Drug use, vandalism and swearing at a teacher are the kinds of things that can get a student suspended from school.
But Emil Cohen was kicked out of Northern Secondary — for a day and a half — for speaking his mind after being told not to.
Mind you, it was at an assembly meant to celebrate students’ athletic achievements and the 17-year-old had been instructed by his teacher-coach not to mar the upbeat event.
“It’s ridiculous,” Cohen says. “There’s nothing in the speech that was inflammatory, nothing that warrants a suspension.”
Emile's words were not just most appropriate but showed empathy, passion, charisma and "leadership" which means Emile Cohen is destined for great things in the future. His speech, what little there was of it, is extremely well written, and speaks highly of Emile. The "teachers" who got paranoid, pulled his mike and turned on the music must work in an environment of terror of "saying the wrong thing". That leaves the principle as the person who should be fired because he very obviously does not have the courage to resign. www.OttawaMensCentre.com .