Town Square
"War on Kids" documentary
Original post made by Paulette, Val Vista, on Aug 6, 2010
Comments (2)
a resident of Val Vista
on Aug 6, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Here is a description of the film that I lifted off of Wikipedia on Facebook. It tells the story better than I can.
Description
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The film was written, produced and directed by Cevin Soling.
The film is now available on DVD.
Summary
The War on Kids is a 2009 documentary film about the American school system. The film takes a look at public school education in America and concludes that schools are not only failing to educate, but are increasingly authoritarian institutions more akin to prisons that are eroding the foundations of American democracy. Students are robbed of basic freedoms primarily due to irrational fears; they are searched, arbitrarily punished and force-fed dangerous pharmaceutical drugs. The educational mission of the public school system has been reduced from one of learning and preparation for adult citizenship to one of control and contain.
Film Content
The film begins by studying the Zero Tolerance policies in public schools in the 1990s, which were designed to eradicate drugs and weapons at schools. By arbitrary application of this policy via unchecked authority, soon nail clippers, key chains, and aspirin were considered dangerous and violation of the rules. This policy, combined with Columbine-inspired fear, has resulted in kindergartners being suspended for using pointed fingers as guns in games of cops and robbers; students being suspended for having Midol and Alka-Seltzer; this policy has turned schools into Kafka-esque nightmares, absurd and demoralizing. Increasingly, issues once dealt with by the guidance counselor or a trip to the principal’s office, are now handled by
Students are denied basic constitutional rights. They can be searched., drug-tested, forced to incriminate themselves and capriciously punished. Surveillance cameras, locker searches, metal detectors are shown to be common place. Courts routinely uphold the school’s right to do whatever they choose, creating an atmosphere of fear and loathing, anger and despair. The physical structure of these institution are themselves oppressive, resembling prisons in many ways, yet even more dreary.
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a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 10, 2010 at 4:34 pm
I would have like to have gone, but I'm reading this too late. I was disgusted when I read that a middle school student was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen.
Adults are morons. I feel sorry for children.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former middle-school student who was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain medication won a partial victory of her Supreme Court appeal Thursday in a case testing the discretion of officials to ensure classroom safety.
Savana Redding was 13 when administrators suspected that she was carrying banned drugs.
No medication was found, and she later sued.
The justices concluded that the search was unreasonable but that individual school administrators could not be sued.
The larger issue of whether a campus setting traditionally gives schools greater authority over students suspected of illegal activity than police are allowed was not addressed fully by the divided court.
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