Thursday, February 09, 2006
Simple explanation: They are all insane.
For anyone reading this who is thinking I'm about to discus The Great Global Cartoon Kerfuffle™, you are either going to be greatly disappointed or (more likely) even more greatly relieved.
No, I am indeed going to put a few words to electronic paper regarding the sad case of Berthena Dorinvil - or more accurately, her 6-year old, first-grade son who was suspended from Brockton's Downey Elementary School for sexual harassment.
Yes folks, this is precisely what it has come to in 2006 - first-graders can be accused of sexual harassment if they dare to "touch other kids' bodies". All I can say is that I'm certainly glad I lived in a, dare I say, less enlightened time.
But back to the case of Ms. Dorinvil's would-be pervert. If you've not heard by now, here's the long-and-short: little "Johnny" (for lack of a real name) was suspended from his Brockton elementary school for three days last week (and marched out of school by school police in disgrace) after officials said he put two fingers inside a girl's waistband, touching her skin, during a class. He was subsequently referred to the police (as if the police in Brockton have nothing else to do) and the Bristol County District Attorney (who, I can only hope, likely fell-over dead from laughter).
When we were kids, this behavior may have been called teasing. Now, it's a felony. I'm sure that, to someone, this is progress.
Ya think, Professor? Where does one sign-up to take courses to be able to come up with that kind of astute observation?
This would seem to make little "Johnny" a rather normal 6-year old boy. Cannot have any of them in this post-modern, hyper-feminist world, can we.
As an aside, if you want to read an anecdote about some real sexual harassment and an outrageously inappropriate (in the opposite direction) response by local officials, read Margery Egan's column in today's Herald.
Sadly however, it seems that the folks in Brockton think they handled the situation of the great elastic wasteband caper "by the book" - whatever that means. What I think is much simpler than that: everyone involved in this case on the school's side - the teacher and aide in the classroom, the school principal, the school superintendent, and the entire school administration - are all certifiably insane.
No, I am indeed going to put a few words to electronic paper regarding the sad case of Berthena Dorinvil - or more accurately, her 6-year old, first-grade son who was suspended from Brockton's Downey Elementary School for sexual harassment.
"When you send your kids to school, as a parent you need to teach them what is proper, what is not proper," the 27-year-old homemaker (Brockton parent Leona McNair) said Tuesday. "You don't touch other kids' bodies."
Yes folks, this is precisely what it has come to in 2006 - first-graders can be accused of sexual harassment if they dare to "touch other kids' bodies". All I can say is that I'm certainly glad I lived in a, dare I say, less enlightened time.
But back to the case of Ms. Dorinvil's would-be pervert. If you've not heard by now, here's the long-and-short: little "Johnny" (for lack of a real name) was suspended from his Brockton elementary school for three days last week (and marched out of school by school police in disgrace) after officials said he put two fingers inside a girl's waistband, touching her skin, during a class. He was subsequently referred to the police (as if the police in Brockton have nothing else to do) and the Bristol County District Attorney (who, I can only hope, likely fell-over dead from laughter).
When we were kids, this behavior may have been called teasing. Now, it's a felony. I'm sure that, to someone, this is progress.
The case sparked debate among parents, educators, psychologists and lawmakers over whether a child that age is capable of sexual harassment.
"It can happen in the sense that a 6-year-old child is capable of saying to himself, 'She doesn't like it when I touch her, so I think I'll bother her,' " said Elizabeth Englander, a Bridgewater State College psychologist and author of "Understanding Violence."
Ya think, Professor? Where does one sign-up to take courses to be able to come up with that kind of astute observation?
In the Brockton case, Berthena Dorinvil, the boy's mother, said he does not know what sexual harassment is and in the wake of the Downey school's action, she wants him transferred to another school.
This would seem to make little "Johnny" a rather normal 6-year old boy. Cannot have any of them in this post-modern, hyper-feminist world, can we.
As an aside, if you want to read an anecdote about some real sexual harassment and an outrageously inappropriate (in the opposite direction) response by local officials, read Margery Egan's column in today's Herald.
Sadly however, it seems that the folks in Brockton think they handled the situation of the great elastic wasteband caper "by the book" - whatever that means. What I think is much simpler than that: everyone involved in this case on the school's side - the teacher and aide in the classroom, the school principal, the school superintendent, and the entire school administration - are all certifiably insane.
# posted by Doc J @ 9:46 AM 
