By John W. Whitehead
It wouldn’t be a week in America without another slew of children being
punished for childish behavior under the regime of zero tolerance which
plagues our nation’s schools. Here are some of the latest incidents.
In Pennsylvania, a ten-year-old boy was suspended for shooting an
imaginary “arrow” at a fellow classmate, using nothing more than his
hands and his imagination. Johnny Jones, a fifth grader at South Eastern
Middle School, was suspended for a day and threatened with expulsion
under the school’s weapons policy after playfully using his hands to
draw the bowstrings on a pretend “bow” and “shoot” an arrow at a
classmate who had held his folder like an imaginary gun and “shot” at
Johnny. Principal John Horton characterized Johnny’s transgression as
“making a threat” to another student using a “replica or representation
of a firearm” through the use of an imaginary bow and arrow.
In Utah, a seven-year-old boy was arrested and berated by police because
he ran away from school. The boy showed up at his mother’s house late
in the afternoon, at which point he explained that he had left the
school of his own accord. The mother called the school and explained
what happened, at which point the principal decided to call the police,
despite knowing the boy was in the protection of his mother. An officer
arrived at the house, told the boy to “straighten up,” took him outside,
handcuffed him, and yelled at him saying, “Is this the life you want?”
No comments:
Post a Comment