These kids were middle school students. Wow.
So what do you think? If they had been caught having sex at school, would expulsion be an appropriate punishment? Is it appropriate for doing so in a hotel room on a field trip?
Update: Via Newsalert we learn about these middle schoolers participating in oral sex in class. Again, wow.
I especially appreciated how the parents seem to blame the teachers and volunteer chaperone's for the act. I think the penalties are mild considering the nature of the activity. As for the sub who was fired, I assume, when students basically shielded the couple from view, that really speaks to the lack of innocence on the part of the kids involved. I think that a police investigation for the distribution and promotion of what amounts to underage porn should be initiated and that the people who placed the video online should be prosecuted. I predicted that camera phones would become just another annoying source of indecent behavior and I was right.
ReplyDeleteI think sex during school or school activities should only be punishable when it affects other students' abilities to learn. I also think that the punishment should be in line with the standard punishment for classroom disruption not the extreme punishment of expulsion. In the first case I think it should be the parent's jobs to discipline the students against what they feel was wrong; it just isn't the school business to be involved in imparting social values through the expulsions. In the updated case, it's clear that the students caused a disruption and should be rightfully punished, but the school shouldn't go as far as expelling any of them. I feel the only reason this is viewed as something that can be so punishable is our society's strong views on sexuality, not on the basis that it actually affects anyone's ability to learn during school. The fact that the act was recorded means the person who recorded it should also be punished, but I doubt bringing a middle school student up on criminal charges of creating child pornography reflects in any way why those laws were written.
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