Thursday, December 21, 2006

 

Pinching Epidemic Continues!!

The other day I linked to a post at dvorak.org about a 6 year old boy suspended for pinching a girl. Another Massachusetts witch hunt, so to speak. Now Maryland has gotten into the act. Washington County Public Schools in Maryland labeled a 5 year old boy as guilty of sexual harassment for pinching a girl's buttocks.
A kindergarten student was accused earlier this month of sexually harassing a classmate at Lincolnshire Elementary School, an accusation that will remain on his record until he moves to middle school.

Washington County Public Schools spokeswoman Carol Mowen said the definition of sexual harassment used by the school system is, "unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors and/or other inappropriate verbal, written or physical conduct of a sexual nature directed toward others."

Mowen said that definition comes from the Maryland State Department of Education.

According to a school document provided by the boy's father, the 5-year-old pinched a girl's buttocks on Dec. 8 in a hallway at the school south of Hagerstown.

Charles Vallance, the boy's father, said he was unable to explain to his son what he had done.

"He knows nothing about sex," Vallance said. "There's no way to explain what he's been written up for. He knows it as playing around. He doesn't know it as anything sexual at all."

The incident was described as "sexual harassment" on the school form.
Perhaps Maryland is jealous of Massachusetts' long tradition of witch hunts arising from mass hysteria and irrational beliefs. It will take a lot of absurd accusations for Maryland to catch up but apparently they think it is worth the effort.

Seriously, is there something about majoring in education or the experience of being a school teacher or school administrator that causes one to lose any semblance of reason and logic? I had a few good teachers while growing up but not many. It seems the problem has increased geometrically. Do we need classes in common sense? Would we be able to find anyone qualified to teach common sense? Please pass out the hobnail boots to our "zero tolerance" educators so we can hear them coming.

Comments:
"Do we need classes in common sense?"

Yes.

That is the easiest answer available.
 
but common sense isnt common.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/commonsen.htm

Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape.
Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering. Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S.

A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet. C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math.

C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus. In the following decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf. His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.

As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last. Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.
 
Great story, Mercurior, but, oh, too true.

Patrick, I always think of you when I criticize educators because you seem to have good judgement and plenty of sense. I know other teachers that also do. But they seem to be getting fewer and further in-between.

Hopefully, they'll be somebody left to teach the common sense classes when the need is realized.
 
by the time people in power realise its needed, it will be too late..

if you had to think about it, you could say that the government doesnt want people to think for themselves, that they want them to obey the state..
 
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