Posted on 12/05/2001 5:30:19 AM PST by George from New England
Students get suspended these days for any number of things. But should one of those reasons be trying to save a life?
How far can a school go in enforcing a weapons "zero tolerance" policy?
Ben Ratner was kicked out of Blue Ridge Middle School in Loudoun County, Va., for four months for persuading a suicidal classmate to turn over her knife. According to the Charlottesville, Va.-based Rutherford Institute, a civil-liberties organization, a fellow student passed Ben a note saying she had brought a knife to school, hidden it in her notebook, and was contemplating suicide. After Ben persuaded her to give him the notebook containing the knife, he placed the notebook in his locker until he could take it home and have his mother speak to his friend's parents. However, when a fellow student informed school officials of the knife in Ben's locker, he was immediately suspended.
Gary McCaleb, litigation counsel with the Center for Arizona Policy, said the school's action was unwarranted.
"(Ben) didn't even see the knife," McCaleb said. "He acted on faith the knife was inside a binder. Never opened the binder. And yet, on facts like these he's being found guilty. So it's a hideous policy and I think it sends all the wrong messages to our kids."
Rutherford Institute President John Whitehead agreed the school was out of line.
"The reason he did this was out of his Christian beliefs," said Whitehead. "He wanted to save this girl's life and he felt that that was his obligation."
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Ben's suspension in July, but the Rutherford Institute, which is representing him, recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn that decision.
While the school admitted Ben "did the right thing," Whitehead said that didn't change anything.
"(School officials) basically said what he did was 'laudable,' . . . but they went ahead and suspended him anyway."
McCaleb says the policy is too rigid.
"I think it is 'zero tolerance' for common sense, mercy and justice," McCaleb said. "It reflects, I think, a failure on the part of the school district to really do a tough job, which is to educate its kids about constitutional rights."
The Supreme Court has not yet said whether it will consider the case.
These people don't even realize when they have a serious thinking problem.
Parents irate about idiotic "zero tolerance" policies suspending daughters for having Midol for their periods or sons having lemon cough drops ("drugs") should do what government school administrators fear far more than lawsuits - just organize opposition to the next school tax or bond referendum!
FWIW, anyone ever hear of any private school suspending a girl for Midol or boy for cough drops ("drugs")?
This is an education system. Thinking is not particularly important.
The stupidity is just astounding.
I think the 8 years of the Clintoon presidency must've lowered the collective intelligence of the United States by at least 30%.
It is possible that the informant simply did not anticipate this level of cranial-rectal inversion masquerading as policy, and was motivated to help the same suicidal friend as the unfortunate victim.
Was it Emerson who said that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds?"
If I were the principal, the kid would get a pat on the back, the knife would disappear, and I'd talk to the girl's parents, clergy, family, and friends. But I can envision a scenario where school officials acted absolutely "by the book" motivated by the all-too-real threat of litigation that they unfortunately must now operate under.
My son got suspended for bringing a gun to school, a green plastic water gun. (They called the cops to, but the cops refused to arrest him. At least they had common sense.) In my day that would get you paddled, not suspended. And the schools were safer back then.
Not at all. They've thought it through just fine.
When everybody's guilty of something, everybody's easy to control. Think about that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.