School Days, Fool Days

It’s happening again. In Ft. Myers, Florida, a high school senior and National Merit Scholar was arrested, spent time in jail, has been suspended from school and will miss graduation — because a kitchen knife was found on the floor of her car. This is declared to be a violation of "zero tolerance" policy barring possession of "weapons" on school grounds.

According to the student, the knife was inadvertently left in the car after she moved some household items over the weekend. The circumstances and the character of the student support that explanation.

We must live under the rule of law, but the application of law must be tempered and guided by intelligence, which appears as absent in Ft. Myers as in dozens of other similar incidents around the country in recent months.

It is not evident in this case or others that the adults involved — including school officials and the police — have even the slightest inkling of why our youth are alienated from the adult world, some going over the edge with catastrophic results.

Effective education and effective discipline require respect, for the intellect, the judgment and the principles of the adults involved. For these morons, no respect has been earned, either by the students under their care or by the adults among us who must daily ask what has gone wrong with public education and too often find our answer in the people we put in charge.

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