Myself, approaching 50 years of age, recall a very different atmosphere during my time suffering through public education in the 1970s – yes, I can attest to weapons being ‘officially’ at the schools – in that instance, the Junior ROTC program, complete with a firing range at the school. There were occasional fistfights, which was one of the few ways one could be suspended (I can’t recall anyone ever being expelled for behavioral issues), usual duration, 3 days. There was actually one stabbing, when I was a Freshman, which resulted in what was later termed a ‘race riot’ – because the kid that got stabbed was white, and the kid that did the stabbing was black – the result of a long running feud between the two, by the way; most of the ‘rioting’ consisted of confederates of one or the other picking side-bar fights of their own after blood was spilled. It was a one time occurrence, and the source of chatter for years, but little else.

Now, some words for Mr. Trump. Actually sir, quite a bit of your engagement here appears to be to bait people with your straw-man “who wants no security” question. Please. The measures reflected in the article are examples of the incompetence of the people running our public education system, in dealing both with the students in the charge, and the pressures that the politicians that write their policies have imposed upon them, with the root cause being dis-engagement by parents, communities, and the teachers and administrators themselves, all fueled by “bad headline avoidance” behavior.

Engagement is the key. Having the staff of the school out, about, visible, and engaged with the students – being humans watching AND interacting, instead of just monitor drones standing by to document be prepared to offer testimony WHEN something happens, not if. Dealing with issues on a HUMAN level, which does require skill and competence, instead of using one size fits all restrictions on EVERYONE involved in an attempt to “equalize outcomes”, but are more likely to produce the absurdity of results that have become almost the norm for tales from juvenile academia. Admittedly, trying to devise a system by which any idiot can be a public educator is one way of avoiding the thorny issue of dealing with idiots who have become public educators. . .

I think that’s enough for now. . .

tw: the minamoto – the odd looking dance beauracrats go through while foisting blame someplace else, so they can get back to their self licking ice cream cones.

Ken Trump

Not TOO recent, I hope!

If I was a parent (I’m Russian, 23 y.o., managing director of an IT firm), I would probably do everything in my power to stop such atrocities, and, to be frank, senile methods of child control.

Maybe it’s time the rest of us spoke up and call that out for the bullshit it is. I am 35. And today’s cohort of teenagers is better behaved then mine was Back In The Day, as shown by just about every statistical measure. Also, my own subjective experience riding public transit in Boston and occasionally interacting with teenagers bears this out.

Their academic preparation is distressingly worse, but behavior far better. (But they should still stay offa my damn lawn!!!!!)

When I was a kid we didn’t have any of this stuff. There were school bullies, and once or twice I got beaten up (being a nerd, not a bully), but somehow I survived school. Reading this story makes me sick–how do we expect our kids to properly participate in society when they are raised in jail?

I wouldn’t condone illegal activity. However, I these intimidation tactics to be illegal.

Just because the technology can does not mean we should.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon

Now, America. When I first realized cameras were watching me, I didn’t mind. I was a good kid and I couldn’t think of anything that they would get me for. It must have been because I was from a school that feels like a military base. Then I believe that US school system can implement what we have done in Vietnam and they could be very successful at disciplining their students. But I doubt any American would like that.

Just a silly thought.

Lastly, I would to leave a note for Mr. Trump. If you have read his blog, he is a strong supporter of school security and I assume he make a living out of making school safe. I think we should all appreciate his effort and good intention.

Now, I also believe that his philosophy represented the general philosophy that schools have. Even though I believe what the schools are doing is inappropriate and does not solve the problems, the none of us really offer the alternatives. Mr. Trump makes a good point by demanding more of those better alternatives instead of just complains on how the system doesn’t work. Stop complaining and start proposing solutions.

Mr. Trump demand is unfair of course. He is a lawyer with 25 years experience. However, he also demands a high school graduate to provide “specific definitions” and specific solutions to unsolved problems. Silly man.

James, When I hear of the “petty acts of rebellion” and “covert activities” it warms my heart and soul. They aren’t petty or trivial. They are the healthy, normal responses to an ‘authoritarian’ environment. Question everything.

I liked your thoughts on treating teens with respect and dignity. Kids of all ages are deserving of these because they’re human beings. This has been the basis of my parenting approach (2 daughters in HS). It’s called authoritative parenting.(*not the same as the above ‘authoritarian’)

I admire your critical thinking skills. Your subsequent comments/responses show a level of maturity that’s great to see at your age.

Great job. I hope you’ve shown your parents all your positive feedback!

In short I think the Administration a little bit more interested in protecting their own interests than actual allowing the students to learn.

Anyway, I can’t imagine growing up and going to school like you and your peers are. We didn’t have any of these types of security measures, and we were completely respectful of our teachers. We had no incidents of fighting, no incidents of guns and knives in our schools, etc.

We had bullies, but it was meek compared to some of the lower socio-economic schools in my area.

I will note that those lower socio-economic schools in my area did have their fair share of fights (quite violent), and guns and other lethal things, but it was rare that we had anything on the news as a result of any violent disruption regarding the same. I believe that those weapons were mostly used to deter bullying, and used as intimidation.

Did we have gangs? Sure. Those gangs, however, were in a different part of town, and most of the individuals in gangs did not even attend school.

Bottom line; I am in complete agreement with you. I have never advocated zero-tolerance. It’s absolutely ridiculous and causes more problems than naught. And I am not sure that, legally, they can impose zero-tolerance. Coming from a family of lawyers, I am not completely inept when it comes to the law. My father was also a district judge. However, I am also not an expert. Children under the age of 18 have few, if any rights. However, I do believe that they are afforded some civil rights, and in the legal system, they are afforded “innocent until proven guilty”.

I had no idea about the car searches. I’m not sure that’s legal either. I recognize that the cars are on government property, but I’m not sure what legal premise they have to search the vehicles since they do not belong to the city, county or state.

Either way, no one has challenged the government, be it local, county, state or federal on zero tolerance unless it is an appeal or outright sueing on an individual level against the school system.

As far as I am concerned, I believe that either a class-action suit to overturn zero-tolerance needs to occur, or legislation needs to be brought to get rid of zero-tolerance. Unfortunately, in conservative states such as mine (Texas), it will never happen.

Ah, the good days when I went to school. I graduated in 1990. I’m so sorry that you all have had to go through what you are going through and went through.

I am a vice-principal working in a Canadian high school. Yes, we have cameras. They have been there for years and they are used to help identify people who steal from lockers or who disrupt classes by pulling the fire alarm. The feedback we have gotten in our community about the cameras in the school is that we should have more in order to combat theft. After people have an iPod stolen, they can be frustrated and tell us that there should be coverage of every locker and classroom.

However, more coverage does not mean less theft. And I don’t buy the bullying reduction argument. Bullying happens more frequently in private places like change rooms and washrooms, and is too subtle to show up on camera. If you want to see bullying in action, Facebook is the real arena.

And yes, we sometimes search students. For example, if we are walking behind a student and overhear someone talking about his stash in his locker, well, we are going to search that locker, but with the student present. And if we get a phone call from a terrified parent that someone has told their son that they are bringing a knife to school to cut them, then we are going to investigate it.

But we feel that we should only search if we are certain that we are going to find something.

One of the toughest situations we face is actually protecting our students from the craziness that results from the post-Columbine response. Every year we get a call from a community member telling us that a person is walking into our school with a gun or rifle. Now, there is a chance of it actually being a shooter, but it is much more likely to be a prop for a presentation or performance. What we have to do is fan out and find the student/weapon as soon as possible for a simple reason: police forces believe that lives could have been saved in Columbine/Taber/Ecole Polytechnique if police had entered quickly and neutralized the threat instead of carefully clearing area to area. These unthinking kids could get themselves shot, and we have to find them to protect them. A rookie officer seeing a kid wandering around the back of the school in a long coat with an old rifle? I am not willing to gamble the life of my students that that is always going to work out perfectly. (Any why do Film and Drama students often wear long coats!!! Argh!)

And no, that has never yet resulted in a suspension, although a ‘What on Earth were you thinking?’ talk has always been sorely, sorely needed.

So yes, it is an imperfect situation. The trick is to find a balance that infringes less than it protects. Frankly, our community generally responds to respect with respect.

Then there is the issue of innocent kids getting punished. I’ve known of kids that would never even think of touching a drug let alone using one get drugtested and fail, because they hurt themselves somehow and their parent(s) gave them a prescription painkiller. Although teens may not want our parents around at this age, we still trust them on medical issues.

The system is flawed, and it’s becoming very apparent. Hopefully articles like this and the appropriate actions can encourage reform.

It’s sad to see this sort of abuse get worse and worse even decades after I’ve been out of the US school system.

Re-read the last sentence 3 times. It’s the most important.

PS to James – The pro-tip made me laugh! If I was 15 years younger I would have done the same!

Cory Doctorow’s “Little Brother” elaborates very well on this and is a great read too.

-Mike B. 53 years old