Klarinet Archive - Posting 001157.txt from 2002/06

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Music vs. drug testing
Date: Sun, 30 Jun 2002 22:40:56 -0400

At 04:29 PM 6/30/2002 -0500, Kevin Callahan wrote:
> > YES! One
> > thing people seem to forget in all this is that these are CHILDREN we are
> > talking about.
>
>Perhaps this is another case of me being onl 18 myself, and only two years
>from when I was in High School, but we're not talking about just children,
>we're talking about young adults. The difference may not seem obvious to
>older adults, but to one such as me, just recently given my majority, the
>difference is a large one and quite blatant. The teen years are ones of
>growing independence. You can't just say "Ok, you're 18, you're an adult."
>It doesn't happen that way. It has to be a transition, or else you'll have
>eighteen year olds that have no respect for anything, because they've been
>treated on par with eight year olds.

OK, and I am the FATHER of a 17 year old. And, to an extent, I agree with
you. We probably differ only in the AMOUNT of independence a teen should
have and WHEN.

> > So-called "rights" are routinely taken from them, and must
> > be for their own protection, most obviously drinking, smoking, and
> > driving.
>
>Driving is, and has been, at 16, but 16 is not the majority. 18 is. Drinking
>is 21, but that's not the majority either. Granted, I agree with you on
>those specific rights, but there are other rights that children and
>teenagers have regardless of age. Their basic human rights. Privacy to a
>degree (and that is what is in debate) is one of them.

There we go again. There IS no right to privacy in the Constitution. And
teenagers, living under their parents' roofs and under their protection
(even from themselves) have even LESS right to privacy.

>I routinely came into
>conflict with my own school administration on this several times. I didn't
>just turn eighteen and suddenly be politically active. No, I've been like
>this for some time. I believe my mother once traced my political awareness
>back to the fifth grade. I agree now that many of those things that I hated
>were necessary, that I was the exception, and that the majority had to be
>protected. In this case, I believe this is not protecting the majority, but
>in fact harming it.

Maybe in a while you will come to see it in the same light as those other
things. Like when YOU have kids of your own.

> > Furthermore, I believe that schools MUST act in loco
> > parentis.
>
>That I disagree with, and I thank the Lord my parents all disagree with it.
>If I ever become a parent, and I'd like to one day, I will never accept that
>the school can act in loco parentis. If the need arises, I would like to be
>called. Now, if *I* determine my child is to be tested, that's one thing,
>but I will not allow the school to make decisions that are mine to make. I
>will protect my child, as I should as a good parent.

See above comment. Parents who agree with you have removed all discipline
from the schools. Thus we have drugs and guns in schools, among other
problems that were unheard of in my day.

> > They have a RESPONSIBILITY to inspect lockers on SCHOOL property
> > for drugs, guns, etc., just as parents should check their childrens'
> > rooms.
>
>To a degree. Lockers are one thing, I never was against that. Backpacks are
>another matter. I find that intrusion without the consent of the student or
>the parent of the student. But comparing drug testing of urine to lockers is
>a gross comparison. The two are not alike. In any way.

When, a couple of years ago, they were inspecting backpacks for guns and
explosives following the incident in Colorado, did you object? You do have
a point, though. The locker is SCHOOL property, the backpack the student's
property. A line COULD be drawn there. But why are you so interested in
protecting your URINE. I presume were planning to eliminate it anyway.

> > In return for the right to get an education, the students should be
> > expected to shoulder the responsibility to behave themselves.
>
>"If you expect thieves in the night, that is what you will get," Nicholas
>Seafort, Commandant UNNS Academy.
>
>If you treat students like criminals, they will be criminals.

I think you are putting the cart before the horse. The criminal behavior
is happening. The schools are struggling to find a response, with their
hands tied behind their backs.

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.net
451 Old Orchard Drive
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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