Schools are prisons
Nov. 30th, 2011 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyPerhaps some of you have seen this story on BoingBoing already: A 5-year-old boy with probable ADHD was handcuffed and charged with battery on an officer after he threw a temper tantrum in class. The officer touched him non-consensually (we teachers, except in unusual circumstances to protect a child or when working with developmentally delayed children, are not generally advised or permitted to make any sort of physical contact with children. Though I sometimes fist-bump or high-five them because that cannot possibly be mistaken for anything other than a fist-bump or high-five.). According to the fascist pig who arrested this little boy, the child only reacted violently after the officer put a hand on him.
You get no internet points for guessing the skin colour of the victim.
Lest you think that this is an unusual occurrence, I must point out that the militarization of public schools is a growing phenomenon. In New York City, the NYPD had 5,055 school safety agents (SSAs) and 191 armed police officers in public schools, comprising the fifth largest police force in the U.S., outnumbering the police forces of Washington D.C., Detroit, Boston or Las Vegas.
Here in Toronto, the TDSB is for some reason hazy about how many armed men with guns are patrolling its hallways. In 2009-10, there were 36, representing around 35% of secondary schools. Cops use this access to students to build criminal cases. I have heard anecdotal reports that students have been charged when, before there was a police presence in schools, they would simply have been disciplined by the school's administration.
You know, someone has to fill those superjails that Harper is building.
As for the little boy whose rights were so egregiously violated, I will be stunned if either the school or the cop faces any sort of repercussions. The BoingBoing commentariat mainly had their heads on straight, but if you go to the original article, you will see that many people in America welcome fascism and don't believe that five is too young to give 'em the chair.
You get no internet points for guessing the skin colour of the victim.
Lest you think that this is an unusual occurrence, I must point out that the militarization of public schools is a growing phenomenon. In New York City, the NYPD had 5,055 school safety agents (SSAs) and 191 armed police officers in public schools, comprising the fifth largest police force in the U.S., outnumbering the police forces of Washington D.C., Detroit, Boston or Las Vegas.
Here in Toronto, the TDSB is for some reason hazy about how many armed men with guns are patrolling its hallways. In 2009-10, there were 36, representing around 35% of secondary schools. Cops use this access to students to build criminal cases. I have heard anecdotal reports that students have been charged when, before there was a police presence in schools, they would simply have been disciplined by the school's administration.
You know, someone has to fill those superjails that Harper is building.
As for the little boy whose rights were so egregiously violated, I will be stunned if either the school or the cop faces any sort of repercussions. The BoingBoing commentariat mainly had their heads on straight, but if you go to the original article, you will see that many people in America welcome fascism and don't believe that five is too young to give 'em the chair.
