yet another victory for school boards against terrorism...
May 2, 2002 6:30 PM Subscribe
yet another victory for school boards against terrorism... an 11 year old girl is suspended for three days after drawing stick figures of her teachers with arrows in their heads after receiving a D on a vocabulary test. ie, more of this zero, tolerance crap.
good thing my teachers never looked in my folders... i'd surely be in Arkham Asylum by now if they had...
The schools seem to be overreacting now because they've screwed up so many times before. 'Twould be nice if they could formulate a measured, comprehensive response.
posted by donkeyschlong at 6:42 PM on May 2, 2002
posted by donkeyschlong at 6:42 PM on May 2, 2002
This is really obnoxious... but most well balanced individuals can see that.
posted by spidre at 6:54 PM on May 2, 2002
posted by spidre at 6:54 PM on May 2, 2002
Terrorism! It's all the rage!
Don't like something? Well, don't just sit there, do something about it! Call it Terrorism(tm), and the US Government will sweep down and eliminate it for you, leaving nothing but the fresh scent of pine!
Terrorism! You don't have to take it anymore. The next time you come across something that irks you...remember, we'll be there for you!
(Yeah, I work at an advertising company and have way too much time....why?)
posted by Poagao at 7:37 PM on May 2, 2002
Don't like something? Well, don't just sit there, do something about it! Call it Terrorism(tm), and the US Government will sweep down and eliminate it for you, leaving nothing but the fresh scent of pine!
Terrorism! You don't have to take it anymore. The next time you come across something that irks you...remember, we'll be there for you!
(Yeah, I work at an advertising company and have way too much time....why?)
posted by Poagao at 7:37 PM on May 2, 2002
This is a local story for me, and I was struck this evening, as I saw this little girl and her mother on the news, by the fact that this little girl had done exactly what child psychologists and educators have been recommending for children for years -- she had feelings that she knew that she couldn't (or shouldn't) express in words, so she expressed them via a drawing. Local coverage is here, a bit more in depth. I'm struck by the wisdom of the mother's comment:
"Kids aren't allowed to be kids anymore. … They're not supposed to act like children, speak like children, behave like children. They considered this a terroristic threat, which was just ludicrous."
The little girl did what she was told, the picture was inadvertantly seen, and now the perception of this little girl is that she is a potential threat. Better that she act like an adult -- suppress all of her feelings, stuff them down and swallow them, don't be an emotional little kid. Then what? Then develop a mind full of neuroses, a stomach full of ulcers, and end up on prozac and Tagamet before her 13th birthday.
Everyday, so-called educators prove that they have no concept how children function, and should be permitted to function so that they can grow into reasonably well-adjusted adults.
posted by Dreama at 8:15 PM on May 2, 2002
"Kids aren't allowed to be kids anymore. … They're not supposed to act like children, speak like children, behave like children. They considered this a terroristic threat, which was just ludicrous."
The little girl did what she was told, the picture was inadvertantly seen, and now the perception of this little girl is that she is a potential threat. Better that she act like an adult -- suppress all of her feelings, stuff them down and swallow them, don't be an emotional little kid. Then what? Then develop a mind full of neuroses, a stomach full of ulcers, and end up on prozac and Tagamet before her 13th birthday.
Everyday, so-called educators prove that they have no concept how children function, and should be permitted to function so that they can grow into reasonably well-adjusted adults.
posted by Dreama at 8:15 PM on May 2, 2002
Maybe a haircut would calm the girl down. It seemed to work for the Al Qaeda guys @ Gitmo.
posted by schlyer at 9:28 PM on May 2, 2002
posted by schlyer at 9:28 PM on May 2, 2002
Well, I've only got one thing to say to that student:
Why do you hate america so much?
;)
posted by shepd at 9:42 PM on May 2, 2002
Why do you hate america so much?
;)
posted by shepd at 9:42 PM on May 2, 2002
When I was a kid we used to draw mean teacher pictures that would pale in comparison to "arrows in their heads." Of course back then, no students had actually mowed down a school with illegal firearms. The worst I recall happening was the occasional food fight involving plasticware.
If they didn't get proactive about stuff like this now, and the girl actually did act out her feelings, then the school administrators would get yelled at for not having done something when there were 'clues.' Damned if ya do damned if ya don't. It must suck to be an educator nowadays. Oh wait. Less than $20K a year is still the average salary for a teacher last I checked.
It's always sucked, hasn't it?
In my senior year there were three casualties among the high school students of the city. Two in my alma mater. One in the school across town. A kid walked into class one day with a gun and killed himself. A kid was working part time at a pizzaria and accidently shot himself playing with the owner's gun. A kid was late to work racing on a two lane bridge trying to get around another car and ran into a utility truck. I'm not aware of doodles having anything to do with those incidents.
posted by ZachsMind at 11:29 PM on May 2, 2002
If they didn't get proactive about stuff like this now, and the girl actually did act out her feelings, then the school administrators would get yelled at for not having done something when there were 'clues.' Damned if ya do damned if ya don't. It must suck to be an educator nowadays. Oh wait. Less than $20K a year is still the average salary for a teacher last I checked.
It's always sucked, hasn't it?
In my senior year there were three casualties among the high school students of the city. Two in my alma mater. One in the school across town. A kid walked into class one day with a gun and killed himself. A kid was working part time at a pizzaria and accidently shot himself playing with the owner's gun. A kid was late to work racing on a two lane bridge trying to get around another car and ran into a utility truck. I'm not aware of doodles having anything to do with those incidents.
posted by ZachsMind at 11:29 PM on May 2, 2002
How can parents have any confidence sending their child to a school more interested in protecting itself than protecting its children? It's stories like this - not the tragedies like Columbine - that make the best argument for homeschooling or private education.
posted by junkbox at 6:49 AM on May 3, 2002
posted by junkbox at 6:49 AM on May 3, 2002
Don't forget the utterly dismal quality of the education being offered itself. That's a pretty persuasive argument too.
posted by rushmc at 7:48 AM on May 3, 2002
posted by rushmc at 7:48 AM on May 3, 2002
It is but a small step from drawing pictures of people you like, mutilated, to designing yourself a skin-tight outfit so you can go out and get punched in the nose by Batman. I agree. I agree wholeheartedly. Nip this problem in the bud, yes. (Arkham Asylum?)
posted by poseur at 9:24 AM on May 3, 2002
posted by poseur at 9:24 AM on May 3, 2002
re: Arkham Asylum, i was merely meaning that if a teacher had looked in my notebook during my grade school years they would have tried to send me to the looniest of loony bins to join the ranks of the legendary "patients" there. it sounded better than saying "be sent to community mental health clinic."
posted by sixtwenty3dc at 11:18 AM on May 3, 2002
posted by sixtwenty3dc at 11:18 AM on May 3, 2002
I was diggin' the reference, sixtwenty3dc. I can just see the next archsupervillain in Gotham: the Doodler!
posted by rushmc at 3:19 PM on May 3, 2002
posted by rushmc at 3:19 PM on May 3, 2002
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I only wonder if they talked to the parents before handing this girl the suspension?
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 6:34 PM on May 2, 2002