Saturday, September 29, 2007

School Bans Hugging

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_271193938.html

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Let the Child back on the Bus

http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/opinion/local_story_250192830.html?keyword=topstory

Two weeks? What happened to a one- and three-day suspensions? Now this kindergartner is being placed in a situation that will jeopardize his attendance. The boy did wrong. He needs to learn his lesson. The school system/bus company should make the child ride behind the bus driver for the next two weeks. Or the rest of the school year. Then, he could be easily monitored.

A child of five lives in the moment and has difficulty comprehending long-term consequences. Two weeks off the bus won’t change the misbehaving. Two weeks is forever to a child. It’s too harsh.

The brunt of the punishment should involve parent-to-child communication, and if that doesn’t work, the school system should step in. In the end, the parents are being punished for this boy’s behavior and will have great difficulty getting their child to school since they both work in Marion County.

We know there are discipline procedures set by the school system and bus company to protect the students as well as the businesses. But each situation should also be evaluated for its seriousness and then a determination should be made. The child did not hurt another child. He did not bring drugs or a weapon to school. He played a prank. It was childish and stupid. But he is a child. The punishment does not fit the crime. It is an overreaction and needs to be reconsidered.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Student is sent to school office for wearing a jacket & tie

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/aug/23/golden_gate_high_school_student_gets_school_suspen/

School bans 'wrong race' hairstyle


School sued over Winnie the Pooh socks

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,260105,00.html

School: Pirates are not welcome


Hug Police overauthority more sensible in China

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSHER15330720070831?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has punished three policemen for detaining and fining two young lovers 5,000 yuan ($660) for hugging in public on the Chinese version of Valentine's Day.

The couple paused to embrace while taking a stroll along a river in Jinshi in the central province of Hunan, the Shanghai Daily said.

"As we hugged each other, three policemen came and separated us so they could ask questions. They brought us to the police station and didn't free us until we paid a 5,000 yuan fine," the paper quoted female detainee, Xiao Hong, as saying in an Internet posting on a local news portal.

Hug Police invade higher education

http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/7122.html?PHPSESSID=...

These efforts aren’t merely a waste of time, they invite gross injustices. Gettysburg does not literally have a Hug Police, scanning campus for innocent acts to pounce on, so the policies are enforced arbitrarily. Someone gets to decide what jokes are offensive, or what acts are done with ill will to constitute harassment.

But how do you decide what is or is not offensive, what is or is not harassment? Usually these matters are dealt with in campus courts, nicknamed “kangaroo courts” for the lack of due process they provide accused students. All too often, students get expelled based on little evidence.

Public School make stupid rules

http://alisaterry.blogspot.com/2007/06/public-schools-make-stupid-rules-part-1.html

First-grader suspended over plastic squirt gun


Suspension for squirt gun

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9801E3D61E30F936A35756C0A962958260

High Schooler's joke 'incites panic'

http://media.www.kentnewsnet.com/media/storage/paper867/news/2005/03/01/News/High-Schoolers.Joke.incites.Panic-1516230.shtml

Student removed from class over pledge

http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=1179021&nav=0zHFEZGz

School suspends boy for sketching gun

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6868934,00.html

Student punished for "we suck" prank on rivals

http://cbs.sportsline.com/general/story/10324610