Oh, not entirely zero-tolerance, but still related to schools being way hyper:
Tenth grade. Several months after the 9/11 attacks. They abruptly, with no explanation given at the time, had us all evacuate the buildling. The reason eventually came out: They’d found large quantities of a suspicious-looking white powder in a classroom.
On the chalk ledge. Beneath a chalk board.
Yeah. Missed nearly an entire day of classes because some dipshit jackass teacher (who likely is less intelligent than his faux-leather shoes are) couldn’t recognize the white powder beneath a chalk board as chalk dust!! They thought it was either some drug or anthrax. They called the police.
God, am I glad I’m forever done with public school…
I don’t understand why suspension is a standard punishment. “These kids are acting up, so let’s not teach 'em any stuff for a couple of days! That’ll learn 'em good!”
The automatic punishment for cutting 2 entire days of school (not just a couple classes) was an automatic two-day suspension at my high school. Go figure.
Back when I was in school, which was over 20 years ago, when you were suspended you weren’t allowed to make up any assignments you’d missed during that time. You had to take zeroes and that would affect your final class grade.
Reminds me of the joke about the really dumb guy who kidnapped a bunch of homing pigeons, and sent a note to the owner: “If you don’t send me the ransom for these homing pigeons, I’m gonna let 'em go!”
That mother is an idiot. Three for a dollar? They’re eight year olds. One will get them throughly f’ed up. One for two dollars. (Tongue firmly in cheek.)
NinjaChick, being from your area I can totally see that (the anthrax/chalk story) happening. Sigh.
See, that makes even less sense. A lot of offenses that get suspension penalties are the sort commited by kids who clearly aren’t interested in education (truancy and drugs come to mind). So we punish their lack of interest by taking away more of what they’re not interested in? Seriously, what the fuck? That’s so utterly backwards it’s not even funny.
Looking back, I like the way my high school handled “suspensions” You got your assignments from your teachers, then you stayed in study hall every day for the length of the suspension. Bathroom breaks took place while regular classes were going on and you better not be caught anywhere but between study hall and the nearest restroom. At the time, I thought it was harsh, but looking back, it’s better then just cutting them loose for X amount of days.
As for the mum, if the jello did have alcohol in it, I hope they throw the book at her. Still, no reason for the school to screw up her daughters schooling for mum’s fuck-up.
Well, whatever the school did was just the start. Ultimately I had to answer to my parents and they were very interested in my grades, whether I was or not.
The linked story does not make it clear whether the girl believed the jello was alcoholic or was promoting the jello as an alcoholic substance. The statement from the girl that her mother works in a bar could have been made at a completely different time from when she was promoting these. If she wasn’t claiming that it would “get you wasted” or something similar, this is a completely bullshit charge.
Also, did you catch the last line?
What. The. Fuck? If this isn’t pointless harassment, I obviously wouldn’t recognize the real thing.
This reminds me of another knee-jerk, zero-tolerance type situation at a school a college buddy of mine wen to. Granetd, this is all anecdotal, so I don’t know if it’s 100% true, but it sounds too crazy to be made up.
During his senior year (1999-2000) the school board banned students from having water bottles. Well…ok, I can kinda see why. It could easily have vodka, gin, or another clear alcohol in it and no one would know. But that wasn’t the reason. Apparantly, osmeone on the school board had heard that using ecstasy made you dehydrated, so all these kids with waster bottles must be using ecstasy during school hours! :eek: So, obviously, if we tell them they can’t have water bottles, they won’t use ecstasy, cause they wouldn’t want to be dehydrated and not have something to drink. :rolleyes:
This is in-house suspension and it is also usually pretty ineffective, if for no other reason than the fact that the chronically ill-behaved would rather sit in a room all day staring at a wall than attend class where they are pressured to work.
Furthermore, getting assignments doesn’t replace actual instruction. Missing instruction in a big deal, or at least it ought to be. If the teacher isn’t doing anything but assign work in class, that’s pretty crappy.
Lastly, modifying assignments for in-house suspension is a bitch for teachers. In my classroom, at least, most everything we do is in the context of an activity–my kids do things, they don’t sit there and do seatwork. Inventing seatwork that covers more or less the same goal is onerous, to say the least.
Zero tolerance policies are ridiculous. There is no black and white in the adult world, it’s shades of grey. ZT policies do not teach rational thinking skills.
Holy arts and crafts, Batman! Does the teacher have to supervise all cutting of paper now, or do the kids chew the paper into a desired shape? Keerist on a tricycle-they act like she had a butterfly knife and was carving her initials into another student’s buttocks.
