Category: Media Consumption

I was reading this article which goes in to what a lawsuit happy country we have become, and I remembered another driving factor behind the crazy Zero Tolerance policies.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think Zero Tolerance is crazy. I think that parents need to stand up and fight it the minute it is announced for their school. I think we need to pay attention, and if you ignore the rules your children have to follow, you may be quite shocked one day when your kid is suspended over carrying Advil.

However, we as a society have driven the school districts to that point. My son goes to a private school. Last year, the principal gave two different punishments to two kids for the same violation of the rules. All things considered, maybe the one kid had never been in trouble, so he deserved a lighter punishment. Whatever the case may be, there were actually threats of a lawsuit over it.

Yes, parents consider a lawsuit because their kid wasn’t punished fairly in their opinion. Crazy, but true.

It’s all wrong in my opinion. But if a rule is spelled out stating carrying *any* drugs at school will subject you to a 1 year suspension, and you don’t fight that rule (through the proper channels and tons of red tape), then it could happen to your child too.

It is sad to see what people think they should file lawsuits over. We turn down cases all the time because there is no way they will ever win – they are simply ludicrious, frivilious lawsuits. However, I’m afraid that as long as they continue we will end up with insane Zero Tolerance policies in our school.

As a follow-up to my post from Friday, even with the glow, Orlando Sanchez lost the runoff election. With 63%, Houston says it’s Mayor White. In my usual twisted sense of humor, I’m amused that Mayor Brown (who is black) is leaving office, to be replaced by Mayor White (who is white). Isn’t that odd in that twisted and amusing way?

Kimberly posted about a girl that was expelled from school for 1 year for having Advil at school. There is more on the expulsion here: Advil: Little. Yellow. Delinquent.

I posted a long comment on her site, and I thought I would post it here too. I get annoyed when parents and the community demand certain rules and then are upset when the schools uphold the rules they set. Zero tolerance means ZERO. It doesn’t mean that if you have Advil, they will ignore it. It means you will be punished.

Back in the late ’70s or early ’80s, my Mom found one of the kids at the middle school where she taught had pills. Fortunately, my Dad is a pharmacist and was able to quickly identify them (I think they were aspirin), but teachers and schools shouldn’t have to worry about what the drugs are. We demand that they keep schools drug free and safe – so I don’t think they should overturn the expulsion. The zero-tolerance policy is generally laid out quite clearly at the beginning of the year, and if she chose not to follow it she chose the consequence.

I know it was just Advil – but what if it had been more? And kids can put anything in an Advil bottle – how are the teachers or administrators supposed to know what all the drugs are? They shouldn’t have to research the markings to verify them.

Don’t get me wrong – I actually hate so called “Zero Tolerance” policies because I feel that there are exceptions to almost every rule. But when it comes to drugs, I don’t want them in my child’s school. So if he broke the rules by bringing Tylenol to school and was punished for it, I would have to be understanding.

We can’t have it both ways.

I just remembered that the Tivo is not set to record

I’ve been listening most of the morning to The Beatles 1, which is a collection of their #1 songs. 27 songs, and I love almost all of them. But I just don’t get “Yellow Submarine”. Why was that song a hit? Is there something obvious that I am overlooking? Because it bugs me. I don’t like that song at all. It’s just strange and it doesn’t make any sense. I just don’t get it. But maybe I should just let it be … yeah, let it be …