[Viva Le Dissention]

No, Diddle. Not suprisingly, you just don't get it.

You are punishing children for standing up for their rights. You force kids to choose between their right to privacy and their future (university, career, etc.).

This decision effectively punishes kids for exercising their right to privacy.

"Oh, sure, you have a right to privacy, but if you don't piss when we say to, you have to be a hermit, walk to school, have no social activity within or associated with the school, or basically do anything that a normal teenager does."

Great--these are kids, not adults. Tell a teenager piss in a cup or quit the chemistry club, that is coercion. Moreover, tell them to piss in a cup or not drive to school, that's coercion. Tell them piss in a cup for face the reality of not getting into a quality institution of higher learning, that is DEFINITELY coercion. It's Big Government in the WORST way.

[Diddle E. Squat]

You force kids to choose between their right to privacy and their future (university, career, etc.).

Baloney. Nice cut-n-paste argument from the pro-Affirmative Action crowd. So suddenly if a kid doesn't get into Harvard, he's doomed to failure? There are plenty of universities out there, someone with talent and initiative can succeed no matter where they attend. Extracurricular participation is only one of many criteria used to choose between competing qualified applicants(or not so qualified AA'd kids who assert a similar 'right to' argument).

Yeah, yeah, there are so many homeless wandering the streets because they didn't participate in high school drama or drill team.

[ladylib]

It's up to parents to go down to school board meetings and say NO to this policy if it upsets them so much. It's also up to parents to make other provisions for their children's education if they disagree with that policy, even if it means internet courses or homeschooling. If enough parents show their displeasure and the public schools know that there are plenty of other options for kids to get an education, that will be the end of the policy.