# Use of headphones at my high school yields a suspension and confiscation. Bogus? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2001, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-headphones-at-my-high-school-yields-a-suspension-and-confiscation-bogus/82960 "2001-09-21T03:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-headphones-at-my-high-school-yields-a-suspension-and-confiscation-bogus/82960/61 "2001-09-25T00:35:34Z")
I am reminded of another story from my high school days. I had just had painful mouth (gum removal, extra skin clipping) surgery on Saturday. It was Monday. Seeing as how I couldn’t miss school, I went. I took with me painkillers. My English teacher was fine with me slipping out of class right before lunch to go to the water fountain to take them, since I showed her the bottle. I left the bottle in my backpack back in the room and put the pills in my pocket. (Some of my classmates were notorious for asking for painkillers for recreational use.) I went out to the water fountain. I was about to take my medicine when someone said, “WHAT are you DOING?” It was another teacher at my school, a math teacher. She was looking at me funny. I stopped what I was doing and said, “I’m taking some medicine.” “I don’t believe you,” she said. “Let me see them.” I handed over the pills to her. She looked at them and said, “Why do you need these? You look fine to me. Let’s go to the office.” I try to explain but she tells me to be quiet. I walk with her to the office. She tells the secretary why we’re here, and the secretary motions us into the principal’s office. The teacher launches into the story, and doesn’t let me even have a chance to explain myself. My principal, who was nice on this rare occasion, finally stopped her and asked me why I had the pills. I opened my mouth. My gums were horrible looking–bloody, gory, disgusting looking. It looked like a war zone in my mouth. I said, “I can’t skip school just because I have a horrible mouth and had to have surgery. I have to have those painkillers so I won’t cry in class and so I can even eat.” He said to the teacher, “Give her back the damn pills. Her father’s a pharmacist–she’s supposed to have them.” However, I had that math teacher the next year for class. Several people took all sorts of medicines right there in class and she didn’t say a single word to them. One boy was even drinking a whole bottle of cough syrup and she didn’t say anything. I understand that schools have rules, and they are necessary. Sometimes, however, the schools interpret these rules a bit too much, or enforce them with some people and not with others, and it leads to tension and resentment and rebellion. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-headphones-at-my-high-school-yields-a-suspension-and-confiscation-bogus/82960/62 "2001-09-25T07:26:16Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by even sven \* The main method of torture is to take away an inmates feeling of dignity and control. They take away his sense of time an place. They control when he eats, sleeps and even void his bladders. Eventually this breaks his spirit and he gives up the secrets that he has been sworn to keep. [QUOTE] are you comparing high-school to jail? 'cause i spent 2mo in jail when i was younger (minor consuming alcohol). and an experience like that gives you a different perspective. I am not comparing high school to torture (although some would say it is appropriate), but clearly the ability to make life’s little decisions is essential to the ability to make the big ones. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-headphones-at-my-high-school-yields-a-suspension-and-confiscation-bogus/82960/63 "2001-09-25T08:21:16Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Tony Montana \* \*\* [QUOTE] \*Originally posted by even sven \* The main method of torture is to take away an inmates feeling of dignity and control. They take away his sense of time an place. They control when he eats, sleeps and even void his bladders. Eventually this breaks his spirit and he gives up the secrets that he has been sworn to keep. [QUOTE] are you comparing high-school to jail? 'cause i spent 2mo in jail when i was younger (minor consuming alcohol). and an experience like that gives you a different perspective. /_clears throat_/ AHEM sorry hit SUBMIT by accident. as i was saying…i remember sitting behind bars thinking “MAN,my dads rules dont seem so bad now” in hind- sight jail made high-school seem like a far away dream- (sort of like WHY did those petty HS rules piss me off so?)- at the time they didn’t seem so petty though.but i can say with some certainty. you’ll most likely think the same thing a year or two out of HS… ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-headphones-at-my-high-school-yields-a-suspension-and-confiscation-bogus/82960/64 "2001-09-27T03:18:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by even sven \* > The main method of torture is to take away an inmates feeling of dignity and control. They take away his sense of time an place. They control when he eats, sleeps and even void his bladders. Eventually this breaks his spirit and he gives up the secrets that he has been sworn to keep. > > I am not comparing high school to torture (although some would say it is appropriate), but clearly the ability to make life’s little decisions is essential to the ability to make the big ones. I’ll note a few minor details of torture you have inadvertently overlooked. Physical pain - being beaten within an inch of your life, for instance. Being fed a starvation diet. Being denied necessary medical attention. Being confined to one tiny room except when being beaten and interrogated. > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by rowrrbazzle_ > > Most teens do not cause trouble. But there are some (and I know this is hard to believe) that think it’s amusing to deliberately make themselves unwelcome and then to hide behind well-behaved teens. > > Most blacks do not cause trouble. But there are some (and I know this is hard to believe) that think it’s amusing to deliberately make themselves unwelcome and then to hide behind well-behaved blacks. Now you’re comparing your own problems to the problems of blacks, which arise from a physical characteristic they **can’t** change? :rolleyes: Chris Rock does a routine about the complaints of white kids. Find it and listen to it. > [@](#): > > \*\*Why people think that teenagers ought not to need anything to do because they should be studying, and yet never ask themselves why they arn’t out writing reports for work or networking twenty-four hours a day is beyond me. You said “No wonder kids sit at home screwing and smoking pot. It is their **only** alternative to spending the day shopping at The Gap” (emphasis added). I did **not** say studying was the **only** other alternative. Only one counterexample is necessary to disprove an absolute statement like yours. I will say that studying is probably the most important alternative, and in general the more studying you do the better your future will be. You might start with some pages on the net about logical fallacies, especially the fallacy called “false dilemma”. > [@](#): > > Wow…People really do believe that teenagers (who are actual human beings, last time I checked) are not worthy of consideration and are better off regulated to the point of non-existance. I always thought I was just paranoid as I high-schooler…turns out that I was really being perceptive Obviously I have read and considered what you have said. I know you are a human being. I just don’t take you quite as seriously as you do yourself. This is not grounds for wide-ranging feelings of persecution. > [@](#): > > Kids arn’t stupid. They can see when they are being treated with respect and when they are being talked down to. And kids have a BS meter that is well tuned and has a lound alarm. Adults aren’t stupid, either. And sometimes the BS you’re detecting is really your own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-headphones-at-my-high-school-yields-a-suspension-and-confiscation-bogus/82960.md?page=3)