[summer]

I did a search and found a National Review article about this TIME article, but, not the original TIME article, as here.

I could really go off on a rant about this article, but I'm going to try to keep my cool here.

(1) Where was the teacher when this fight broke out, you ask? Well, I don't know. Maybe the teacher's back was turned to write on the blackboard. Or, believe it or not, some high schools have portable classrooms, and it is a big 20 second walk from the school's main building out to the portable, but, in those 20 seconds, a fight can break out and a teacher may not be around. Some teachers have the wild notion that 16 year old students can walk all by themselves without incident for 20 seconds, just like 6 year olds can do in elementary school. But, some teachers would be wrong about that.

(2) If a teacher was around, why didn't the teacher break up this fight, before the student had injuries so severe he had to get stitches? Uh, you never know if a 16 year old who has a foul mouth, in chronically late, calls other students names, throws a first punch, and then beats up a kid to the point where the kid needs stitches is also carrying a knife. Of course, to search such a student ahead of time could be "racial profiling" and subject the teacher to a lawsuit. And, to break up a fight, with a kid who will take out that potential knife and use it on a teacher, is just not a good idea if the teacher wants to avoid being cut up.

(3) Now, here's my question: When does the teacher (and other school officials) get the right to sue this kid's father for filing a bogus lawsuit in this matter? Or, when do parents of public school children start signing legal waivers prior to sending their kids to public school, so that time and taxpayer money is not wasted on these bogus lawsuit? If Bill McBride and Janet Reno would like to try to win this teacher's vote, they should countersue the NAACP and this kid's father. Also, explain to this kid's father that from a teacher's perspective, the problems concern the fact his son: (a) has a foul mouth; (b) is late everyday to class, disrupting everyone; (c) still calls his classmates names; (d) starts fights; (e) assaults students; and (f) has a father who is too busy filing bogus lawsuits to teach his son how to behave.

Finally, what happened to GW's Teacher Protection Act? That was a good idea. Did it ever get signed into law? If not, it should, because of events such as those described in this TIME article, and the article below:

Bad Kids in Class [Palm Beach teachers: 'We leave teaching because of kids' bad behavior.']

[neutrino]

The fact that the kid is still in school at all speaks volumes about why our schools don't teach. His behavior is a clear impediment to learning. Arguably, his very presence (given his attitude) is a detriment.

[Crowcreek]

Russell readily admits, after a bout of name-calling with a white classmate last fall, he threw the first punch

'Course we all know that the other guy is 'white' simply because he's not 'black'. I'd like to see his photo . . .

[SaveTheChief]

For years black parents have quietly seethed about stories like Russell's. Now civil rights groups have given those silent suspicions a recognizable name: racial profiling. They contend that not unlike police who stop people on the basis of race, teachers and school officials discipline black students more often - and more harshly - than whites. The result: black students are more likely to slip behind in their studies and abandon school altogether - if they're not kicked out first.

I used to teach at a large metropolitan high school. The Superintendent, an African-American man who had the respect of most everyone in the district, had convened an assembly of the high school student body one day to talk about discipline and the problems that plagued that particular building.

This is a man who demands attention when he walks into a room. Standing well over six feet tall, he is always well-dressed, and always prepared when he has a presentation to make.

I know a good part of the student body didn't expect what he was about to report. He had studied both the disciplinary and the academic statistics from the previous semester, and even had a PowerPoint presentation prepared. All the data pointed that a majority of the disciplinary problems in the school involved African-American students, and poor grades and academic performance were closely tied to the same students. At that time, Black students represented somewhere between 10 and 30 percent of the entire student body.

He did not make a big deal of it, other than point out the statistics, and the fact that statistics do not lie. He made it clear that certain students needed to straighten up. It was an interesting assembly, to say the least.

[kstewskis]

Oh gag me. Lose the chip you little sh**. You'll fare a lot better in life if you do. And don't start what you can't finish.

[Conservative til I die]

I guess it's out of the question that the disproportionate punishments meted out to blacks are due to the disproportionate misbehvaior by black students. Nah, couldn't be. Must be evil honkies keepin' da brutha' man down.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

[Pablo64]

Whatever damages this kid and his dad sue the school for, the kid who got the stitches should then sue this punk and his dad for that same amount plus about a half-million extra for "pain and suffering, mental anguish, etc.", whatever their lawyer can dream up

[TheMole]

The conversation in Modesto has thus far been much less conciliatory. Despite repeated calls for reform from a small but vocal black parents' group, the district is not weighing any changes to its discipline code. Administrators will not comment on particular cases, but Jim Pfaff, Modesto's associate superintendent, points out that district policy stipulates a stiffer penalty for a student, like Russell, who inflicts injuries causing "stitches, loss of consciousness or a fracture." Pfaff attributes the high rate of black expulsions to an influx of black families from San Francisco "who do not understand" Modesto's discipline code, which provides few second chances - just consequences. He has little patience for charges of profiling. "Because we expel more males than females, does it mean that we discriminate against men too?" he asks. Even the black community has splintered over the issue, with some parents who want change accusing others of kowtowing to the district. "[She's] dealing with the people we're fighting, running to the white man with everything," sniffs Mack Wilson, education chairman of the local N.A.A.C.P., speaking of a black mother who joined with school officials to form Project Success, a group that tries to defuse small disciplinary matters before they escalate.

Nobody seems to have commented on this part of the story. San Francisco (and the Bay Area) is "whitening" as high property values cause people who can't afford them to move out, including many local blacks. They drive east to Congressman Gary Condit's district, a largely white area with an economy that was linked to agriculture for a long time. They're moving from Sin Freaksicko to the town that was the setting for American Graffiti. Small wonder they're having a few adjustment problems.

[mhking]

No one is saying Kenneth Russell is an angel. The 16-year-old high school junior from Salida, Calif., is a C student with a filthy mouth who has been known to saunter into class on his own schedule. And, yes, as Russell readily admits, after a bout of name-calling with a white classmate last fall, he threw the first punch in a fistfight that left him battered and his adversary with five stitches over his left eye. But is Russell actually a victim? The N.A.A.C.P. and some of his teachers think so. His father John has filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, charging that Kenneth was unjustly punished for the fight.

What makes the NAACP, Kenneth Russell and so many others think that black youths are exempt from being disciplined for wrong-doing? I hear time and time again that blacks are singled out more often than whites for discipline.

Of all many professors and researchers and civil rights "professionals" and talking heads on television, not a single one has been able to look at America and tell the truth. That the vast majority of those who are being disciplined -- both in school settings, and in the judicial system -- are there because of choices and actions made by the person who is being punished.

Am I missing something here? This article actually was written to justify the actions of this roguish 16-year-old?

Kenneth's father, John, needs to have his head examined. If his father is wrong-headed enough to attempt to sue the school over the disciplining of his rowdy teenager, when it has been shown that his son started the fight - especially in this day of "zero tolerance" within the school environment - you should not be surprised when this teen gets in trouble as an adult, and blames "the man" for his transgressions.

And for a venerable and respected (and supposedly unbiased) newsmagazine like Time to buy into the crybaby defense offered by the NAACP and this boy's father provides further proof of the "liberal bias" of America's media, contrary to those journalists who insist that the profession is unbiased and uninfluenced by one side of the aisle or the other.

If John Russell were truly concerned about his son's future, he would have disciplined the boy himself when confronted with Kenneth's foul mouth. With the kind of language that Kenneth uses at school, John certainly has to know that Kenneth regularly uses profanity. John has to have been made aware of Kenneth's issues with attending class on time. And rather than address Kenneth's casual use of violence in the academic setting, John chooses to focus on how his son is punished.

It seems to me that John is no better than Kenneth in that regard. In John's eyes, it's OK to be violent. It's OK to use profanity in school. It's OK to be a mediocre student that "saunters into class on his own schedule."

As opposed to emphasizing excellence from black youth, this is yet another case where the NAACP would much rather enable substandard performance from students and their parents. I would imagine that the NAACP will be right there, blaming the school and the "system" when Kenneth, due to his sorry performance in high school, is unable to realize his dream of going to college to become an architect. And while the NAACP will reap much in the way of donations on the Kenneth's back, but they won't be there to help Kenneth when he is unable to move forward in life.

"I lost out on a month of my high school life," Kenneth complained when interviewed by Time's Jodie Morse. Well, Kenneth, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you are a disrespectful, foul-mouthed teenager. I'm sorry that you don't have a modicum of respect for the institution of education. I'm sorry that you have a demonstrated propensity to be violent. I'm sorry that you are not able to shoulder responsibility for your own actions. I'm sorry that you have a father who enables your shortcomings and failures in life. But most of all, I'm sorry that, thanks to your father and the NAACP, you will become yet another sad, sorry statistic in America.

[al_possum39]

I hate it when that happens! I had a funny reply for #31 and while I was preparing it, #31 got rubbed out by the moderator.

[Whilom]

Is "racial profiling" on its way to replacing the "abuse excuse"? We should keep some common sense as part of our personal, community, and national security systems. If 90 percent of terrorists acts in the U.S. are committed by Middle Eastern males, PC will demand that law enforcement search out and question only women of Scandinavian background as suspects in terrorists acts. That doesn't make sense, does it? Neither does the new "abuse excuse."

[Xenalyte]

Racial profiling, my aerobicized warrior @$$. Sheesh.

And even now, when it comes out that I no longer teach, people actually still have to ask why not.

[Mamzelle]

Why aren't the parents of the beat-up kid suing this punk and his punk father?

[paul51]

Someone needs to punch out his father

[hosepipe]

How many wasted words do black democrats engender...?
answer:...read on...