Girl expelled for journal entry

creativity is creativity, and people will always try to stop what they don't understand. Columbine was a wake up call, and i personally felt every school in this country deserved it. not the students themselves, but our society as a whole, and i feel the same way about 9/11. Of all the things our goverment has done to other countries, they do the same thing back, and we react with a shocked look? what is that? i agree this zero tolerence policy is crap, pure and simple, but around my parts, the only time i had trouble was when Columbine first happened, and i got added to "the list". but now-a-days, Columbine is part of my regular vocabulary. so move to illinois, it's not as republican as it seems.

They have to make an example out of someone. Unfortunatly for her, it was her.

WTF?

They have to make an example? There are things called lawsuits, ya know. Oh wait, you're Dr. Know, so therefore it gives you the right to be an ass?

No, it doesn't.

Welcome to the New Paranoid World Order. Has anyone seen Minority Report? That's where we're heading.

[Edited on 12-7-2003 by Satyr]

muah, i've been waiting for a topic like this to state how my paper on "why i love america" went.

lots of you know that instead of writing why i love america, i wrote about the idiocy of george w. bush.
i got suspended for ten days and my paper was confiscated. *laughs* what ever happened to freedom of speech? anyways, i'll put this in a new topic for people to discuss. i just wanted to point out that our schools are messed up. very messed up.
and i didn't even get an explanation as to why i was suspended. just a "call your parents your going home. don't ask questions, young lady, i won't take any of your lip."

#ed up, that's all it is.

# the system.

this is a subject where I can agree with people here that normally I would not agree with them.

I would caution you to not focus on individuals though,

it is better to see the groups or organizations and idealogy behind the curtains.

not only is this a constructive way to criticize but it is also closer to the root of the problem.

Originally posted by effigyrelease
muah, i've been waiting for a topic like this to state how my paper on "why i love america" went.

lots of you know that instead of writing why i love america, i wrote about the idiocy of george w. bush.
i got suspended for ten days and my paper was confiscated. *laughs* what ever happened to freedom of speech? anyways, i'll put this in a new topic for people to discuss. i just wanted to point out that our schools are messed up. very messed up.
and i didn't even get an explanation as to why i was suspended. just a "call your parents your going home. don't ask questions, young lady, i won't take any of your lip."

#ed up, that's all it is.

# the system.

Wow! Is it a Republican school? Can you post a copy of it? I'd like to see if there was any basis for their reaction.

[Edited on 12-7-2003 by Satyr]

omg dont get me started!!!

3 months ago my friends were playing around, they drew this lady and did the addstuff here and there ruteen

well, the teacher came over, took the papper, then she added a teachers name on it so they get in troublem

well, then next day we get called up when i got into the office they were like "did you see this pic mr smith"

i said "yes" "did you tuch the papper" "yes" "then you drew on it correct" i said "no" they dint beleav me kept me and my friend in there for 4 periods

they almost called the cops, so what i did was show them my hand writing and tryed to explane that there were no names on it i was kicked out for 3 days


then on of my older friends would eat apples and oranges he would bring a pealer he got expled for a damn organe pealer!!!!!


if they would check some of the gang bangers pockets theyll kill them selvs it realy, has gone overboard...

Originally posted by Satyr

Originally posted by effigyrelease
muah, i've been waiting for a topic like this to state how my paper on "why i love america" went.

lots of you know that instead of writing why i love america, i wrote about the idiocy of george w. bush.
i got suspended for ten days and my paper was confiscated. *laughs* what ever happened to freedom of speech? anyways, i'll put this in a new topic for people to discuss. i just wanted to point out that our schools are messed up. very messed up.
and i didn't even get an explanation as to why i was suspended. just a "call your parents your going home. don't ask questions, young lady, i won't take any of your lip."

#ed up, that's all it is.

# the system.

Wow!

Is it a Republican school?

Can you post a copy of it? I'd like to see if there was any basis for their reaction.

[Edited on 12-7-2003 by Satyr]

i'll see if i have any of my rough copies anymore, i don't know if i do. i'll check up in my room in a little bit. and i don't know what you mean by "republican school". how do you know the difference?

[Edited on 7-12-2003 by effigyrelease]

Originally posted by Saucerat
They have to realize that exceptions have to be made at times, and if it is quesitonable if a student should be suspended/expelled, then the administration have to talk it over with the parents. I mean, you're talking about the kid's permenent record here. Anything that goes wrong can haunt them for the rest of their life, and they might not have done anything wrong. The zero-tolerence policy is flawed, because they have to confrom the policy to the scenario, instead of vice-versa.

DON'T BELIEVE A WORD OF THAT "PERMANENT RECORD" BULL#!! Unless you apply for a super secret high security job with the government it does not mean a damn thing. I was a very bad boy in high school and my record has not deterred me from anything in life. However criminal charges made against you are a whole 'nother matter.

WRATH OF THE RISING SUN

Since were pointing out the stupidity of the school system I have a story to add to the pot, from a small rurual highschool in virginia.

A friend of mine was goofing off in art class, and for what ever reason possessed him, he drew a picture of our Vice Principal wearing football gear. While this might not seem that odd, the VP was a she; a 6+ foot tall she to be exact. Somewhere along the line a teacher snagged up the piece of paper with the picture. This made its way, along with my friend, to the office. Much bs ensued, and what it all boiled down to was that he was kicked out of school untill such time as he could undergo a mental evaluation.

I was completely dumbfounded when I heard the story, and still dont quite understand it to this day. How in the hell can the school justify that, there was NO threatening material, no overt tones of violence, just some typical teen humor at the VPs expense. Goodness forbit he had used the actual principal as the butt of the joke (short, stout, balled, mean face, and very much resembled a part of the male anatomy) he probably would have faced time in a mental institute with a side dish of electroshock therapy.

Looking at all this crap that transpires in shcools, I can only be glad I am past that mess, and fear ever sending children of my own into it.

this is ridiculous. i would REALLY like to know what is happening to "freedom of speech"! I have heard so many stories similar to this where a child gets suspended for some writing assignment. The schools need to get real!

Originally posted by effigyrelease
and i don't know what you mean by "republican school". how do you know the difference?

I was just joking. You don't, unless you happen to know the political stance of the majority who run the school.

I thought freedom of speech and expression applied to everyone, not just those out of school. How do they expect kids to express their frustrations and feelings? Several stories have been in the news since the Columbine tragedy about students being expelled and even arrested for WRITING fictions involving similar scenarios.

The thing is, when something happens, like the school shootings, that is all over the news and is about someone in their same peer group, it is natural for other students to write about it. It is a means of sorting out personal thoughts and feelings about the subject. If you remove the right to freely express their thoughts or concerns about the things troubling them, the only means of expression left will be action.

Teenagers are at a very confusing and transitional point in their lives and they have many thoughts that adults would find troubling. It doesn't mean that the kid is a threat or intends to act upon those thoughts. These "schools" are teaching students that they do not have the right to express themselves, unless their thoughts are acceptable to those in authority. Have these teachers completely forgotten their own adolescence? I would be willing to bet that they had similar thoughts when they were teens, it's almost impossible not to have.

The damage done to permanent school records IS severe. What if the student which was expelled, had planned to go to a university like Harvard or Yale? Do you think that they are very likely to be accepted with a record that says they were expelled? Not to mention the bad taste they will now have for education. If I was one of those kids, I doubt I would want to pursue my education any longer than I had to.

Some of these kids are winding up with police records as well. They are being slapped with a criminal record for nothing more than "thought crimes".

If they thought this girl posed a threat or was intending to act out her story, they should have asked for her parents to speak with them to help assess her psychological state. Was there other evidence to support the claim that she had homicidal tendencies? Did she have a violent history? Did she have a history of writing about killing others? Did she have friends or was she an outcast? Did she have a good social life? Did any of her friends know if she was planning something? There are so many questions that they should have been asking before taking ANY kind of action. Those kids that performed the school shootings had left clues to their state of mind, if anyone had bothered to look.

The Zero-Tolerance rule doesn't work for the same reason Mandatory Minimum sentencing doesn't work. It assumes everyone and every action deserves the same treatment. It is a blanket solution to make it easier for people to say, "It wasn't my choice. I just did what I was told. I'm not allowed to use discretion about things because I might get in trouble." The government is removing the school's and court's ability to decide what is right and wrong, and how things should be dealt with.

I also have a story to go along with this, although mine didn't end as badly as the girl in the article. When I was a Junior in HS, one of our assignments was to write a satirical short story. Since I am a certified creep, I chose to write about being a mercenary for world travel, and having rather rich, prestigious, and powerful business contacts. After seeing the paper, the teacher took it to the principal, who made a copy, and mailed home to my parents along with a letter saying that "Your son has written interest in becoming a mercenary because he wants to kill people and blow stuff up" or something to that effect, while killing and explosions were left completely out of the paper. I was suspended for 5 days, with another 3 days of inschool suspension, 2 saturday schools, and 4 after-school detentions. My parents fought this one out with the school board, because what I wrote was perfectly clean and within the description of the assignment. The other English teacher at my school read my paper, and also went infront of the board to have this crap removed from my transcript, but it wasn't. Fun, huh?

Someone earlier said that "creativity is creativity", I agree. I think the actions taken by this student were rather unfair, and the zero tolerance approach isn't doing its job. This stuff needs to be taken on a case by case basis, if a student writes a work of fiction, don't assume it's a damn hit-list or whatever. If a student actually does threaten, then consider it a threat.

***EDIT*** I wanted to add in a side note, that while I never had a record of doing anything "wrong" in highschool, other than being bored with the classes, I did fit the profile of someone who would "pose a threat" because I'm a punk, more or less.

[Edited on 7-12-2003 by kaoszero]

These people would have had heart attacks if they saw the gory pictures I used to draw when I was a kid. Still images of bullets or arrows entering or leaving peoples' bleeding bodies. Axes buried in skulls, severed arms, brains coming out of heads...you name it! It was just a harmless artistic phase. I loved fictional horror then, and I still do now.

It amounts to psychological warfare perpetrated on American kids. My high school had the zero tolerance crap and it was like the fuggin Gestapo.

They harrassed, intimidated and followed all kinds of people who did nothing.

Thats a crime against young people who are just formulating their self-esteem, and identity and having the stress of development (i.e.-puberty) also.

The whole fuggin thing should be outlawed as 'cruel and unusual'punishment.

[Edited on 8-12-2003 by darkwraith]

This is exactly why they should bring back corporal punishment.It may not stop all things but it sure as hell makes normal kids stop and think twice before they do it.A good wack on the ass from a pine wood paddle sure can give an attitude adjustment to a smartass brat.

There is still corporal punishment, though not the same as before, they have to have parent's permission.

A year before I went to highschool, a girl got expelled for bringing nailclippers to school. It was all over the news. This year a kid got suspended for taking tylenol, another student ratter him out, he got suspended for zero tolerance. He was a straight a student in lots of honors and Ap courses, eventually he only got a day of suspension. At my school they give you a hundred buck for reporting things like this. An eagle scout got arrested and expelled for having an axe in his car after a camp out. Scissors are now considered weapons, so we cant bring them to school anymore. A kid got stabbed with a pencil very lightly, the kid got suspended and I am sure they considered making pencils illegal.

Most incidents like the Garfield picture and the fictional writing are really marks of a bad teacher. Most teachers know whether or not a student is capable of doing what he is writing. Though most beginning teachers would not know what to do, therefore they report it. Hit lists are different, if they have one of these, expell them. Nobody should actually have one of these.

what?! they give 100$ for ratting out?

is this a privet school?

if that was the case at my school, man i would be a millionar!!

^_^ My Boyfriend actually got suspended for drawing a picture of a fire cracker, and then he got expelled and had to go to an alternative schooling...uh.. school...(its called Derita... anyone heard of it?) and then he got an appeal and got to come back to our school. For drawing a picture of a firecracker. *sigh* what is this world coming to???



An End.

Originally posted by Pi
^_^ My Boyfriend actually got suspended for drawing a picture of a fire cracker, and then he got expelled and had to go to an alternative schooling...uh.. school...(its called Derita... anyone heard of it?) and then he got an appeal and got to come back to our school. For drawing a picture of a firecracker. *sigh* what is this world coming to???



An End.

sorry i dont mean to laugh but that is just pathetic. A FIRECRACKER??!! The U.S. needs to lighten up a little.