What A Sad Commentary This Is

I've just spent some time reading dozens of entries on the AOL message boards written in reaction to the story about the teenage boy who has been suspended from school after taking a phone call from his mother in Iraq. According to the school, it was the student's defiance and refusal to hang up that precipitated their actions. They even claim to be compassionate, stating that the could have had the student arrested, but didn't.

The statements on the message boards that I have read, range from some level-headed comments to inflammatory racist remarks. There are the "rules-are-rules" supporters as well as the those who doubt his mother actually was on the phone with him.

The sad commentary here is that this incident happened at all. Apparently, common sense flew out the window, and the adults involved escalated the situation until the student became understandably upset and "defiant." Expecting him to remain calm and rational in the face of irrational adult behavior is asking a bit too much.

Why is it we create these "zero tolerance" policies that remove consideration for mitigating circumstances? What a chance this school had to do a compassionate and enlightening thing. Instead of escalating the confrontation, what if the teacher had asked the student to move to a more private area to finish his call? What if the school administrators had used this as a way to begin a dialogue in the school about what stresses students are under because they have parents serving in the war? What if everytime a soldier parent called a student, the student reported to his classmates what that experience was like? And what if the entire student body, knowing which students were under this stress, got together to support them?

No. Instead we get a "rules-are-rules" reaction. We kick a student out of school, the very place where he could be getting the social and emotional support he probably needs at this time. How much better if this had been used as a teaching tool - if some sort of "punishment" is still demanded, what about asking the student to do something useful, such as start a support group in the school for students with parents in the military?

This school should reverse the suspension, the student should apologize for cursing at the teacher, and the entire school should spent some time examining exactly what this war is doing to families. Not all learning is solving problems in a textbook - sometimes the lesson is how we treat our fellow humans.