What Homeschoolers Are Missing Out On Lately

[Silent_Bob]

http://www.dailypolicyjournal.com/what-homeschoolers-are-missing-out-on-lately/

I 'unschool' my two kids. And I can't lie, sometimes I wonder what they're missing out on at public school. So I keep my eyes and ears peeled.

Here are just a few things that homeschoolers/unschoolers across the country — like my own kids —  have missed out on recently.

*  In Turner, Oregon, an elementary school perpetrated on the helpless, impressionable young children carelessly left in its custody what can only be described as an act of unmitigated terrorism. To wit:

    TURNER, Ore — Some parents and students in the small town of Turner, near Salem, were upset after a lockdown drill sent kids running for their classrooms in terror Wednesday.

    "I was on the playground and I see everyone screaming, running into their classrooms," said fifth-grader Carter Bourassa.  "I turn around and there is this guy climbing over the fence with a stick."

    Carter said the man was dressed in a hoodie.

    "I thought someone was going to kidnap us or kill us," said Carter.  "I was scared and there was a lot of people crying."

    The kids raced inside to their classrooms. Carter said the man then started banging on the windows.

This is unspeakable insanity. Odds dictate that these kids would have gone their entire lives without ever suffering this type of psychological trauma at the hands of an intruder; without ever being terrorized like this. What the school put these children through was entirely unnecessary, completely insane, and moreover, contrary to its very aim. If someone does now attempt something like this — for real — how many kids will respond apprehensively, wondering if it's just a drill again? I would venture to guess more than if this 'surprise' drill hadn't occurred. Sick, twisted and stupid.

    According to the principal of Turner Elementary School, it was all part of a surprise lockdown drill.  He admits things went too far when a student teacher, acting as the intruder, got too aggressive.

That's when it went too far? It didn't go too far when you staged a surprise terror attack on your own elementary school children in the first place? Only when the terrorist "got too aggressive" while scaring the fucking shit out of the elementary school children?

    Back at the Bourassa house, Carter's mom was making sure he learned a lesson. "Be prepared for the unexpected if necessary," she said.

I would think that the lesson is that you're far more likely to be terrorized by authorities in the name of a threat, than by the threat itself. Guess that's just me.

    The principal sent a letter home to parents after the drill. He said the school has debriefed about the drill and he hopes everyone learned something.

Perhaps in the spirit of "learning" in this manner, residents should stage a "surprise drill" of their own, whereby they simulate the home invasion of the principal's residence. No worries about getting too agressive. They can debrief afterward, send a letter to the principal's parents, and hope everyone learns something.

Meanwhile...

*  In Pennsylvania (my emphasis below):

    AMBRIDGE, Pa. (AP) — Now this is a story all about how a high school student's life got turned upside down. But it was all just a bad rap.

    The teen's voicemail greeting triggered a lockdown at his Pennsylvania school after a receptionist misheard his rendition of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme song.

    While trying to confirm an appointment with 19-year-old Travis Clawson the receptionist thought the message said "shooting people outside of the school." The line is actually "shooting some b-ball," a reference to basketball.

    The receptionist called 911 and Economy police arrested Clawson a short time later at Ambridge Area High School, but released him once he explained the message.

So the school was locked down — who knows what the entrapped students in the building were thinking as they sat unarmed, virtually helpless, awaiting their fate — and the kid was arrested over the misinterpretation of his voicemail by a stranger. All of this under the illusory auspices of "concern for welfare":

    Acting police Chief James Mann says police acted "appropriately" out of concern for students' welfare.

Would that the parents shared this "concern for students' welfare." They wouldn't any longer send their kids to school.

Moving on..

*  Last, but not least, the inimitable Will Grigg details some exciting ongoings over in some Idaho and Arizona schools:

    Schools in Meridian, Idaho went into full "prison mode" after a student who brought a folding shovel to Heritage Middle School in Meridian, Idaho prompted the school's "resource officer" to call for a full lockdown.

    Deputy Chief Tracy Basterrechea told KTVB news that the youngster had been seen "jogging out of the school, then back into the school with what [staff members thought] was an axe." After the "resource officer" called for a lockdown, police arrived "seconds" later, set up a perimeter, and deployed "search teams" to confront the "suspect" – an innocent teen who had brought the shovel to serve as a prop in a classroom presentation. Meanwhile, students at four nearby schools were put into "shelter in place" mode – that is, they were confined to their classrooms until police at Heritage Middle School gave the all-clear.

    All of this occurred, once again, because a junior high school student brought a shovel to school, and none of the purported adults on campus was blessed with the presence of mind to approach the kid and find out what he was doing.  Interestingly, the state stenographers in the local media referred to the farm implement as a "military-style shovel," a cosmetic designation that might someday be seized on by Commissarina Feinstein when she and her comrades seek to deprive the public of any implement that could possibly be used against their tax-feeding overlords.

    The militarization of government schools has reached a point at which a tangible "threat" like a shovel is no longer necessary.  On February 5, three schools in Yuma, Arizona were placed on lockdown as the result of what was later described as a "rumor" of a gun on campus. Officers from two local law enforcement departments and two federal agencies – many of them kitted out in full combat attire – were mobilized for the operation. Following an evacuation each of the school campuses was subjected to a systematic search.  The students were held in custody for more than three hours before being released.

Boy, my kids really are missing out on a lot at public school.

I hope yours are, too.

[Russell Kanning]

Exactly
Most of us never experience violence except at the hands of the government.