Raising criminals

By Jeffrey R. DeRego
HippoPress.com

To which institution does the following description apply?

Metal detectors, drug sniffing dogs, identification badges displayed at all times, chaperones for trips to the toilet, video camera's capturing every move on tape for later review, and uniformed guards to make sure everyone complies.

A. An airport
B. A state or federal prison
C. Londonderry high school
D. All of the Above

If you chose "D" then you chose correctly.

Londonderry High School has suffered through five bomb threats since September 21st, and the knee-jerk reaction to this has been a declaration of "lock down" status designed to insure the safety of all students.

Lock down, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term is used by maximum security prisons to describe the conditions of said prison following a riot. This means that prisoners cannot leave their cells, congregate in the prison yard, or receive visitors. Prisoners in a lock down situation cannot enjoy any of the benefits of modern prison life such as stamping license plates, lifting weights, and appealing their sentences.

But we aren't talking about prison. We are talking about a high school where children go to learn English literature, and Civics.

Have we devolved to such a point that we can no longer trust any of our children? Why stop with the high school? Logically, the students who placed the bomb threats learned such skills in earlier grades. Why not "lock down" all grade levels?

Why do parents and administrators across the country feel that universal punishment of teenagers increases school security? Since when has prison provided a suitable model for anything other than the administration of other prisons? How can Londonderry be so short sighted as to impose such universal sanctions against the very people they are paid to serve?

Is anyone else angry about this yet?

With cancellation of all extracurricular activities, functions, and athletic events, administrators have eviscerated the very foundation that makes a student community function! The message presented by these measures is not, "we are concerned for your safety." No, the message is, "you cannot be trusted."

To add further insult, all "on premises" activities have been canceled, but not those occurring off campus. Why should the security of the students be less anywhere else? Why not simply cancel all activities whether on campus or off? It stands to reason that the supposed threat of domestic terrorism is no less in the surrounding schools than at Londonderry High School.

This illustrates that the Londonderry High School administration wants to protect their own gluteus maximus not the students of Londonderry High.

Here's a thought; why not let the students decide policy? After all it is their school.

Empowerment is the buzzword of the week. How does punishing all Londonderry high school students become an exercise in empowerment? Treating students as prisoners does nothing more than encourage them to be prisoners. As the world has recently demonstrated in such stalwart bastions of authoritarianism such as Belgrade, human beings will not stand for totalitarianism indefinitely. Authoritarianism breeds revolution.

Here is my suggestion for the students of Londonderry High. When the time comes, and you walk up to the metal detectors and security guards for the first time, simply smile, extend your middle finger, and go home. Explain to your parents why you did it, and encourage them to call the principal for further clarification of the policy. Refuse to return to school until the administration acknowledges your humanity and removes these new "features" of your daily life. Encourage your friends to do the same.

Remember, you have the numbers.

Enlist your parents to help. They, above all other people, should realize that you are a human being and deserve to be treated with the same dignity as other humans. Explain that constantly worrying about an archaic rule structure does not make it easier for you to learn. Ask your parents how they would feel if their bosses took these measures at their workplace.

Here is my suggestion to the parents. Pull your children from Londonderry High School, and refuse to pay another goddamn dime in property tax until the security measures are removed. After all, you paid for them at the expense of your child's education, you should be within your rights to demand a refund.

The Constitution of the United States gives all people the right to peaceably assemble, and protects them from such measures as illegal search and seizure. I suggest all the students of Londonderry arm themselves with this document, then take the battle to the administration.

If all else fails call the American Civil Liberties Union and sue.

Schools should be a place where more than simple knowledge is dispensed to the tabula rasa. It is a place where our young people learn how to get along in society as a whole.

Last time I checked we didn't live in prison.

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