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Did any one see the article in the news about the two boys arrested for drawing violent stick figure pictures?
How long has it been a crime to draw violent pictures? (I know they drew these to scare and threaten another kid) but I wonder how far this will spread.
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Anyone who would trade liberty for a little safety deserves neither liberty nore safety.
--Ben Franklin
One of my favorite quotes. It seems that society cycles, though. They trade away freedom until they reach a snapping point and then reolt to get it back. If only we could fid a better way.
posted
It's already spread, and it's been a "crime" to do a lot of things since Columbine, give or take. "Zero tolerance" policies on violence have been in force from state to state and district to district for years. They became much more popular (and draconian) after Columbine.
http://zerointelligence.net/ has a wealth of information on the subject of zero-tolerance lunacy. ZT drug policies have kept children from their athsma medicine. ZT weapons policies have caused kids to be hauled out in handcuffs because they left a pocket knife in their backpack after coming back from camping. ZT policies on threats have lead to the sort of thing they have in Florida -- 9 and 10 year olds being frog-marched out of class in handcuffs.
It's pretty scary. In some places, writing stories in creative writing class can get you arrested. (Think: first-person account from the killer's point of view. Make the victim recognizable as a fellow classmate, and you're in deep doo-doo.)
The concept of thoughtcrime is a (nascent) reality. Of course, it's not entirely without justification. I used to draw pictures of shooting various teachers and students -- it was something everyone did. Then two psychos dressed in black leather trenchcoats and actually DID it, and they changed the landscape.
It's natural for school districts and parents to respond this way. Natural, and wrong, IMO.
posted
Ironic. After reading some of the stuff at that website, it makes me want to perform some violent acts on the people that are implementing these zero-tolerance policies unjustly. What does that say about me? Hmm. Perhaps I should be suspended from society.
Posts: 331 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
I could rant for days about education, but let's just pretend I did and save us all the hassle.
Nevertheless, the ZT policy is direct result of an ever-increasingly litigious society and, quite possibly, really bad advice on parenting and raising children since the 60's (not saying any of you are bad parents). Schools are afraid of being sued. So, they essentially took away a teacher's ability to discipline a student. ZT is the backlash. Fine, they said, we can't discipline our students, so we'll call the police instead. Its our own fault... we let this happen. We let lawyers do this. We've allowed them to take responsibility away from both educators and parents. It's our culture of "blame someone else" that caused this.
While in junior high, we sometimes settled things by fighting after school, just off of school grounds -- like many people probably did in school. Our school VP would show up just to make sure no one got truly hurt, and to break the fight up if it looked like that was going to happen, and to make sure it was a fair fight, one on one.
Years later, I (then an adult) ran into my former JH VP and I asked why he let us fight. He essentially said, you can't stop kids from being kids. They'll fight anyway, and this way, at least he can make sure they're back in school tomorrow and learning something, rather than something worse. Was he negligent? I dunno. Depends on your views. But no one ever got arrested for it, or sent to the hospital or put in to a juvenile center... and I'd say the majority of us turned out to be decent folk.
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I am still reading (back into September now) and am dizzy with disgust. Seriously, folks..something must be done.
Posts: 331 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
It seems to me that kids do things like this as a normal part of growing up, and learning to deal with all the scary things in the world. When I look at all the stuff I did growing up, I wonder why I'm still alive. Then I look at the way some of the kids are growing up now, wrapped so tightly in cotton batting that they can't breathe, and I wonder "why bother". It's like growing up as a 'Bonzai Kitten', stuck in a bottle. http://www.bonsaikitten.com/ (No, there really isn't such a thing as a bonzai kitten, but the site is cute and it make the point.)
Posts: 497 | Registered: Jun 2004
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