May 7, 2012

Dumb and Dumber?

Zero Tolerance (ZT) policies almost always lead to some disaster or another. Experience should have demonstrated that by now, but some school districts are slow learners. Nobody loves a ZT policy with the exception of some apparently clueless school administrators.

Nobody loves a lawsuit happy lawyer either, and when said lawyer mounts a high horse in defense of his cheating son, there will probably be no winners. The old Curmudgeon spins a fine analysis of this sordid tale of incompetence, ignorance and ineptitude. It should come as no surprise that this story originates from The Golden State.

“No one wins here. The school looks bad for developing a frankly rather dumb, inflexible, and apparently poorly written policy; the district has to divert funds from its educational programs to defend a lawsuit against the likes of Berghouse, who appears to be everything that is worst about lawyers and parents rolled into one smug little package. The boy is punished not merely by having such a pain in the ass for a father, but may, because of the publicity this case generates (I’m happy to help, by the way), actually be more likely to be turned down by his chosen university.

More importantly, however, the entire American education system suffers, as schools across the country increasingly take note of the perils of enforcing standards—whether they be for scholarship, integrity, whatever. And that portends a bleaker future for all of us.”

###

1 Comments:

Old NFO said...

Yep, something tells me he WILL get his just deserts in the future :-)