[talmand]

I'm failing to understand, are you saying the survey was manipulation or the teacher reminding the students of their fifth amendment rights?

How would debates about the US Constitution and its laws make you worried about the US? These are likely the same discussions and debates that many people from many different countries have over their local issues and/or laws. How is the US any different?

[fmstephe]

I may have chosen the wrong word with 'manipulation'. I think that the school administration is unhappy that the students were told they could reasonably choose not to fill in the survey. What makes me feel uneasy here, and why I used the word manipulation, was that this choice _was_ available to the students but the school felt that informing them of this fact was inappropriate. This, in my mind, amounts to manipulation or at least a form of exploitation of the fact that most young students feel they are obliged to do as they are told.

Now, in this case the survey wasn't very sinister in itself. But the reaction of the school, to a teacher telling students that they could choose not to take this survey, is.

With respect to your second question. I think that in this case there is a fundamental question of how we expect people to treat the children who are in their care. I think that a debate around the complex legal aspects of this case tend to distract from this real central concern. Whether constitutional law was applied correctly here would not change for me one way or the other whether I felt comfortable with the school treating my children this way.

[talmand]

Well, now that I know the context I wouldn't necessarily disagree with your usage of manipulation. It seems to fit to me.

First, I would say I agree with your thought on how people should treat our children. I guess I would explain the reason the constitutional discussion is very relevant in this case because the laws define how the government may treat the citizens. In this case the students are citizens and the school is the government entity. The school asking the students to fill out a survey that could possibly be used to incriminate them in some form of crime is a potential violation of the students' fifth amendment protections.

If the school in question were a non-government entity, such as a private school, then there is no worries over fifth amendment protections. At that point it's more like what you say, a privacy and courtesy issue. The student in that private school could refuse to answer the survey but there might be consequences of that choice, such as being expelled from the school.

Either way, a person has the total right to not say anything at all for any reason regardless of who asks, unless compelled to do so by a court of law. Even then, in the US and I'm sure many countries, there are restrictions on what the court can compel you to say which leads us back to the fifth amendment.

[fmstephe]

Thanks a good explanation.