How stupid Is the Government School System Going to Get?

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I read this one and could not believe it. However, I should.

Autistic Boy Charged With Making Terrorist Threats Over Stick-Figure Sketch

Stick-Figure Sketch

Updated: Thursday, 13 May 2010, 11:32 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 13 May 2010, 10:06 AM EDT

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. - A fourteen-year-old autistic boy is facing terrorist charges after a sketch he made in school.

The sketch shows two stick-figures. One of them is labeled ‘Me’ and is shown shooting a gun at another with a teacher’s name above it.

Karen Finn says that her son, 8th grader Shane Finn, doesn’t understand why he is in trouble. She says the boy is autistic and has the mental capacity of a 3rd grader.

Officials at Ridgeview Charter School say the student will face a tribunal and is being charged with making terrorist threats.

Finn says she plans to fight the charges.

That's ridiculous. Even if the kid wasn't autistic, charging them with terrorism for a picture? Schools are lazy and afraid of lawsuits so they institute zero-tolerance policies and overreact to every situation - then they get sued for overreacting and a kid's life is ruined in the process. It's pathetic, but as long as school boards and politicians get elected for being "tough on crime and violence" by acting like this, it will continue and get worse. I hope the kid gets some justice.

When schools shove unconstitutionally excessive policies down peoples' throats, I believe that it is a duty of parents to hit the schools with lawsuits that have high punitive damages. This should be done to change the behavior of the schools.

I wish every success on this woman in her attempts to stand up for the rights of her child and every other child attending a US school.

I remember when I was in school, the children used to sing:

"Glory glory hallelujah
Teacher hit me with a ruler
Met her at the door with a loaded 44
Now there ain't no teacher no more."

And no one did a thing to the children singing about killing their teacher with a handgun. It was considered a "traditional thing" that all school children sing, generation after generation.

My, how times have changed.

At my school it was
Yum, yum, bubblegum,
Stick it up your teacher's bum"
Presumably modern children who might attempt the same harmless chant would find themselves charged with the sexual harrassment of their teacher and possibly a child-porn based objectional materials charge to boot.

thats it?I drew far worse things towards my teachers

They react so harshly yet kids are getting harassed and abused in their own hallways and classrooms.

So let me get this straight. They are giving an autistic minor with the mental capacity of a 8 year old a charge of TERRORISM and are trying him on a TRIBUNAL (which might I remind you is a board-style trial without the luxury of a jury of peers, and where basic rights of the accused tend to be ignored) for a goddamned PICTURE?

For one thing, the kid is LFA and didn't know any better, obviously. That aside, at most such a threat would get one expelled, and charged with threatening to commit murder. But TERRORISM?

That's it. I have officially had it up to here with America and it's police-state politics. The government here can't even locate Osama bin Laden, yet they think that it's prudent to lay down a charge of terrorism on a situation like this. I have come to the conclusion that the American government no longer knows the definition of terrorism, and that someone should remind them what that definition is.

As a supporter of the public school concept I grow increasingly encouraged whenever nonsense like this happens. These are laws made in haste after school shootings and such events by legislators who think they can appease the people by appearing all vigilant and speedy. "Zero Tolerance" has come to mean "lacking common sense".

One can only hope that one day the Supreme Court will get their hands on it and strike all of the nonsense down at once.

I wonder what the school would think of this Irving Berlin classic:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71smG5d29to[/youtube]

*sings*
Someday I'm going to murder the bugler,
Someday they're going to find him dead:
And then I'll get that other pup,
The guy that wakes the bugler up,
And spend the rest of my life in bed!

Makes me wonder what the teacher did to him.

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!?! When I was in high school (last year) I'd draw entire BATTLEFEILDS and the only complaint was about how I shoud be taking notes instead. And how is this a terrorist plan? It could mean something like "my god, I wish this lady would shut up so I can go home and watch TV lol". People are freaking paranoid lately. . .