It doesn't make any more sense now, even with the details

[wendyzski]

Sigh

Cary Student's Violent Essay Draws Second Disorderly Conduct Charge

note "The creative writing assignment in Lee's English class on Monday instructed students to ``write whatever comes to your mind. Do not judge or censor what you are writing,'' according to a copy of the assignment."

Excuse me while I throw up now.

Comments

Just as disturbing...

[justphoenix.livejournal.com]

Dumbass morning radio show guys saying it was a good idea to call the cops on the student, because it would scare him into not writing such things.

The idea that it's okay (good, even) to be violent towards children bothers me even more than the free speech issue.

Re: Just as disturbing...

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Ya see, my problem is mostly that of scale.

If a teacher is disturbed by a student's writing, the escalation should go
1) parents (and probably administrators to CYA)
2) counsellor - WITH parent's input
3) THEN and ONLY THEN the police if it is warranted.

What we have here is a straight A student, probably (like us) has been described as "too smart for his own good" given an assignment that he sees as annoying and pointless. So he decides that it would be "funny" to write something like this. Thinks he's being a smartass.

It's the literary equivalent of making obscene sculptures while learning how to make glass bends in chem lab, reassembling the skeletons in the lab so that they had extra limbs, or handing in a sketch of your dissected frog wearing a top hat, holding a beer and smoking a stogie. (Um - guilty as charged).

It was in pretty bad taste, but not criminal. He has already said it was "a joke", and has apologized. That should be enough, unless it is part of a pattern of behavior, and they should probably keep an eye on him for a bit to make sure it's a one-time thing. But that's ALL.

[msimon777.livejournal.com]

The other thing to keep in mind is that this occurred two weeks AFTER the VA Tech shooting. The assignment called for using the imagination. An event like the shooting would probably still be in the minds of the students, so OF COURSE they are going to write about it.

It also helps that other students described him as "quiet but not scary" and that there is a petition to have him reinstated. I doubt that would have been the case for our Va Tech shooter.

Yes, it was bad taste but, to me, it looks like he was sorting out events and coming to some sort of closure with it.

I shudder to think of what teachers nowadays would have thought of the essays *I* wrote back in high school...

Over-reaction

[suzaw.livejournal.com]

He did not post it on the Internet. He did not threaten anyone He was not armed. I've seen teachers over-react before. He did what he was assigned.
I hope someone wakes up and realizes this.

Re: Over-reaction

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

exactly - how can you have "disorderly conduct" if no "disorder" results?