MD schools - dangerous trends?

http://www.gazette.net/stories/03052010 ... _32554.php
It seems that, once again, the school system is all too eager to label the students, imo.
They want to target gangs, & that's a good thing. One way to do that would be to keep separating students who come from the same neighborhoods, I guess.
Montgomery County, MD, State's Atty John McCatrhy says "It's not about locking kids up It's about identification" and getting children into programs to steer them away from gang activity.
My questions -
How do you go about "identifying" the gang member?
What curriculae is being used to guide the student away from gangs?
Is this really a necessary addition to current school curriclum? What courses will be sacrificed to implement this new program? There ARE only so many hours in a school day.
Some of the other things, though, are more disturbing, like when a student is arrested for rape. See, this mentions nothing about convictions, it's about being arrested & labelled. They want the labelled student to be removed from the school the victim attends if he's arrested for rape.
I am not for this. It opens up too much control for false victims, in that they can merely make a claim against someone they don't like, & he will be taken out of school. That very real victim is now stigmatized in the system, without due process. His privacy rights don't even exist anymore, as this false claim comes to light. He & his family are punished without due process. Now, I understand that a school is a very different atmosphere than the world at large, but some things, imho, are absolutes.
What are the costs to the family who must now find transportation to a new school? Who will answer for those possible false claims? Meanwhile, the student is labelled throughout his school years & beyond, by an overzealous system, on an issue that should only be addressed in the courts.
Students aren't stupid. They learn lots of stuff that isn't in the schoolbooks while they attend these learning institutions, like how to manipulate the system to thier own ends.
More of this kind of crap is bound to clutter up an already overcluttered curricullum, & open up avenues to those who would misuse the system to thier own ends at the cost of others, now matter how innocent those others may be.
It seems that, once again, the school system is all too eager to label the students, imo.
They want to target gangs, & that's a good thing. One way to do that would be to keep separating students who come from the same neighborhoods, I guess.
Montgomery County, MD, State's Atty John McCatrhy says "It's not about locking kids up It's about identification" and getting children into programs to steer them away from gang activity.
My questions -
How do you go about "identifying" the gang member?
What curriculae is being used to guide the student away from gangs?
Is this really a necessary addition to current school curriclum? What courses will be sacrificed to implement this new program? There ARE only so many hours in a school day.
Some of the other things, though, are more disturbing, like when a student is arrested for rape. See, this mentions nothing about convictions, it's about being arrested & labelled. They want the labelled student to be removed from the school the victim attends if he's arrested for rape.
I am not for this. It opens up too much control for false victims, in that they can merely make a claim against someone they don't like, & he will be taken out of school. That very real victim is now stigmatized in the system, without due process. His privacy rights don't even exist anymore, as this false claim comes to light. He & his family are punished without due process. Now, I understand that a school is a very different atmosphere than the world at large, but some things, imho, are absolutes.
What are the costs to the family who must now find transportation to a new school? Who will answer for those possible false claims? Meanwhile, the student is labelled throughout his school years & beyond, by an overzealous system, on an issue that should only be addressed in the courts.
Students aren't stupid. They learn lots of stuff that isn't in the schoolbooks while they attend these learning institutions, like how to manipulate the system to thier own ends.
More of this kind of crap is bound to clutter up an already overcluttered curricullum, & open up avenues to those who would misuse the system to thier own ends at the cost of others, now matter how innocent those others may be.