This article is extremely biased and poorly written. I'd prefer to read something coherent with a more neutral tone vs an angry one. Sucks for the 13 year old - a felony charge seems extreme.
>This article is extremely biased and poorly written.
To me it seems to represent the voice of reason (which, in this case should respond with incredulity and anger to the BS existence first, felony nature second, and application of law to a 13 year old, third -- and by a school official nonetheless).
I'd take something with an angrier tone, like an appeal to fire the school principle and ban him from teaching for life.
You know, my first thought on seeing you use "principle" was to correct the spelling. I was taught to remember that one based on the mnemonic "the principal is your pal", but that seems as far away from the truth as possible at the moment.
I agree with banning for life. This is absolutely insane. I really hope this case is just to point out how insane this actually is, but man.. That poor kid.
Haha exactly. There's no balance here because the charges are outstandingly moronic. We can't seek balance in all things. Some things are just idiotic.
It was an awfully written blog post, which I mistook as an article.
I agree with the ridiculous assertion, given that I’m to be ashamed and the top reply to my comment includes the line “I'd take something with an angrier tone, like an appeal to fire the school principle and ban him from teaching for life.”
An angry rant is the only reasonable response to this asinine situation. It's the most civil reasonable option, since it doesn't include a call for violence.
Why? There aren't 2 sides to every issue. What possible justification are you imagining for charging a 13 year old with a felony for recording a conversation with his school principals?
In cases that are so obviously appalling, like this one, covering the issue with an obvious slant contributes nothing. In today's outrage-saturated world it may even turn people away from reading your piece. State the facts (in an interesting/informative way) and let the reader fill in the blanks with their own opinion. This is how good writing works!
And unfortunately they’re using a 13-yo for their chess pieces. I have to believe there’s better existing cases which can be appealed to test this law.
I always found the prevalence of law enforcement and criminal law within US schools odd in and of itself.
Where I grew up, you'd get detention/expelled, in the US you get charged with a crime and an actual police officer will put handcuffs on little kids, little kids will go to court, and get a criminal record until 21.
The whole criminal justice system in the US is incredibly unusual from the perspective of an outsider.
For example, you literally put innocent people into a situation where they need to plead guilty for a shorter time in jail or to save money. Such as traffic courts where the ticket is less than the "court costs" (if you fight it). Or a plea deal of time served (Vs. spending longer in jail awaiting trial).
And the gutting of public school funding by Democrats and Republicans undermine any consideration of what is “right” or moral or healthy. School districts are discarding teaching degree requirements to meet spending goals all over the US. Of course kids are going to feel alienated. They absolutely are. And of course they will act accordingly. And now they will go to jail for it.
The only solution here is voting for politicians who do not accept corporate donations. Vote another way and you are consenting to this behavior.
I've never heard of a single Democrat for cutting public school funding in my lifetime. That's a far right talking point driven entirely under Republican doctrine since Reagan. The Republican party stopped being a sane party once Reagan came in. Democrats haven't had a spine or a heartbeat since Carter lost by being honest.
We do definitely agree on getting corporate and lobbying dollars out of government. I honestly can't believe that this is legal in a democracy and not illegal in the Constitution.
The prevalence of law enforcement in schools in recent decades is a troubling practice. Pranks, misbehavior and disruptions that were once handled in school with detention or other discipline are now referred to law enforcement where the system is absolutely not designed to teach or rehabilitate, but rather to punish.
I remember students getting into fights and being sent to detention or in-school suspension together and afterwards things being fine, now schools are calling the police and students are being put in jail, sometimes never to return to school.
This is what happens when the criminals are in charge and get to write the laws.
No, that's not anti-American hyperbole. It's just Illinois history.
The law was created by crooked politicians to protect crooked cops, politicians, and their cronies.
Corruption is a way of life in Illinois, and especially Chicago. It's ingrained in the system. There are dozens and dozens of books about it, and the reason that so many of last century's major journalists came out of Chicago.
Whenever I hear people from New York or Los Angeles or pretty much any other American city moan about their politicians being corrupt, I laugh to myself and think, "amateurs."
When they say "prison" what does that mean in the case of a minor? Do they even have prisons for minors?
Anyways, I can't see him ever being convicted of this...but I hope the ACLU or somebody will help him get decent legal representation...this could go pretty high on appeal eventually.
Yes, they have prison for minors. Quick search shows over 70k in juvenile detention at last count. Juvenile detention is just prison for kids, looks no different than adult prison to me.
There are prisons and there are jails and detention centers. I've been to jail more than once and jail is essentially 3-square-meals-a-day with library and exercise yard access and otherwise a softcore joke that just wastes your time. Prison means you could easily die, get raped, get beat up regularly, and has little in the way of fun and games. They are very different situations, at least that's what I was told by some of the people I met in jail who had been to actual prison.
I seriously doubt they put kids in places similar to adult prison. If they do, the USA is just another shithole 3rd world country.............
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[ 0.24 ms ] story [ 58.4 ms ] threadTo me it seems to represent the voice of reason (which, in this case should respond with incredulity and anger to the BS existence first, felony nature second, and application of law to a 13 year old, third -- and by a school official nonetheless).
I'd take something with an angrier tone, like an appeal to fire the school principle and ban him from teaching for life.
I agree with banning for life. This is absolutely insane. I really hope this case is just to point out how insane this actually is, but man.. That poor kid.
I agree with the ridiculous assertion, given that I’m to be ashamed and the top reply to my comment includes the line “I'd take something with an angrier tone, like an appeal to fire the school principle and ban him from teaching for life.”
It talkes a lot of us, working together for a long period of time to approach neutrality.
Today, on this short, for profit, news cycle, we have to use a lot of sources to get diverse bias and some reasonable grasp on scenarios.
Even after the IL state govt made it finally legal to record a conversation with other public officials (like cops)?
So much for public transparency with local tax dollars that go to schools.
Good article.
Where I grew up, you'd get detention/expelled, in the US you get charged with a crime and an actual police officer will put handcuffs on little kids, little kids will go to court, and get a criminal record until 21.
The whole criminal justice system in the US is incredibly unusual from the perspective of an outsider.
For example, you literally put innocent people into a situation where they need to plead guilty for a shorter time in jail or to save money. Such as traffic courts where the ticket is less than the "court costs" (if you fight it). Or a plea deal of time served (Vs. spending longer in jail awaiting trial).
And the gutting of public school funding by Democrats and Republicans undermine any consideration of what is “right” or moral or healthy. School districts are discarding teaching degree requirements to meet spending goals all over the US. Of course kids are going to feel alienated. They absolutely are. And of course they will act accordingly. And now they will go to jail for it.
The only solution here is voting for politicians who do not accept corporate donations. Vote another way and you are consenting to this behavior.
I've never heard of a single Democrat for cutting public school funding in my lifetime. That's a far right talking point driven entirely under Republican doctrine since Reagan. The Republican party stopped being a sane party once Reagan came in. Democrats haven't had a spine or a heartbeat since Carter lost by being honest.
We do definitely agree on getting corporate and lobbying dollars out of government. I honestly can't believe that this is legal in a democracy and not illegal in the Constitution.
I remember students getting into fights and being sent to detention or in-school suspension together and afterwards things being fine, now schools are calling the police and students are being put in jail, sometimes never to return to school.
the puighead law looks more like the 40-thieves these days...
cost disease...
the fight goes on...
No, that's not anti-American hyperbole. It's just Illinois history.
The law was created by crooked politicians to protect crooked cops, politicians, and their cronies.
Corruption is a way of life in Illinois, and especially Chicago. It's ingrained in the system. There are dozens and dozens of books about it, and the reason that so many of last century's major journalists came out of Chicago.
Whenever I hear people from New York or Los Angeles or pretty much any other American city moan about their politicians being corrupt, I laugh to myself and think, "amateurs."
Anyways, I can't see him ever being convicted of this...but I hope the ACLU or somebody will help him get decent legal representation...this could go pretty high on appeal eventually.
Juvenile Detention ('juvie') looks pretty unpleasant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_detention_center
I seriously doubt they put kids in places similar to adult prison. If they do, the USA is just another shithole 3rd world country.............