Posted on 09/03/2010 7:47:23 AM PDT by ozark hilljilly
Salon's got a blood-boiling interview with Aaron Kupchik, author of Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear, a close look at four very different US schools. Each school has a different demographic and different location, but the thing they all share is a set of zero-tolerance policies that turn them into Kafka-esque nightmares: (snip)
"...We're teaching kids what it means to be a citizen in our country. And what I fear we're doing is teaching them that what it means to be an American is that you accept authority without question and that you have absolutely no rights to question punishment. It's very Big Brother-ish in a way. Kids are being taught that you should expect to be drug tested if you want to participate in an organization, that walking past a police officer every day and being constantly under the gaze of a security camera is normal. And my concern is that these children are going to grow up and be less critical and thoughtful of these sorts of mechanisms. And so the types of political discussions we have now, like for example, whether or not wiretapping is OK, these might not happen in 10 years."
(Excerpt) Read more at boingboing.net ...
It is ironic. These liberal types who pushed for the questioning of authority back in the 1960’s are the same people today that don’t tolerate any kind of dissent ! I believe that questioning the status quo regardless of political bent is not only healthy but also good for this country.
Make no mistake, this is a problem with BOTH ends. In my state, it was a Republican Legislature (House and Senate) that dropped these policies on the schools, certainly not a roving pack of Harvey Milk clones.
Whenever Johnnie got expelled for bringing Mentos to school and telling some kid they were Quaaludes, there was an incredible outrage, including by our State Reps.
Did anything get done? Nope. Just hot air.
This is a real problem virtually since it's inception, and is a perfect issue to be addressed and pressed with the "Powers That Be".
...what it means to be an American is that you accept authority without question and that you have absolutely no rights to question punishment.Hmm...
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