A thirteen year-old Florida boy recently recieved a ten day suspension for "the use of any object or instrument used to make a threat or inflict harm".
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050223/
BREAKINGNEWS/50223002
The article of contention? A rubber-band.
For the record, I am against rubber-band assault. I do wonder though, as to the merits of imposing a ten day suspension. According to the article, the ten day suspension is for Level 4 offenses. Other Level 4 offenses include: "arson, assault and battery, bomb threats and explosives".
I'm all for discipline. If a kid is being belligerent, by all means, punish him. Still, I can't shake this feeling that the threat of rubber band assault is being overstated by just a bit.
Maybe it's just a sign of the times. Are we so afraid that a rubber band in the hands of an adolecent boy is really threatening?
I'd hate to see what would happen if a real threat ever emerged.
Oh wait...
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2 comments:
Maybe it was one of those al-qaida rubber bands.
Seriosuly, I find it a little much when a single bit of overreaction gets into the papers and becomes 'a sign of the times'. History is not made of idividuals or specific incidents, but by the thousands or the millions. Find me 10,000 kids being suspended for rubber band assault every day and we'll day.
That's the way the news works. The sensational is reported as commonplace.
This is not an isolated case however, there are other such cases very similar. The new wave of "zero tolerance" also has no tolerance for common sense.
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