Essay leads to disorderly conduct charge
As reported in the Northwest Herald, a student has been suspended from school and charged with disorderly conduct for writing an essay with “nonspecific references to violence.”
Last week during a drive to North Carolina I listened to an audiobook version of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five,” a book I’d always meant to read. The recent death of the author brought it to my attention again. So it goes. I bring it up because I recall some students at my own high school, over twenty years ago, talking about it as assigned reading in an English class. That book has some pretty specific references to violence and some coarse language to boot.
Also mentioned in the article is that the English teacher in this particular case had apparently said it was okay to use foul language in the assignment. That doesn’t suggest that the teacher was expecting, for example, a rosy puff piece about a Beloved Leader.
The part that scares me the most was this quote from the story: “‘You can never be overly cautious with any type of these situations,’ [Cary Police Chief Ron] Delelio said.” Thank goodness I don’t live in his town. I can’t imagine what I’d ever write that wouldn’t raise red flags based on that standard and still be worth reading. If you can’t be overly cautious, perhaps they should simply outlaw writing altogether.
Hello from a regular reader. I kept ZeroIntelligence in my bookmarks throughout its 13-month hiatus and expect to enjoy reading it in its new incarnation. If I may, I’d like to comment on the general opposition to ZT in light of my modicum of activism experience. I speak as a private individual.
ZT is transparently un-American; I am glad that my experience of American public schools occurred when it did and where it did, and I’m equally glad that I don’t yet have to defend a son or daughter against this foolishness. Fortunately, the system which perpetuates it wasn’t set up very carefully. ZT is vulnerable. It appears powerful (and is) by really being a confluence of the interests of several powerful groups, but that same confluence can be turned into conflict if one or more key group’s interests change. An “anti-ZT movement” has an excellent chance–it opposes something, it can appeal to a large bipartisan cross-section of society, and it has plenty of opportunities for attack.
I hope y’all get organized in a political sense and start making headway against the chicken-fascists. It’s never too soon to start.
Aaron,
(sorry about getting the name wrong! I have no idea where I got Andy from. I feel horrible about that)
This is obviously, of course, a silly case and has every reason to be here. What I wonder is how much of the story we don’t know. I’m married to a teacher and from personal experience, I know that the news media loves to slaughter cops and teachers. Sometimes with good reason but often times without. I’m always skeptical.
What would be awesome in your column is inquiry (and followup) from the actual parties involved… a little investigative journalism, if you will. Actually having the whole scoop on a Zero Tolerance story from both sides without sensationalism would probably bring readers who were interested in the issue.
Another thought — perhaps following the stories after they leave the headlines. Let’s take a fer-instance: let’s assume this story is exactly what it says it is and there’s no hype and nothing left out (a pretty steep assumption, but one we’ll run with for the moment). There’s no glory in the story after another week, so it’ll drop from the papers without another word said, but it would be interesting in this space to see a follow-up and find out that the kid went to court and the case was tossed out. Then, it would be nice to find out that his highly intelligent lawyer filed a counter-suit for damages and went after the liberal “can’t be too careful” crowd and nailed them for a hefty sum. That would add fuel to your cause that the zero tolerance movement actually COSTS rather than saves.
Although, to be frank, this is more of a knee-jerk reaction to the VT shootings than any zero tolerance movement. The problem in this case is that some asshat let it go beyond the door of the guidance counselor’s office. That speaks more to a problem of worry about being blamed after-the-fact than anything else and that, my friend, is the American Education beauracy in action — different from zero tolerance, but broken. I don’t think it’s going to be fixed anytime soon, either.
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RE: your last post about the nanny state. Good points, and I agree. That’s the liberal left world-view. I think they would like a benevolent nanny-state not just in schools, but in all facets of your life. I’m far more capitalist than socialist and I don’t buy it; just my opinion.
g
Your suggestions about follow-up are good ones. I had some hope I could do that, but frankly, this site doesn’t generate any revenue and I have a family to provide for as well. (Of course, there’s also a Donate button just over there on the right, so if you want to indulge in a little capitalism and fight back the socialist hordes, feel free to pay for your access to this site!)
I posted a few days back that I was looking for contributors. With several contributors, perhaps each story could get more depth than with only a single contributor also trying to keep up on the new stories. (If you’d like to indulge in a little socialism and fight back the capitalist hordes, sign up to become a volunteer contributor!)
We’re going to see ZT absurdity at a heightened level for some time in the wake of Virginia Tech, just as Columbine helped create it in the first place.
Per “G”, I suggest that it’s up to the interested readers to do some follow-up, and post as they see fit. It’s not that hard to do — if you’re local to the story, just keep your ears upon; if not, just google for the relevant names.
So, I have an update on this case. Looks like the attorneys came to the rescue. Yeah! From this article, http://www.dailyherald.com/news/mchenrystory.asp?id=309684&cc=k&tc=&t= , it appears that the student has been admitted back to class, and likely charges against him will be dropped soon.