"Kenny’s case did not receive much attention from officials because it was not unusual. Her arrest was based on a law against “disturbing school,” a mysterious offense that is routinely levied against South Carolina students. Each year, about 1,200 kids are charged with disturbing school in the state—some for yelling and shoving, others for cursing. (In fact, the girl who was thrown from her desk was charged with disturbing school too, though the public uproar focused on the use of force.) State law makes it a crime to “disturb in any way or in any place the students or teachers of any school” or “to act in an obnoxious manner.” The charge, which has been filed against kids as young as 7, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, is punishable by up to 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine...
When teenagers talk back, scream obscenities, or otherwise behave badly, adults must call them out and hold them accountable. That’s how kids learn. In time, most kids outgrow their delinquent ways. Police and policy makers who defend these laws say they make classrooms safer. But the laws have also been used to punish behavior that few reasonable people would consider criminal. Defiance is a typical part of adolescence, so putting teenagers in jail for swearing or refusing to follow an order is akin to arresting a 2-year-old for having a meltdown at the grocery store. It essentially outlaws the human condition. And the vagueness of the laws means they are inevitably applied unevenly, depending on the moods and biases of the adults enforcing them. In South Carolina, black students like Kenny are nearly four times as likely as their white peers to be charged with disturbing school...
Previously, principals had needed to call the police to make an arrest; by the late ’90s, in many schools, the police were already there. And while they were not technically supposed to get involved in workaday school-discipline issues, the disturbing-school laws rendered all manner of common misbehavior illegal. Some officers worked hard to build relationships with students and resolve problems before they escalated. But most did not have adequate training to manage adolescents, who are wired to proclaim their independence."
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/11/how-america-outlawed-adolescence/501149/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/11/how-america-outlawed-adolescence/501149/
It's not necessarily worth reading the whole thing unless you are super interested in this issue and its policy history, but I'm glad to have the weird dynamic pointed out. Like, I went to a really lenient high school evidently, I would hear from my friends about their high schools - often high-achieving schools in wealthy neighborhoods - where students were allowed very little freedom of movement (hall passes? Only seniors can go off campus and they have to "check out"??) and there was no guarantee of privacy of anything they brought on campus (routine locker searches, backpack checks...).
I used to be irritated at little things at my high school, things I practically don't remember anymore (coming back to me now - stuff like the "no water guns on campus" rule that included those tiny neon squirters. In California. In June.), wondering how they could expect us to become adults who were responsible for themselves and took responsibility for voting and making big decisions, when they kept on indicating to us that we were inherently untrustworthy.
If you spend your adolescence in an oppressive atmosphere, can you really expect to grow into a fully engaged adult?
No comments:
Post a Comment