Don't mess with this New Jersey school board

Un-American is not a legal issue.

Unconstitutional? Which portion of the Constitution does it violate?

 

Well, people should be accepted for who they are, as long as they aren't harming anyone else.

And if kids are picking on someone because they look different than them, by choice or not (I've heard horror stories of burned kids getting totally harrassed by their peers), then they should sit and learn why it's improper behavior to tease someone different than them.

I'd rather read about a group of kids having to sit through a seminar on tolerating others who aren't like them than reading about a kid who is ostracized deciding to get a gun and blow away his classmates.

 

The First Amendment. More specifically, Freedom of Expression.

 

This kind of thinking is the reason why our country is increasingly run by litigious douchebags who constantly feed an already bloated sense of entitlement.

My casual methods of dress are no secret, but my boss told me I can't wear shorts to work. You know what I did about it? I put on some fucking pants. Grow up, people. In the words of an sj favorite, "Lighten the fuck up. You are not the cosmos, son."

 

OK, now we have compared a safety device, one which is designed to prevent fatalities, to a kid being forced to wear his hair a certain way because some stickintheass pinhead said so......

Apples meet Oranges

 

This post was probably better in the original German.

 

It's Texas. Nuf said. Consider the source.

 

Burn victims? Another Columbine? Well, there's some nice hyperbole there. I think you're smart enough to see the difference between racial remarks, insults about a way a person looks, and whether they're doing something to bring attention to themselves. Not sure if any school is ever going to be able to prevent kids getting picked on for wearing their hair funny or buttoning their shirt all the way to the top.

On threads like these, I always wonder which of the posters have kids. I have two in grade school. I would bet most of the people who have kids would be on my side of the debate: There are some school rules that don't make sense, but what really doesn't make sense is raising a major stink about it.

Another hypothetical example that I think applies: When I was in high school, there was a big party where plenty of the athletes were drinking in violation of the athletic code of conduct they had signed. The athletic director found out about it; he had good intel, because every single one of the kids he suspended was in fact drinking. But their parents hired a lawyer and took it to the board. The suspensions were rescinded because the A.D. didn't have proof that the kids were drinking.

Legally, that was the right call, of course. But if you're a parent, knowing your kid was drinking, do you put forth that effort to get them out of trouble? Or do you make them take the punishment? I'd make them miss a game.

Which way you think this 4-year-old's parents would lean?

 

I'm on the same side as you, but I hate this sentiment so much. Rational, intelligent people can look at the same set of facts and come to different results. No, not everybody with your perspective on the issue is somehow logically forced to agree with you.

 

Man, does that bring back memories. I taught high school for five years at a public school where most of the student body was upper-middle class to upper class and there were a lot of parents who were quick to get attorneys involved when they didn't get their way. Combine that with a school district that wouldn't stand up for its employees (it's much cheaper to cave than to risk a lawsuit) and you had an atmosphere where the staff didn't have a whole lot of authority. A friend of mine was the girls' basketball coach and had a situation similar to this one, except the players admitted to drinking and still got off on a technicality because Mommy and Daddy threatened to sue. Teaches kids some really good lessons.

 

Not saying anyone is forced to. Sorry if my post implied that. Just guessing that the circumstance of having kids would be, on a statistical basis, the most influential variable in where you stand.

 

You do realize that the two kids at Columbine, or that copycat kid in Arkansas, were teased and ostracized by the rest of the school, do you?

Violence happens in schools (and society, for that matter) for a variety of reasons. We hear of kids getting beat up, and worse, because someone wants their sneakers. Yet if teaching kids to tolerate others helps reduce the tension, I'm all for it.

I'm not clear on your example. Were the athletes suspended from athletics, or from the school? Either way, I agree that legally, the AD needed more solid evidence (like a police bust), because just going on some kids' words that athletes were drinking is just hearsay evidence.

And as a parent (who is dreading when my little Sciclunas become teens), I would ask my kid if he was actually drinking. If he was, I'd tell him to accept the punishment. If he wasn't, then I'd fight for him. And if he's lying, I'd ground his ass for so long it wouldn't be funny.

I'll give one more example of where rules can be ridiculous if they are too inflexible. During my mom's senior year (this is back in the 1950s), her dad (my grandfather) passed away. She continued to go to school. The final semester, a guidance counselor advised her what classes to take so she could graduate, which she passed. One of them, an English class, ended up being the wrong class. Instead of taking a required class, she took one that wasn't needed. The school refused to admit their mistake and either count the unneeded class, or just waive the requirement.

So my mom ended up one credit short of graduation (she went to night school during the summer and passed). Yet, the school refused to allow her to attend the graduation ceremony and walk with her class. Nevermind that, despite her grief, she continued to go to class. Nevermind that the guidance counselor fucked up and told her to take the wrong class.

In today's world, either the school would have just let her walk with her class anyways (my school did for some kids), or there would have been some nice threats of a lawsuit. And I'm willing to bet that the school would have caved in.

But way back in the 'Good ole days', parents didn't do that. They accepted the school's rules without question. Even when the school fucked up.