Misc ramblings...

[wispfox]

After Student is Suspended and Arrested for Wearing NRA “Protect Your Rights” Shirt,100 STUDENTS WEAR SHIRT TO SCHOOL!

Written By : John Hawkins
April 24, 2013


When Jared Marcum was suspended from school and arrested for wearing a NRA “Protect Your Rights” t-shirt, it drew national attention. Afterwards, the liberal bullies at Logan County Schools who thought they could get away with picking on a 14 year old kid started to become a lot more reasonable.

It didn’t hurt that a video turned up that showed a teacher yelling at Jared for refusing to turn his shirt inside out, while his fellow students were chanting his name in support.
Although the petulant school did not apologize or talk to Jared’s father, his suspension turned out to only be a day long.
The Marcum family, their lawyer Ben White and the gun rights group Sons of the Second Amendment didn’t just meekly accept the school’s non-apology.
Jared Marcum returned to school wearing the SAME SHIRT. Moreover, he was joined by 100 other students wearing NRA “Protect Your Rights” shirts that were provided by Sons of the Second Amendment. None of them were suspended or arrested for wearing the shirts.
Additionally, although the charges against Jared Marcum have not been dropped, his lawyer said that, “My sense is that no charges will be imminent.”
Over the long haul, this may turn out to be a good thing. Jared Marcum learned the importance of standing up for himself, 100 students stepped up to the plate to support the 1st and 2nd Amendment and the bullies at Logan County Schools got an education in the importance of the First and Second Amendment that they apparently needed very badly. Freedom wins, political correctness loses. That’s just how it’s supposed to be.

Huh!

Was it a public school, I take it?

Public schools seem to be the ones who do this - on both left and right-leaning issues - and it always baffles me every time.

Private ones, however, often have dress codes. Probably to avoid the above!

Darn you, silly schools, trying to avoid controversial topics at school and making everything worse. It's like a parent telling a kid they can't date their boy or girlfriend. At that age, being told that they can't do it just makes it more likely!

Anyway!

 

[capewind]

Unfortunately, situations like this one was NOT about avoiding CONTROVERSIAL issues, they are trying to tell the kids that they (the schools) DISLIKE the NRA ... It doesnt fit in to their liberal agenda. I was floored to learn about our own schools from our kids friends. (Our kids were homeschooled.) When talking about the elections, if a student was so BOLD to say they supported ANYONE other than Obama, they were not only told their views were WRONG, they were given FAILING GRADES. If an ADULT wants to support little green men (meaning ANY party), that is all well and fine, but in many schools, the kids are being pressured, instead of being ENCOURAGED TO RESEARCH AND FORM THEIR OWN OPINIONS. Dont take my word for this, start talking to random teenagers. I've been hearing the same stuff over and over again across the country from friends as well, so it isnt just THIS liberal state.

 

[koiguy1969]

whatever the intended purpose...dress codes discourage free thinking, originality, individuality, and self expreesion. this isnt a good thing in my opinion!
as long as apparel isnt outright offensive.

 

[capewind]

and I find this terribly offensive. I am a firm believer that no human being should be a puppet. We are meant to be able to think for ourselves, and shame on anyone who tries to accomplish otherwise.

 

[Carolyn22]

Capewind - I totally agree - without free thinking and ideas, then we might as well throw in the towels. How dare the school tell the students if they are pro Obama that is wrong - instead, the school should be asking them why they are are pro Obama and having those students research into the current situations and then figure out what their convictions are and why.

One of the best teachers in the school that I saw when my kids were in high school ran the school newspaper and my son said to him - this newspaper is sucks - there are no articles on music (my son plays guitar and has had his own band for years). This teacher told him to go for it - interview people, write the articles and take part in the school newspaper himself. My son did - it was a wonderful experience for him - not only did Mike learn alot, he had a wonderful experience, learned a lot, still has a lot of respect for this teacher and when I run into this teacher on occasion, he still asks about my son, Mike.

We should be teaching our children to think and how to think. We should be giving them the tools to think. Eventually they are going to be running this country and if we tell them what they should be thinking, the won't be able to do it.

 

[capewind]

I have several friends who are teachers (mostly in my state) and they are frustrated as well. Most feel that they are nolonger ALLOWED to TEACH. Yes, they still follow the "Massachusetts Dept of Education State Framework" ,,, I had to follow it too as a homeschooler - it's just a dictation of what subjects need to be covered at what grade levels ... over the last several years, more focus has been placed on the MCAS, and the SCORES that the SCHOOLS receive. Relates to FUNDING ... So what is happening is teachers are teaching the kids to MEMORIZE the materials they need to PASS the MCAS, but they are not retaining the info.

The other issue is they are intentionally dumbing the kids down. My son was very advanced. I went round and round with my school district over my LOI (letter of intent) his freshman year. We used an in depth text book series for his middleschool science and history (publisher was Prentice Hall) .. well, for 9th grade, they wanted him to do GENERAL SCIENCE (repeat of the three year middleschool program we had completed, but with less depth) .. He wanted Environmental Science ... At the time (he is 22 now), Environmental Science was considered a 12th grade elective as it is considered college level ... He also wanted to do Economics for the social studies requirement ... That again was a 12th grade elective ... they wanted American History (we did a 2 yr highschool level American History program for 7th and 8th grade which they had approved) ... So we ended up in a compromise ... For the science, they credited the work he did in middleschool for his 9th grade credits, and allowed the Environmental Science (as an elective) ... For Social Studies, same thing ... they gave him his highschool credits for the American History, and insisted that year he do his 10th grade World History, and at 10th grade, allowed him to do the Economics (as an elective) ... We had to fight to do MORE than was required .. it was all bull ... now with the girls, one was a bit slower (ADHD) and they gave me no trouble running a year behind with her,... Ummm, if anything, they should have been up my arse pushing her (she learned best on her terms), and the other was an average learner, so easy to follow the state framework with ...

 

[Carolyn22]

What I am not understanding is why. I get the impression if something is too 'hard' for people, then forget it or we as parents have to fight for it. I don't think that things were meant to be this difficult - We have become so lazy and arrogant. I remember hearing years and years ago, that generally those that are arrogant have nothing with which to back it up. I have found time and again for that to be true. It is pathetic what we are turning into as a society and unfortunately, we will not realize it until it is too late.

 

[HTH]

It is sad.

Dress codes can go overboard but I see their place. I also feel they have to change over time and be applied with common sense. My HS did not allow jeans and I fail to see where that had any effect on my learning.. I am a firm believer that some kids have to break the rules by their very nature. A dress code gives them something harmless to push against. . If I were running a school I would try a dress up Thursday and dress down Friday.

Even school uniforms have their place but I do not think they are right for most public schools.

I do not think dress codes or uniforms will have an effect on free thinking. It takes a lot more thinking to work out how to get around a uniform.

The sad state of our public schools has caused me to favor home schooling. Not that what I think matters.

Agree with all else that was said.

 

[capewind]

What I am not understanding is why. I get the impression if something is too 'hard' for people, then forget it or we as parents have to fight for it. I don't think that things were meant to be this difficult - We have become so lazy and arrogant. I remember hearing years and years ago, that generally those that are arrogant have nothing with which to back it up. I have found time and again for that to be true. It is pathetic what we are turning into as a society and unfortunately, we will not realize it until it is too late.

The more helpless we are, the more we need done for us. I see it as a slippery slope into more gov't controll and less free thinking. A couple of books I had to read in highschool, I still think about today. If you never read them, and get bored, check them both out ... Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) and Animal Farm (George Orwell) .. Check out a synopsis online. Wikipedia isnt the best place to read much, but they both have info on these two books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm

 

[Carolyn22]

That seems to be exactly the path we are going down presently. Unfortunately what that leads too is a weakened state mentally and makes it very easy for that to happen.

I have heard of Animal Farm, but not the other. I will definitely take a look at them.

 

[capewind]

Dress codes can go overboard but I see their place. I also feel they have to change over time and be applied with common sense. My HS did not allow jeans and I fail to see where that had any effect on my learning.. I am a firm believer that some kids have to break the rules by their very nature. A dress code gives them something harmless to push against. . If I were running a school I would try a dress up Thursday and dress down Friday.

In the story above, I dont see it as a dress code violation, but a political stance. I have no issues with a formal dress code.

I do not think dress codes or uniforms will have an effect on free thinking. It takes a lot more thinking to work out how to get around a uniform.

Creative thinking I feel is a GOOD thing, but believe in the story above, it was more of a case of a child feeling persecuted.

The sad state of our public schools has caused me to favor home schooling. Not that what I think matters.

We didnt set out to homeschool. I had honestly never heard of it. Our son attended private school through 2nd grade. We had problems with our second child (15 months younger). Severe ADHD (I was the one to have her DX'd at 5 and 7, following up with her neurologist from observations started at age 3, this wasnt a case of a school slapping a title on) ... anyways, the private school agreed to try, and they did try, but had to expell her in "K" after only 5 days ... interviewed the public school ... could have waited another year to enroll her, but decided the social interactions would be good for her ... it became a nightmare ... We had two tricks at home to manage her behaviors ... chewing gum (clearly not an option in school) or what I called figit toys (small erasers shaped like animals) ... First issue was she couldnt sit still for circle time (they kept taking her figit toys away), so had her sitting at a desk in the hallway, unsupervised then it was suspension from the school bus (I used to drive a school bus and told them she needed the Sped Bus, but they refused) ... then it was the could you keep her home from the field trip ... moved her to another school district, which was fantastic, but unless I gave proof to the school that my in laws had custody of her, they couldnt keep her ... so 1st grade, we tried again with the private school, and they did keep her half of that year, but it was difficult for them, and THEY suggested homeschooling. They were wonderful!!! I was nolonger paying them $1000 per month for her, yet they got us going with books, lesson plans and held my hand the rest of that year. The following year, our son wanted to stay home as well, and they still helped me, GIVING me materials for free, and their teachers were available to me when I had questions. I have nothing but wonderful things to say for that school. Anyways, when we started (1999) it was very uncommon, or atleast here. By the time our kids hit middleschool, there were a lot of homeschooling families. We worked together to form groups where the kids had field trips, specialized classes ... One parent taught art classes in the school system prior to having kids, so we borrowed space at the library .. another person, a grandparent to a grown homeschooled student owned a fabric store, and offered sewiing classes ... as a group, we hired a sign language instructor ... all the kids loved that ... and our kids still had the rights to the sports, drama and any elective classes offered in the school districts. I think if the parents are proactive, homeschooling is a wonderful oppurtunity!

 

[HTH]

all the kids loved that ... and our kids still had the rights to the sports, drama and any elective classes offered in the school districts. I think if the parents are proactive, homeschooling is a wonderful oppurtunity!

Our local school district keeps homeschoolers away from all that. I do not feel it is right because we all pay taxes.

 

[capewind]

I dont have the time right now to look up OK laws, but in most states, it is ILLEGAL for the school district to not welcome homeschooled students into ANY indivudial class or extra curricula activity offered by the district. The only thing in MA is homeschoolers are not allowed to take the MCAS, as these tests are meant to measure the value of the education provided by the district. SOME districts find adding the homeschooled students into the normal programs as inconvenient, so back to knowing your rights.

 

[HTH]

I was good friends with the district super at that time. When I suggested that a home school kid should take part in the music program his hair stood up on end. A quick google did now show lead me to the actual law. Not that interested and not about to fight the cause as I have no kids and do not know any at this thime.

 

[Carolyn22]

I was under the impression that the kids that were home schooled received a better education than those children that were not. I remember years ago, when was living in Rochester NY, I worked with a woman that was home schooling both of her children - I believe this was about 1985-87. She told me about what she had to do in order to educate those kids and what type of criteria she had to meet, although I was also under the impression that different lessons learned could feed into multipls subjects -

What I do not know is if the criteria for home schooling back in the mid 80's has changed any - why do I think it has?