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Zero Tolernace, Take II
Friday, April 4th, 2008Eight-year-old boy suspended for sniffing a Sharpie. Sad little quote from the boy:
“It smelled good,” Harris said. “They told me that’s wrong.”
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“We’ve purged every permanent marker there is in this building,” he said.
this is so ripe to be ridiculed… now some kid needs to chew on his pencil- the threat of ‘lead poisoning’ would lead these idiots to purge all the pencils from the building!
Radley,
Not as sad as the principal’s reaction at the end of the story, after he was informed by the Rocky Mountain Poison Control Center that it’s impossible to get high off a marker.
I guess the anti-drug folks aren’t going to be happy until we’re back to using pens and quills in the schools. Principal Benisch sounds like any number of officials I’ve met who went into public education because they weren’t useful enough to get a job anywhere else.
Marty,
Of course, Benisch would probably bite on that, even if people pointed out to him that pencils are made with graphite and not lead.
Would he have been suspended for sniffing Mr. Sketch markers?
So they’ve purged all the permanent markers from the building. Ok, what about the dry-erase markers? Those have a more volatile scent than Sharpie permanents.
And chalk… my god, what will we do with the chalk!?!
We could go back to slates, but then the kids would just crack each other over the heads with them. Maybe all we can do is re-introduce the wax tablet and stylus.
Then again… a stylus can be pretty dangerous, too.
Oh, fuck it. Damn kids don’t need to learn how to write. They can txt msg thr way thru life.
I used to sniff red sharpies like it was my job. Those red markers, loved it, smelled like cherries. If I owned markers now, I would probably sniff them.
It’s a good thing that kid didn’t have Advil.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned that they should ban paste.
That stuff is some good eatin’.
The principal from this story and the police sergeant from yesterday’s post aren’t fit to shine my shoes. Seriously. Put them on the street selling pencils where they belong.
Right, Danno! And what about rubber cement? That made for good sniffin’ and I used to love gluing my fingers together with it.
Lordy Lordy Lordy. I guess they’ll come up with round, blunt crayons that have no taste or smell and reduce carbon emissions.
The way we mollycoddle these kids will only hurt them and society in the future. Of course, my parents probably said that about my generation, and to some extent it has held true.
Besides, everyone knows Sharpies suck when it comes to smell. Now, the old Marks-a-lot in the metal cartridges, THATS some serious smelling! And mimeograph fluid! Made tests go oh, so much easier….
It took me about two minutes to find the principal’s email address and send him an email with a link to the story and an explanation of what an idiot he is.
I encourage everyone to do the same. These people need to know they are a pox on humanity.
And school administrators wonder why students don’t respect them or trust their authority? I certainly remember that girl that ate paste in my first grade class…she was banned from using paste, but she was not suspended or was paste banned from the school. These are children for crying out loud, do they not get to experiment and test the boundaries of their world like any rational living organism?
Last I checked, the kid was 8 years old! All the principal had to do was explain to him that what he was doing was dangerous (even if the medical opinion later proved he can’t get high off of the smell). Why not explain something to an 8 year-old and take it away instead of suspending him for doing something he didn’t know was wrong to begin with?
Nathan, do please share the text of your message to serve as inspiration.
Thanks
Eathan shyly shook his head “no” when a reporter asked if he knew about “huffing.”
He does now.
These are children for crying out loud, do they not get to experiment and test the boundaries of their world like any rational living organism?
Not anymore. They’re there to have their self esteem raised while simultaneously learning to defer to authority on all things, and to take standardized tests.
Bronwyn,
I was going to bring up the Mr. Sketch markers. The cinnamon ones were awesome.
The reason that kids aren’t learning is that they are being taught by people like this.
Maybe what we should do is just completely ban everyone from attending public schools.
Bronwyn
Oh hell yeah! I’m getting a head rush just thinking about it. Perhaps time to raid the office supply cabinet? If there are Mr. Sketch markers there as well, my weekend is set!
AV
Don’t you mean:
The reason that kids isn’t learning is that they are being taught by people like this.
?
“And in that time, smelling that marker, I felt like, ‘Wow, that’s a very serious marker.’”
Just out of curiosity, what’s a “very serious marker” smell like? And do administrators have to attend a seminar on marker scents?
“Our next example is a Expo Dry Erase marker, chisel tip. Now, if you take a REALLY deep breath and get past the overwhelming solvent-like aroma up front, you’ll pick up notes of anise and stone fruit, and even hints of pine resin and citrus. Generally it’s the resiny, grapefruit-like aroma that lets you know you’re dealing with a serious marker. Harmless markers tend to have more of an earthy, herbal, even hay-like quality to them.”
Bronwyn,
Ask and ye shall receive:
—
Benisch stands by his decision to suspend Harris, saying it sends a clear message about substance abuse.
“This is really, really, seriously dangerous,” Benisch said.
In his letter suspending the child, Benisch wrote that smelling the marker fumes could cause the boy to “become intoxicated.”
A toxicologist with the Rocky Mountain Poison Control Center says that claim is nearly impossible.
Dr. Eric Lavonas says non-toxic markers like Sharpies, while pungent-smelling, cannot be used to get high.
“I don’t know whether it would be possible for a real overachiever to figure out a way to get high off them,” Lavonas said. “But in regular use, it’s just not something that’s going to happen.”
Later:
Adams County School District 50 leaders were unfazed by the poison control center’s medical opinion.
“Principals make hundreds of decisions everyday based on our best judgment. And in that time, smelling that marker, I felt like, ‘Wow, that’s a very serious marker,’” Benisch said.
Despite the medical evidence, Benisch promised to draw an even clearer line on markers.
“We’ve purged every permanent marker there is in this building,” he said.
Who needs scientific fact when you have feelings? If that really is your best judgment, I suggest you resign immediately and take up a job requiring less of your kind of judgment. Maybe as a video-store clerk, or busboy, or pack mule. You sir, are a goddamn idiot and should not be in any position of power, let alone one where innocent minds are subjected to you.
—
The first thing in the email was a link to the article. Short and sweet and to the point.
[...] Quote of the Day Robert S. Porter | Uncategorized | Friday, April 4th, 2008 Oh, fuck it. Damn kids don’t need to learn how to write. They can txt msg thr way thru life. [TheAgitator.com] [...]
I guess building model airplanes is no longer in vogue these days. The glue I used for that was some pretty good stuff…a little for the airplane, a little for me *sniff*…probably explained why my efforts looked like crap during my early model-building years (before I noticed the warning label on the glue)
Nathan,
You should have also sent him this authoritative study indicating the many benefits of huffing for adolescents and teens.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29311
Isn’t the idea that 8-year-old kids don’t know how to behave part of the concept of school? You know, to teach them what to do? What’s next, suspending students for giving false answers to math questions?
So the principal was sniffing the marker too? Shouldn’t the school board fire him for drug abuse? It sends a message to the children.
Shouldn’t school officials have the DEA knock down their doors and beat them for making drugs available to kids?
I swear, idiocy like this from people that not only are considered to be “intelligent” but have positions of power over harmless innocent children makes me want to beat these morons to within an inch of their life in the hopes that I can knock some goddam sense into them.
Pretty sad state of affairs when an 8 year old has a calm, measured response to the idiotic knee-jerk overreactions of the adult dolts that indoctrinate them on a daily basis.
Sheesh…he wasn’t even smelling the (harmless) marker. He was smelling his shirt where he had drawn with the marker.
I was one of those kids that thought “getting high” was bad. I thought underage drinking was bad. (Yes, I eventually changed my mind…;) I know I smelled markers, white out, rubber cement, etc…not to get high, but to smell them. They smelled…interesting, if not exactly good.
Yeah, this worked out. A kid does something harmless, ends up out of school for 3 days and embarrassed and stressed. Makes PERFECT sense!
To save y’all from finding the principal’s email address, here it is
Principal Benisch
cbenisch@adams50.org
And here is the board of education:
Vicky Marshall -Board President
vmarshall@adams50.org
Marge Rinaldi VP
mrinaldi@adams50.org
More on their website. Please be at least a little respectful, hard as it is.
Some folks like water
Some folks like wine
But I like the smell
Of straight turpentine.
(no apologies to the Sonics)
That, and markers, and gasoline, were my favorite smells. Still are.
Boy, if I was a kid in school today, they’d have me on so many drugs…Ritalin would be the *least* of it.
Could a principal or other school administrator survive long if he or she demonstrated common sense? I get the sense that some of the most insane behavior is in response to pressure from parents.
Thanks a million, SJE. I have sent the following revision of my upthread comment to all three parties (and I must say, it felt awfully good, even without the expletives!)…
I have some questions for you.
Would Eathan Harris have been suspended for sniffing Mr. Sketch markers which, like the Sharpie, are non-toxic but even more pleasant to smell?
You say you’ve purged all the permanent markers from the building, but did you consider the dry-erase markers? Those have a more volatile scent than Sharpie permanents.
And chalk… my god, what will you do with the chalk? Chalk can be ground and snorted… surely this poses an unreasonable temptation and creates imminent danger.
Perhaps you could issue slates to your students, but then the kids may weaponize them and cut or crack each other over the head with them. Maybe the best you can do is re-introduce the wax tablet and stylus.
Then again… a stylus can be pretty dangerous, too.
Have you any concept of the ridiculous extent to which your brand of idiocy can lead, and how far down that road you’ve already traveled? As educators you should be in the business of teaching children how to pursue logical thought and rational inquiry, and you could best do this by setting the example.
In this, you have failed in spectacular fashion. Not only have you failed, but you have likely ruined a little boy’s confidence in himself and his educators, killed his sense of curiosity, and heaven only knows what lasting effects this scar on his record will have on his future pursuits.
Shame on you.
Bronwyn Ramey-Hartung, PhD
Louisville, KY
May as well leave my name intact, since I’m so easy to find anyway.
It’s hard to be nice to people when they are idiots who think they are doing the right thing. Do most adults collectively loose their memory when they get into positions such as this and not remember the dumb things they did as kids.
Good lord, how in the world has our species survived this long?
Bronwyn,
Good job. I find it rather difficult to be quite so eloquent when dealing with such blinding stupidity.
Well thank you, but I can only do it with the benefit of a keyboard and that miracle of technology, the Delete button.
Face to face, I can be a disaster when I get my knickers in a knot. Total incoherence O_o
I joined the bandwagon of those contacting this principal. However, in the spirit of “catching more flies with honey” I tried to be as respectful and reasonable as I could:
Dear Mr. Benisch:
I am sure that you’ve already heard plenty regarding http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=89333 , and much of it not very polite or respectful to you.
We all make mistakes, and at this point, it seems clear that your overreaction to Eathan’s sniffing a Sharpie was one. It won’t be your first, or your last, just like the rest of us, I’m sure.
However, in the face of medical information that fumes from non-toxic markers are harmless, it sounds like you persisted in punishing this young man, and treating his exploration of his environment as a dangerous, evil thing.
I think that teaching young people that those in authority are free to refuse to acknowledge their errors, and inflict punishment on others simply to justify their own mistakes is far more dangerous than smelling even the most “serious” marker.
I hope that you will reconsider your handling of this situation and apologize to the young man. You could be teaching a valuable lesson in humility to one of our future leaders.
Very truly yours,
William H. Everman
Aston, PA
Bravo, Bill!
…or to put it more to the point, Bill, you could have added: “And don’t forget, young Master Eathan and those of his generation are likely going to be the ones charged with changing your bedpan and bringing your foodtray 20 years from now.” If that’s not motivation to treat today’s youth with a little more respect, I don’t know what would be.
That’s nothing. An English nursery school suspended a THREE-YEAR-OLD because of his HAIRCUT!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/7331184.stm
“The reason that kids aren’t learning is that they are being taught by people like this.”
You’d better think about that again. They’re learning, alright. The question is what they’re learning.
http://www.two–four.net/weblog.php?id=P3690
That link is on its way to Benisch and Co.
“However, in the spirit of ‘catching more flies with honey’ I tried to be as respectful and reasonable as I could…”
Nonsense.
“The Hun is either at your feet or at your throat.”
(Winston Churchill)
That asshole didn’t reason himself into that position in the first place, and you’re not going to reason him out of it. Contempt is the only reasonable thing here.
That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
Billy, I understand where you’re coming from. I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, and said very much the same thing, just with less colorful language. The problem is, screaming at the top of your lungs at people like this isn’t going to change anything. He’s not going to change his mind, or his conduct, based on people yelling at him. It might make you feel better to vent, but feeling better isn’t the point.
I don’t even mind folks expressing their outrage as http://www.two–four.net/weblog.php?id=P3690 ; it just illustrates my point that this guy screwed up, and, frankly, it’s a good read!
But my HOPE is that there is some intelligence there which got him into a leadership role in the first place, even if it was just the intelligence to game the system, and that it might be worthwhile to appeal to that.
When it comes to actually effecting change, we need to either engage people like this in dialogue, or line ‘em up and shoot them. I’m choosing the former for as long as it’s practicable
Good point, Wayne, ’cause there’s not much worse than swapping bedpan for food tray.
“He’s not going to change his mind,…”
I’m not concerned with him, Bill. That shitbag is dismissed.
I want reasonable people to know what they’re looking at, in him, in unmistakable terms.
He’d have to have a mind before he could change it. Even if he could be educated on this issue, his next decision will be equally stupid, and the one after that, and so on until the school board wakes up and fires him.
School administrators nowadays seem to be drawn from a pool of people too stupid to even meet the remarkably low requirements for a teaching certificate.
Eight-Year-Old Sniffs Marker: All Hell Breaks Loose…
Zero Tolerance has struck again: eight-year-old Eathan Harris was recently suspended for the dastardly crime of realizing that Sharpie markers smelled sort of neat.
“It smelled good,” Harris said. “They told me that’s wrong…….
Billy, it sounds like we’re on the same side, just aiming at different targets. Not a problem.
That said, I have to endorse your point that the schools do indeed teach a dangerous lesson in how power and authority work. I believe that they serve as a recruiting ground which often moves bullies into teaching and police work, since they’ve seen that similar personalities can often operate in those arenas with impunity. They teach too many of the others that “you can’t fight city hall.”
Mark, I think you’re painting with too broad a brush. Often, it’s not stupidity that’s the problem but a culture that rewards (ridiculous) caution, conformity and paternalism. If only the problem were mere stupidity, I’d be a lot happier; then we could perhaps trust the school board, which is often part of the same culture, to fire him if he continued to make bad choices.
That’s the problem with public school ‘educators’ and administrators: They’re stupid. Thank the National Education Association, they’re a Union, not some benevolent non-partisan non-profit organization, for the ignorance so prevalent in public education that is so over funded with our tax dollars.
I am impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
The ostensible purpose of the public schools is to educate children. For once, they succeeded, in educating a kid, but not the lesson they intended.
This kid learned that government employees and Authority Figures are generally stupid and never to be trusted.
They might as well supsend him now; I’d say that’s the most valuable lesson he’ll learn at that school this year.
#8. Not fit to shine my shoes? Hell, they’re not fit to mop semen from the floor of a peep show arcade booth. Don’t set them selling pencils, they’ll poke their eyes out.
And the parents of this kid are demonstrably wimps. Had that been my kid, there would have been notices of claim served the next day. One on the school board, and one on the personal assets of the child molester masquerading as an elementary school principal.
I sent off my response to Mr Benisch and CC’d the other two:
Dear Mr Benisch,
While I neither live in your school district nor Colorado in general, I feel it is my duty as an American to write a note to you about your decision to suspend Eathan Harris for sniffing a marker. You are teaching a very dangerous lesson now that it has been reported that the marker was non-toxic.
As the principal of your school you are teaching the children that people in positions of authority are not to be trusted correct errors in judgement. There is no reason to teach this lesson, and every reason to teach the right lesson: when a mistake is made, it is rectified. This is the response of an adult.
There is no reason to bring up drug issues with this incident. The child did not even know what ‘huffing’ is. Now, for sure, he does. You did not take the time to determine that Eathan was only exploring his environment. You’ve now taught him to think about drugs, be afraid to explore his environment and to distrust authority figures.
I hope the next time your contract comes up for review, the BoE will reconsider your employment.
Sincerely,
Ben Harris
Woodstock, Ct.