrated in some recent studies. All we did was to tell the students what their individual rights are. We told them that they had the choice to participate or not; that they couldn’t be forced if they chose not to do it.”
“So you are behind this idea. I want you to tell them that they have to participate.”
“Ah, sir? How can I order them to do something? I have no right to order anyone to do anything. What we did was to provide information. We didn’t order them to resist. That was the individual student’s choice.”
“I’ll put you in the Program...”
“Sir, that just won’t happen. And the same goes for suspension threats or graduation threats. Please don’t make them. I won’t make any threats to you, but if you are considering any retaliation against me, or Denise, please consult with your school’s lawyer first. It’ll save you enormous headaches. I’m not threatening, but this is an area where I know my rights for my education; you don’t want to push me into legal action.”
“I checked your records and see that you both completed the Program in your prior high school; why are you so opposed?” Winters asked.
“It’s on moral and philosophical grounds, first,” Kevin responded. “I did participate, very reluctantly, and on my own terms, actually. But I saw the effect on kids who weren’t as mature or psychologically secure as I was and I learned about the great damage it causes to a number of people. Then I saw a study that gives convincing evidence that the Program causes a decrease in academic performance. Grades go down in schools that start the Program. So there’s a whole bunch of reasons to be opposed to it.”
Denise broke in, “We’re not going to do anything overtly opposing the Program, like leading demonstrations or organizing movements or stuff like that. But we won’t be muzzled; we will tell people what we think about the problems that the Program causes.”
“You know that if you disobey a direct order not to talk about the Program, that’s insubordination, and you can be suspended, even expelled?” Winters said.
“Providing information is what a school is all about,” Kevin retorted. “I don’t think you’d try that. You’re trying to blame us for those students using the information that they learned from us. That’s like, well, let’s say that I suggest that there’s no need for you to stop at stop signs when there’s no traffic around. There’d be no reason to stop. But you get a ticket. Would I be responsible for your not stopping and getting the fine? No, not stopping was your choice. But that example was about a traffic law, a valid law. There’s a law that established the idea of the Program, but all of the rules that the agency wrote aren’t actually in the law. It’s really complicated; my lawyer explained this once, but those rules actually don’t have the force of law. And with the demise of the agency that oversaw the Program, all enforcement is now local. So the students have a basis for resisting participation.”
“If the government is no longer making schools run the Program, which is what it seems,” said Denise, “then why are the schools continuing to do it?”
“The rules are on the books. As long as the state keeps that rule, we will follow it,” Winters responded. “I’m finished with you and I’ll be in touch with your parents about your insubordination. We’ll have them come in to discuss this and you’ll see the punishment your own resistance will earn. Please return to your classes.”
At home later on Monday, Kevin and Denise spoke to the twins about their day of resistance and the twins gave them some advice about the various tactics they had used in their old school.
“Kevin, approach this like a military campaign,” Cynthia suggested. “If you want to stay in the background, then find some kids who could discretely organize the protection squads to keep the participants safe during class changes, like they did at our school. Keep them away from Reasonable Requests. Tell them how to interfere with class demos. Have the word spread as ideas to follow, not as instructions from you guys.”
“Yeah, and if there aren’t enough people to screen the naked kids, then have them have the kid do a non-sexual thing as they go to the next class. They could ignore an unwanted Request if they’re already doing another one,” Roger pointed out.
“And there’re other military tactics you need to keep in mind,” Cynthia mentioned. “One is flanking moves. Sometimes an enemy comes at you from an unexpected direction. You need to be able to anticipate that and have a defensive move prepared. And another is to never run short of ammunition. Be sure your supply chain is always operating. Good logistics win wars. In this kind of battle, you’re fighting the school officials, but you’re also fighting the rules. So you need to know the rules cold and your ammunition is your legal resources—knowledge of the rules.”
“Yeah, that’s what we did in our old school, in fact,” Kevin agreed. “We won most of our battles by using the rules; we turned their interpretation to favor our side. My lawyer helped a lot with that. In fact, maybe Denise and I should have legal backup ready...” he mused. “I think I’ll email Mr Habers and let him know of this potential problem. He’s my lawyer here.”
“Habers... hmmm, name’s familiar,” Cynthia mused. “Wonder why.”
Kevin decided to let Habers know of the possible suspension threat that Winters had implied he would use as a punishment, so he sent Habers a detailed account of his meeting with the assistant principal, asking if the school could indeed suspend him for talking to others about their Program participation. He stressed that he wasn’t overtly agitating for noncompliance and that he thought he had the right to talk to others about the facts that he had learned about the Program’s problems.
When Kasey Roberts returned home that evening, she told Denise that she had gotten a call from Mr Winters late in the afternoon.
“He told me that you were refusing his orders to stop talking to the other students about your objections to the Program. He also wanted me to come in for a conference with him; he wants me to order you to obey his requests and wants to discuss the appropriate punishment for your interference with the Program today. I asked him if he was actually being serious. Did he think that he had the right to tell you that you couldn’t talk to other students? I asked if he was familiar with the First Amendment and that schools, particularly, couldn’t limit personal speech among students. He pointed out that they could and pointed to the student newspaper as his example, saying the school could veto anything the students wanted to say in it. I told him the two things were totally different issues, and I wasn’t wasting my precious time in meeting with him; that you had my permission to talk to whomever you wanted about any topic. He wasn’t happy. At all. He harrumphed and sputtered and then said I’d be hearing further.”
“Oh, Mom, thanks,” Denise said and hugged her. “I wonder what he’ll try next.”
Tom had come to the door while Kasey was talking and overheard part of what she said.
“Yeah, speech in a newspaper is different from speech in person. I learned that way back in high-school Civics. A school paper, even in high school, is considered to be an official publication of the school if it uses any school resources at all, even a dime’s worth, so the courts have held that a high school can censor the articles in the paper,” Tom explained.
“Too bad,” Kevin agreed, “I knew that, but it would be so cool if we could get something anti-Program into the paper.”
“Uh oh... destructive brainstorm in progress,” Tom grinned evilly. “You wanna try? Got an idea. C’mon upstairs; we’ll see. ... Oh, I came to see you to find out if you decided to come with us this weekend, ‘cause if you do, I need to pre-register you,” he said as they climbed the stairs. “You can tell me in a sec. I need to text this guy; he’s in my industrial engineering program. His dad owns this printing company and they print a lot of the local newspapers, school papers too. He was telling me how the papers send the paper set-ups electronically and how they can be hacked and have articles changed. Apparently the big papers try to protect against that but he said the school ones don’t bother.... Okay, sent,” Tom said and put down his phone. “So, d’you want to go?”
“Yeah, we decided yes. Do we need to do anything special?” Denise asked.
“I know they want IDs. You’re both under 18, right? So I’ll need to find out about permission stuff, but... ah, a text... okay, Jim says to call him. I’ll find out what permission you need, okay? Let’s call Jim.”
Tom called. Jim was intrigued with the idea of substituting an anti-Program article for another in the student paper. While they were talking, the twins came in and listened to the conversation.
“So you know that timing’s a huge part of success, right?” Jim asked. “You’ve got less than an hour usually between the time the file arrives and when it queues for printing. You’d have to hit that window, grab a copy of the file, do the edit, and send it back as an overwrite. You need to have the program too, the files are in Quark. I can get a copy of that, and an access key.”
“Won’t you get in trouble?” Kevin asked. “I don’t want anyone to get...”
“Hey, kid, not to worry. My sister had to do the Program last year and had real bad problems with it; my dad said he’d do anything to kick back at the Program. I’ll tell him about this; he’ll just love it. And he can fix it so it looks like it came from the school that way, like after a school official approved the file. Ha, it’ll look like the article was put in by an administrator.”
“Hey, thanks, Jim,” Tom said.
“Well, thank you, for the chance to get a shot back at the Program!” Jim replied.
Roger and Cynthia agreed to help, and plans began to take shape for writing an article about how the students could organize an anti-Program movement.
Copyright © 2015 Seems Ndenyal. All Rights Reserved.