As proof that my long-term memory is still largely intact, I can state confidently I still remember my grade school years. Even the fact that I was in love with my first grade teacher...while I was in first grade. When I went to school we had wooden desks. Maps that were drawn in the 1600's I think, and big sucking pipes in the wall to clean erasers, vacuum the floor and suck your classmates personal belongings off to some faraway, unkown land.
We didn't have computers, cameras, or any kind of security measures that I knew of. Big old box speakers on the wall above the chalkboard started each day with the Pledge Of Allegiance led by the principal. Penal punishment was carried out by Mr Fleanor, the seventh grade teacher, who (I guess by drawing staws) was pronounced the Paddler of Harter Elementary School. (You know the paddle with the one-inch holes drilled in it to reduce aerodynamic drag?)
Corporal punishment usually occurred once or twice a week and you could hear it throughout the school. I believe they must have had the intercom turned on in some fashion because you really could hear every whack. It brought the school to a moment of silence when ever you heard that sound.
There were relatively few "bullies" and no cliques or Mean Girls or bootstrapped, goth looking, weapon toting neo-Nazi imitaters. I don't know if I ever saw the police at our school except for the one really creepy "educational" film about child abduction. To say it scared the shit of of me about ever thinking of talking to strangers is an understatement. I can close my eyes and remember the haunting music and the opening scene that seemed to go on forever of a lone leaf floating down a stream and then what looked like a little girl's red tennis shoe in the stream stops the leaf. From there I think my subconcious has locked away the rest of the film. Parents and kids attended together. No popcorn.
What I remember most is the rules were simple and teachers were judge, jury, and executioner (Mr Fleanor was the executioner for all things physical). The thing you feared the most was getting sent home because then you knew you were in for an ass-whippin'. Yes, your dad could still use the belt without fear of some future Child Protective Services agent being called out.
Anyway....that is just some background material.
As I mentioned above, we had wooden one-piece desks...the kind you slide into from one side leaving you only one way of exit. If the teacher was standing beside your desk (the open side) you were in effect imprisoned. The desk top lifted up and the cavernous desk bottom held all your treasures, notebooks and school books. Up until seventh grade you had one teacher, one class room, one desk for the entire school year. When the teacher rearranged the classroom, your desk went with you. That teacher taught every subject you had that year.
One of the things that we did almost every year (even under the threat of being turned over to the Paddler) was to carve our name, initals, something, into the wooden desk top, somehwere. Obviously we couldn't carve a giant etching in the middle of the desk (it would made it hard to write on and you might as well have put a sign on your head that said "Whip MY Ass".
No these were subtle but permanant legacys for the next years class to marvel at. At least that is what we thought. Later down the road we found out that as each school year ended, the custodian of the school would tag the desks that needed refinishing before the next school year. Bummer for the budding artists in the class.
Suffice it to say that never were the police called, a student handcuffed, or taken to jail while their mother was forbidden to go with them. Ours was a true case of the school handling their own discipline and the parents were generally glad for the daytime re-enforcement of the way they handled the kids at home.
BUT...flash forward to the present...
In Queens, NY, on February 1st, 2010, a 12-year old 7th grade student was led from school in handcuffs after drawing a "doodle" on her desk with erasable marker! You may have heard of this since it happened two months ago but now Alexa Gonzalez's mom is suing the New York City Education Department for $1 million in damages.
I watched the video of the mother and daughter being interviewed and in my humble opinon this whole thing is bullshit.
Once she was caught, the teacher and an assistant principal physically hauled her ass to the dean's office. The the safety officials from the school searched her pockets and then they called the police. This is all claiming to be standard protocol in matters of, are you ready, creating graffiti on school grounds!
Yeah, that's right...the "procedure" in this case was NOT to evaluate the whole situation and make a logical decision, but to call the police and have this little girl arrested in front of all her classmates and hauled out of school in handcuffs. I guess when you talk about no grey area, this fits the bill.
WTF!!!!
Are you kidding me? This girl is as non-anti-establishment as they come. Her mother was not even allowed to accompany her daughter to the jail (where she sat for several hours handcuffed to a pole) and was told to go home and wait for a call.
In the end the po-po admitted that common sense should have prevailed and this never should have happened. How many times do we hear that AFTER a dumbass act??
Alex is now required to perform (by order of family court) 8 hours of community service and ordered to write a book report and essay about what she has learned from this.
Oh yeah, and what did she doodle that was so criminal:
"I love my friends Abby and Faith" "Lex was here 2/1/10" and a smiley face! Again, in erasable marker.
A squirt bottle and a papertowel and this would have been over. Nooooooooooooo...let's take police officers from fighting real crime in New York City and waste their time with this crazy-ass shit! Taxpayers...be proud of where these tax dollars went.
A sign of the Apocalypse...I think this qualifies.
Tomorrow, Texas.... a hand gun....and a pickup truck. You'll love this one too!
Until then, please thank the next person you see showing some common sense...apparently it isn't all that common so appreciate it when you see it.
Sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight.
2 comments:
Wow! that was pretty darn severe, for nothing!
The girl was probably traumatized. But not to the tune of one million.
Cuffing a 7th grade girl. Well she'll have the last laugh when they present her with a $250,000 check. I'm guess a lot of the asking price will go towards lawyer fees.
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