To see a child helping a disturbed child with a serious problem and preventing him from killing or seriously injuring himself kind of renews my faith in humanity.
You might think that a child who did this would be praised to the skies, if not rewarded.
But you would be wrong. Instead of being rewarded for heroism, this child was actually punished:
When sixth-grader Adrionna Harris noticed a classmate cutting his arm with a razor blade, she convinced him that his behavior wasn’t a good idea and managed to get the blade from him — and she threw it away.
Apparently no teachers were around during the incident last Thursday, and Harris viewed the circumstances as an emergency.
Turns out her actions were officially recognized by Bayside Middle School in Virginia Beach, Va. — but Harris won’t be tucking any certificates into a scrapbook.
She got a notice of a 10-day suspension and threat of expulsion after telling the administration last Friday what happened — and it’s apparently due to the school’s zero-tolerance policy regarding weapons on campus, WAVY-TV in Hampton Roads, Va. reported.
“I took the razor blade, and then I threw it away immediately…I didn’t carry it around the school…I didn’t use it against anyone…I threw it away,” she told WAVY.
Rachael Harris, Adrionna’s mother, told WAVY she was “shocked and surprised…that a student would get suspended for saving another child.”
“The school system overreached absolutely.”
I consider this too insane for words. Yet it does not surprise me in light of the well established track record the schools have for enforcing so-called “zero tolerance” to the point of ABSOLUTE INSANITY.
What I would like to know is why parents and taxpayers put up with this crap. Perhaps they figure there is nothing they can do. Voting changes nothing, as these things are systematized.
What language might the tyrants understand?
Comments
5 responses to ““No good deed goes unpunished.” (Not satire.)”
Where there is no law, the people resort to vigilantism. What do they do when elections don’t work?
Time for an electorate zero tolerance police. Sue them if they use the term “zero tolerance”or even the words “zero” or “tolerance”. It may be a crude tool but it has been quite effective in the past.
Mark Sherman
Our schools are teaching helplessness. The good this girl did is, from that viewpoint, far outweighed by the now hated self-reliance. This is the background of much of modern “thought.”
Therapists and social workers are not for special, difficult problems but for everything; family, friends and common wisdom doesn’t give enough scope for those who feel good about “helping” others and running someone else’s life.
To see the change, look up the McGuffey readers, which were used in one room schoolhouses. They were set up for self-teaching, and when in use, an eighth grade education meant literacy, unlike a high school education now.
This calls for the deft and vigorous application of a baseball bat to the school administration. What sort of lesson are these clowns attempting to teach?
I believe Old Curmudgeon explained exactly what lesson these clowns are attempting to teach. And, unfortunately, the students are learning it.
I think your deft vigorous application of a baseball bat to the school administration would be better applied to the School Boards who hire those administrators.
I’ve long since ceased to hope for a deft and vigorous electoral “elect someone else!”