>>The parade of fools who overreact to every little thing kids do and demand psych evaluations for small children continues unabated. Let’s skip consulting with mom and dad who could have easily told them that Jr. just got back from visiting a church, and send him in to have his head examined instead.
Zero tolerance for common sense. Zero tolerance for parental knowledge and wisdom. Zero tolerance for kids who don’t knuckle under and fit the norm.<<
I agree wholeheartedly. My argument from the beginning has been that this was a reaction to the “death” part of the drawing (especially when the kid says it is him on the cross), not the Christian part.
I really don’t know if it was an overreaction or not. But at least the teacher was paying attention.
The reaction also may have perfectly appropriate, given information none of us are privy to.
What we can reasonably conclude is:
1) This wasn’t religion-bashing nor is it a Freedom of Speech issue.
2) This wasn’t racial (I think the Dad is setting up for a payday)
I don't see the teacher or the school as caring for this child. If they had, the first thing would have been to call the parent and discuss the issue rather than jumping straight to psych evaluations. This could have been settled with a phone call.
Being subjected to intense questioning by strangers may have made the idiots in the system feel better somehow, but it almost certainly did not make the child feel better.
I understand that some parents are abusive and some parents are neglectful and that the school has to be careful. But there is a difference between being careful and treating the family unit like discarded garbage.
I'm guessing that these parents aren't abusive. I'm guessing that parents who spend days taking their children to see the Christmas decorations at a religious shrine are probably pretty decent people who care about the development of their offspring.
They weren't treated like decent people or good parents, though. No one asked their opinion, or asked for their input. They were treated with disrespect and disdain.
So... racism or religious discrimination? Possible, I guess, but probably not. This dad only has his own experience to fall back on, but my guess is that the system, like many, generally disrespects parents regardless of color or religion.
The disdain which so many school systems show for parents is worse than any racism or religious discrimination, in my opinion. Those things are usually the result of a bad apple or two and can be dealt with.
The sort of irrational disdain that allows the school to swing into action and systematically exclude parents is a much bigger problem.