You have GOT to be kidding me

[morrigirl]

Charges filed against high school student for including violent content in a stream of consciousness writing excersise.

I knew it was bound to happen, but holy cow people! Overreact much?

Comments

[gwydionsw.livejournal.com]

Don't you hate being right on shit like this? And it's just fucking starting. Best part is when the assignment said: "Do not judge or censor what you are writing". I guess that's what teachers are for.

[lightandwinged.livejournal.com]

I'll bet they wouldn't care as much if VA Tech hadn't happened just a week or so ago. Regardless, they shouldn't be filing charges against this kid. He hasn't done anything. If anything, they should just have him talk to someone about why he's thinking this way, even though it's probably just related to watching CSI or playing whatever weird-ass video games people play nowadays (that aren't WoW ;)).

Seriously, why would you arrest someone for writing about violent things? Since when does that cause harm? It'd be different if he was writing, "I'm going to stab the teacher on the 30th of April and I have the knife in my locker," but to me, that just sounded like the typical mind of a teenage boy.

[morrigirl.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly.

When I was in high school we were strictly forbidden to write about drugs. Violence and sex were okay but only in moderation. If anyone got out of hand then the teacher spoke to them alone and either repremanded or expressed concern toward the student depending on the circumstances.

If the school officials in this case were truly concerned about the student they should have had him talk to the guidance counselor who then could offer suggestions to his parents if need be. There is no reason on God's green Earth CHARGES should have been filed.

I can't stand it when a single incident causes everyone to grow so fearful that they start making unfounded assumptions based on rash generalizations!

[devilindupriest.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you kept up on this story, but not only is the kid likely not graduating due to this, the Marines ripped up his enlistment papers (which had been his planned career after high school) because he was now facing criminal charges.

[morrigirl.livejournal.com]

I knew about the Marines rejecting him, did not know he wouldn't graduate on time. I swear all this shit is making me wanna rip my fucking hair out. I just want to shake the administrators who are totally wrecking the lives of these poor kids and ask them if they really think they are protecting students by systematically railroading the kids they view as a "threat?"

[devilindupriest.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Plus, even if I did believe it was okay to let a dozen innocent men suffer rather than risk letting one guilty man go free, I think it's painfully obvious that this kid now has no real options in life, and one very clear target to blame it on: The school.

A bit counter-productive, no?