The "Quasi-Religious Fanaticism" Of The Administrative Class
Smart Glenn Reynolds piece in USA today about a number of recent gun "crimes" I've blogged about -- those committed by little kids who brought their benign toy guns to school (in one case, a plastic GI-Joe gun the size of a quarter).
All of these children were promptly chewed up by the nonthink that is "zero tolerance" policies, and punished with suspensions and the like.
One little boy, 5 years old, wet his pants during the two-hour interrogation after he brought an orange-tipped cowboy-style cap gun on the school bus.
Reynolds writes:
What's up with this? It's not based on any concern with safety. Lego guns, cap guns, bubble guns, nibbled Pop Tarts, and fingers are no threat to safety. And the wild overreaction in these cases says there's more going on here than simple school discipline. As I said, who treats a 5-year-old this way? It smacks of fanaticism.In fact, it seems like a kind of quasi-religious fanaticism. I think it's about the administrative class -- which runs the schools with as little input from parents as possible -- doing its best to exterminate the very idea of guns. It's some sort of wacky moral-purity crusade. If a few toddlers have to suffer along the way, that's tough. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
But that raises two questions. First, what business do public schools have in trying to extirpate "impure" thoughts? Aren't we supposed to celebrate diversity? And, second, why should public schools decide that a longtime staple of American childhood, the toy gun, is suddenly evil?
...The people running these schools are providing considerable evidence that they are not especially bright.
...Which raises the question: Why are we giving them so much money? If public schools are places where kids can be persecuted for being kids -- especially if, gasp, they're boys acting like boys -- what's their claim on our support?
Increasingly, parents are exiting public schools for private schools, charter schools, online schools or homeschooling. (Hey, the guy who sold Tumblr to Yahoo for a billion dollars was homeschooled.) This steady stream of stories involving what can only be called institutional child abuse can only speed that trend along. And once large numbers of parents are no longer sending their kids to public schools, how long will the tax money keep coming?
That's the question I'd be asking myself, if I were running public schools. The people who actually are running them, however, seem to be oblivious. Fanatics usually are.
Fanatics true. But I see them as fanatics with a plan and purpose.
Basically Leftist though would have died out years ago if they didn't have a stranglehold on educating the US children. I see this and various policies as scaring leftist dogma into their minds while they are too young to fight it. There is no rational reason to think a 2 inch toy gun or a poptart is a threat, but if the school teaches that it is a dire emergency threat. Then it becomes on. and it builds distrust between the child and parents who may hunt/own guns.
Joe J at June 4, 2013 6:54 AM
From the article:
Reynolds misses the point -- impurity isn't the issue.
Schools have every business, because thoughts are either progressive and good, or wrong and evil.
Jeff Guinn at June 4, 2013 1:48 PM
Zero-tolerance isn't about safety: it's about protecting school officials from having to actually make a decision.
"No matter how badly this messes people up, no matter how idiotic this is, I followed the rule so you can't do anything about me!"
Firehand at June 4, 2013 6:24 PM
My vote is that if a child is taken to the office for any offense that may requiring more than an in-school period the parents/guardians have to be called immediately.
Jim P. at June 4, 2013 7:41 PM
Jim, that notation was made in each of my daughters' files at school. My daughters also knew that they weren't to talk to anyone without me there. Even the counselor's at the high school would call me before making an appointment with one of the girls to go over credits and graduation requirements in high school.
The only saving grace we have is these kids will grow up, realize what idiots the adults were, and become the policy makers and this nightmare will go away. Probably wishful thinking on my part, but I have to hold onto something.
sara at June 5, 2013 9:25 AM
The only saving grace we have is these kids will grow up, realize what idiots the adults were, and become the policy makers and this nightmare will go away. Probably wishful thinking on my part, but I have to hold onto something.
Posted by: sara at June 5, 2013 9:25 AM
Dream on. In general, the people that become these bureaucrats are not the ones that are good at making decisions. Those people are busy making a living in a business or profession that requires sound decision making.
The policy makers live in lala land, and they become policy makers because a hide bound bureaucracy is the only place they can marginally function.
Eventually when the money is gone, the whole mess will collapse in a pile of rubble (like Detroit)
Isab at June 5, 2013 1:49 PM
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