Suspended for a Facebook post? That's exactly what happened to a student in Vietnam after she posted a parody of President Ho Chi Minh online. According to a Jan. 8, 2013 report by My FOX 8, the schoolgirl's FB post satirized a speech made by the president in 1946. The original speech called for "national resistance against French colonialists." The student's parody was called "Declaration of Students of Ly Tu Trong Secondary School":
"All students! As we desire peace, we have made concessions. But the more concessions we make, the more the teachers press on, for they are bent on failing us once again. No, we would rather sacrifice all than be dismissed. Never shall we have to take the exam again. We have to stand up!
All students, whether boy or girl, good or stupid, tall or short have to find ways to get good marks in the exam. Those who have health will use their health, those who have heads will use their heads. Those who have neither health or head have to copy or use cheat sheets."
Teachers claimed they were offended by the message, and the teen was suspended for the Facebook post for one full year despite her protests that the message was "just for fun."
Thanh Nien News identified the 14-year-old eighth grade student as Nguyen Thanh Vy. Ly Tu Trong Secondary School principal Nguyen Tan Si said the December post "criticized the first term exam and insulted the teachers."
Vy said she did not write the message but only copied it from the Facebook page of another student from another school and changed the name. Her family has reportedly secured an attorney to represent her in the matter.
Could a student be suspended for a Facebook page in the United States? Comments are welcome.
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