Indoctrination into the Police State

Ja'eisha Scott, a student at Fairmount Park Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Fla., threw a violent tanturm in her classroom (video). She was taken to the assistant principal's office where the tantrum continued (video). No matter how sternly Ja'eisha was told that her actions were "not acceptable," or how her rude behavior was making the teacher "sad," she wouldn't calm down.

So, the police were called. Five-year-old Ja'eisha was escorted from the school in handcuffs.

The video clips of this spoiled brat and her incompetent teachers do not inspire confidence in our so-called "education" system. I'm sure almost everyone who watches the videos will feel a longing to return to the good ol' days when teachers took charge and children respected authority. But what concerns me is that some would actually praise the decision to summon the gendarmes.

Sure, a violent child needs to be restrained, but was it really necessary to call the cops to slap on handcuffs? Grab the kid's arms and hold her until she calms down. Stick her in an empty room by herself where she can't break anything or hit anyone. In the video, Ja'eisha climbs up onto a desk and her teacher--apparently in an effort to save the girl's life--picks her up and sets her gently on the floor. Why could the teacher get away with using physical contact in that situation, yet have no justification to do so when the kid is hitting people and trashing classrooms?

I believe the implications are more serious than most of us care to admit. David Yeagley indentifies one of the main underlying problems in his article "Cuffing the Kids." Recalling other incidents involving the apprehension of young children, he asks:

Why is this series of arrests taking place? Because of the permissive atmosphere engendered by the ACLU, the NEA, and child advocate organizations. All of these have so inhibited the basic disciplines necessary in child training that to survive and yet avoid a lawsuit, schoolteachers and administrators have no choice but to call the police. The leftists have designed these very circumstances, and yet they are the first to express outrage when the police arrive. Handcuffs all 'round seems to be the Left's version of "No child left behind."

The real tragedy is that, despite all the evidence, we fail to see the kind of society we are becoming. Examples like this should, at the very least, cause people to seriously reconsider sending their children to a government-run indoctrination center.

Yeagley concludes:

The police state is strong in Florida elementary schools--and this means children are getting used to it. As they carry their police records into adulthood, they will think nothing of the constant presence of police and law enforcement. They will have been conditioned to the hand of Big Brother violently intruding in the lives of even the youngest citizens.

Our children are indeed being conditioned to view the state as the ultimate authority in every aspect of their lives. But that's what happens when God is no longer the focus of our attention. If anything, this entire incident is an indictment of our willingness as a nation to let the atheist state raise our children.

"I Want YOU to Support My War!"

The latest pro-war propaganda posters, obviously designed to guilt people into supporting the "war on terror," can be found here.

I think the government is getting desperate.

Fighting a Lost Cause in Our Schools

Do students have the right of free speech in school? Smart aleck students and the ACLU think so:

Free Speech Battle Brewing over Students' Anatomical Buttons

WINONA, Minn. - High school students here are being admonished for wearing buttons inspired by the sometimes raunchy off-Broadway hit "The Vagina Monologues" and have been threatened with expulsion if they wear risque T-shirts inspired by the show.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota is offering to help students fight any consequences in what's become a battle between free speech and school conduct policies.

The trouble started last month when student Carrie Rethlefsen saw Eve Ensler's play about female sexuality and sexual violence against women, which led the teen and fellow student Emily Nixon, 17, to start wearing "I (heart) My Vagina" buttons.

Despite the threats of serious punishment, Rethlefsen has continued to wear her button to raise awareness about women's issues. As a show of support, more than 100 students have ordered T-shirts bearing "I (heart) My Vagina" for girls and "I Support Your Vagina" for boys. ...

The typical conservative response, of course, has been to criticize these idiot kids and drone on about the good ol' days when students knew their place and respected authority. Unfortunately, that kind of reaction misses the point entirely.

For decades, we have drilled into the heads of children that they have a right to a public education. Allowing the state to usurp the authority of parents, we now have a system of government-run indoctrination camps funded entirely by John Q. Public--whether he actually has kids in school or not.

What else can we expect? These kids--stupid and disrespectful as they may be--have developed an entitlement mentality. They are acting precisely as anyone would expect spoiled brats to act.

Rather than get bent out of shape over the kinds of shirts and buttons they are wearing to class, why not focus on the root cause of the problem? Nothing will change until government schools are a thing of the past.