Crossing the line of “stupid”
Monday, February 8th, 2010
In the past we've spoken about some over-the-top, extra-gung-ho folks who feel that it is necessary to "take it (way past) the limit" as it were.
While we shouldn't be surprised by the Zero Tolerance polices of some folk, we constantly are surprised by how — well extra stupid they play out in the real world. Well, apparently it has happened again.
On Monday, a teacher at Junior High School 190 in Queens caught 12-year-old Alexa Gonzalez doodling on her desk with a lime green magic marker. Instead of just erasing it, the school called police and the girl was walked out in handcuffs.
A day later, Principal Evelyn Mastroianni of Public School 52 on Staten Island nearly suspended 9-year-old Patrick Timoney for playing with an action figure who had a 2-inch gun.
Yep, you read that correctly, it was a 2" gun. As a matter of fact, it was a very tiny gun that is held by a very tiny Lego figure, so there is absolutely no way that this could be considered a working gun, even by the mos stringent of protocols. Yet still, the kid was hauled down to the Principal's office.
On another planet, in another lifetime, or perhaps as an SNL sketch all of this could be considered hilarious, except for the fact that not only is little Alexa throwing up every day, but little Patrick — an "A" student, in math no less — simply didn't want to go back to school. Now who's the asshat?
This type of high-minded moralizing, and out of control PC-fueled attempt to protect us from ourselves, is simply beyond stupid. I have to know where these teachers and principals are when the schoolyard bully is stuffing geeks into lockers and boosting kids' lunch money.
The Perfessor