I HAVE mixed feelings about the 15-year-old student allegedly stood down at Napier Girls' High School for speaking her mind about the standard of teaching at her school, during a class speech which was later posted on Facebook.
She said teachers handed out pieces of paper and then did nothing, taught them irrelevant skills not related to "real life", and said that teachers' anger over pay filtered down to their performance.
People have leapt to support her on the basis of freedom of speech and honest opinion - two cornerstones of my profession which I have to support in principle.
But with freedom of speech comes a hefty responsibility, especially if you are going to publish that speech.
The trouble is, every reasonably motivated child at school is probably looking for the Kiwi version of Robin Williams from the movie Dead Poets Society.