The Pissed Off Professor

The current controversy at the K-12 level is whether or not school security personnel should be trained to and then allowed to use flexible handcuffs on students.

Here’s what genius Jerry Ann Hamilton, the NAACP’s Milwaukee president, says:

[Using flexible handcuffs is] teaching [students] to adjust to being treated as criminals and we don’t want that.

We certainly don’t want to TEACH youngsters that acting in a manner that threatens the safety of other students and/or teachers IS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR, and we absolutely don’t want to TEACH students that doing so will result in their BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.

That comes too close to real education, and we need to keep that education crap out of schools.

The same article goes on to report:

Opponents also believe the handcuffs could also injure young children, hurting the people the schools are meant to protect.

Let me be clear: this story is not a joke, and most of America is in an uproar over the thought that kids might be treated in a manner equitable to their behavior.

Did I miss something here, or have violations of the law, threatening others, and/or acting in a way completely contrary to one’s setting suddenly become things that are okay?

Is this Hamilton person serious? Is America? Good grief!

No one is talking about handcuffing Johnny for missing too many questions on his math test. The Milwaukee School Board is simply doing what is necessary to protect its students, staff, and faculty—and good for them.

Where exactly does society think we should draw the line regarding safety at school? It seems everyone wants to complain about what wasn’t done at Virginia Tech, so are these the same people who are outraged over a school’s wanting to protect its students and employees from violent behavior?

If a kid shows up at school and thinks it’s okay to mouth-off, threaten, or attack another student or an employee of the school, something has gone wrong at home. The next line of defense is school.

Kids like this are not worthy of the school’s consideration or protection. They are a threat and should be removed. Immediately. Permanently.

I have seen these kids as college students: I have been threatened before, and there have been two occasions I have feared for the safety of the students in my classroom because of the erratic behavior of another student.

It really doesn’t matter what age we are talking about—or maybe it does.

I suppose I would have to consider that a 15-year-old who left his principal with a concussion and a fractured back is only going to get worse as he gets older.

Schools have an absolute obligation to protect their students and staff, but simply being a kid and/or being a certain age does not make a person worthy of protection and/or consideration.

There are a few places in the world that should never be violated, and right at the top of that list sits schools.

If a student can’t behave like a student, cuff the bastard and be done with it.

Kids are NOT being kids when their intentional behavior threatens the safety of those around them: they are being criminals.

Exactly what message are we sending when we excuse inexcusable behavior because it takes place within the confines of a schoolyard?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 at 9:21 am and is filed under Education, Students, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.