The same reason why we dont want mass murders to express themselves. You dont even know what the student was saying about demons so how can you defend him...

If he wants to write professionally it wouldn't do him harm to listen to his teacher and widen his skills beyond demon poetry writing and learn consideration of his audience, very rarely do you get payed just for being yourself.

What? That makes no sense. Mass murderers express themselves through MURDER. If they want to express themselves otherwise, they are allowed. Charles Manson makes music and art, for instance.

#49, if just about the entire class supports this kid by copying his poems and reading them aloud, I think "consideration of his audience" isn't an issue here. Also, forbidding someone from presenting poems will not magically "widen their skills", it just shows the teacher's inability to cope with a subject that is obviously not an issue to anyone else in the classroom. Also, no one ever mentioned that this kid wants make a living out of writing demon poems.

I meant audience as in the teacher, when you're learning they often take the same role as a client or employer. If the demon-boy isn't prepared to take the teacher's feedback and show he can write on more than one topic, why is he in the class?

Well... First off, teachers of creative writing seminars aren't "clients" or "employers". They are supposed to offer guidance on how to improve writing skills and express creativity. Compare it to art teachers - they're supposed to teach techniques for creative expression. It's impossible to act like a "client" or "employer" for the entire concept of literature because it's got such a broad spectrum of genres that no matter what you write, there will always be an audience for it. Second, forbidding someone from presenting a poem is not "feedback", it's censorship. Feedback would be the teacher telling the pupil what's wrong with the poem and how to improve it. Nothing good comes out of just telling people they can't do something without properly explaining why. The fact that just about the entire class supported him tells me that the problem lies with the teacher, not the pupil or his poems. Third, the OP only says he forbade the student from presenting poems involving demons. They never said the student only writes about demons, so I do not share this assumption. And if it were true, it only makes the teacher's reaction much worse because in that case, there may be a reason that needs to be taken care of (eg childhood traumas). And fourth... well, he's probably in a writing class to improve his writing technique, not to have a teacher ban him from presenting stuff because they don't agree with the theme.

Not all censorship is bad. Should we allow children to view **** simply because its bad to censor it?

Yeah, fail them for their free speech!

Wow I can honestly say that if a teacher failed my child for not "respecting" the teacher and supporting creativity and freedom of speech then I would gladly pull my child out of the class and put them into a class with a realistic teacher who understands that people are creative in their own ways. I am so sick and tired of the whole "show them whose boss" views for teachers guess what that doesn't make you a good teacher. Your concern shouldn't be showing them whose boss, it should be teaching and supporting the students.

If a teacher failed my child for not "respecting" the teacher and supporting creativity and freedom of speech I'm pretty sure I would do everything in my power to remove that teacher from the classroom. Permanently.

This is an excellent response, why the hell is it getting downvoted?

This needs more upvotes. If a student in a writing course uses disturbing imagery frequently, the proper reaction isn't to forbid him from presenting them. Work WITH him instead of against him. You're a teacher, not a censorship agent. You're supposed to discuss topics instead of banning them. If he writes about demons so often, there must be a reason. Why don't you get to the bottom of that first? For all you know, he's using poetry as a way to process traumatic events and all you're doing is telling him not to do that.