Current Mood: Dumfounded
I read stupid things in the news all the time, but this was stupid enough that I had to post a myspace blog about it, which led me to think it may also be of interest here (if, in fact, anyone on earth still regards this domain as "alive"):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21661718/?GT1=10547
I remember when I was a mere teenager, getting detention and Saturday school and being suspended and expelled, it seemed like such a vicious snowball effect. It would start with something as small as not completing a homework assignment and it would end with my mom calling the principal a bitch and security being called to escort us out, followed by homeschooling.
I also remember a lot of stupid administrative action for things that were totally innocuous such as singing the dirty lyrics to a popular song or wearing the same item of clothing as two other friends. Do these school administrators not realize that kids practically live at school and that most of the things that are important to them are occurring there? How can any school administration be so inhumanly run, that kids are to be strictly punished for squeezing one another on the arm or sharing a hug?
While I realize that the story I'm linking takes place in Mascoutah, Illinois, a place which I never knew existed until now, it is not unique as far as public school systems go. Everyday kids are treated like criminals in their own schools for behavior as benign and inoffensive as showing a healthy affection for one another. It makes me need to ask: What kind of people are we raising to be adults in this society if we are teaching kids that "Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved"? Are these kids supposed to carry that into their lives later on, the notion that affection is a thing intrinsically tied to poor taste, poor judgment, and discredit to all involved?
But you know, by the end of this little story about one more incredibly fascist public school system within the U.S., what really made me sad was that the parents of this girl - who is in trouble for hugging her friend - feel helpless, and would choose to do nothing rather than risk getting their daughter into worse trouble. My own mother may or may not have ever experienced that fear in the midst of her persistent desire for justice, but in the end, she always chose to fight. She fought for my right to be treated like a human being within the Los Angeles public school system, and she lost pretty much every time. (The upside is that she gets a lot of credit for helping to educate me in spite of my incompatibility with public school.) If I were the girl in this story, given detention for a hug and threatened with suspension if the detention were not performed, my own mom would have undoubtedly opted to risk the suspension for the principle of it. I wish I could have read in this story that this girl's parents did the same. Alas, they didn't. They'll just conform or die and teach their children the same. Maybe it's too harsh, and they're just doing everything through the proper channels, I am only a testament to the system that didn't work no matter what, not the one that could work if it were approached correctly. I'm only here to say that it sucks. It sucked back then and it sucks now. Goddamn the bullshit.