Student Arrested for Writing Essay

mcgrew writes "The Chicago Tribune reports that an eighteen year old straight-A High School student was arrested for writing an essay that 'disturbed' his teacher. Even though no threats were made to a specific person, 18 year-old Allen Lee's English teacher convened a panel to discuss the work. As a result of that discussion, the police were called in. 'The youth's father said his son was not suspended or expelled but was forced to attend classes elsewhere for now. Today, Cary-Grove students rallied behind the arrested teen by organizing a petition drive to let him back in their school. They posted on walls quotes from the English teacher in which she had encouraged students to express their emotions through writing.'"

Comments

Well there you go...

[ellem]

On the off chance the kid is a nut job I guess you need to check him out. I'm not sure you need to arrest him....

Re:Well there you go...

[icepick72]

The USA is becoming a state of fear, evidenced by such happenings. Fear causes the reactions to become more and more inappropriate. I really don't know whose fault it is or where it will end. The country that promotes freedom is losing it fast but it's hard to see from the inside. I assume at some point in the next 50 years the word "freedom" will have been completely redefined but it will have happened so slower that nobody knows.

Re:Well there you go...

[drinkypoo]

Of course how many of these "depressed kids" [myself included in that instant] are just bored and looking for attention, I wonder.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I was disruptive because I was bored and looking for attention.

I was depressed because I was bullied, because you are not permitted to be an individual in school.

And when I was kicked out of a school for finally getting in an actual fight and winning, instead of just being casually punched and kicked, or having things stolen from me, or having my bicycle destroyed in the mandatory-use bike rack, I was depressed because it was proof that the system was not there to educate me - I was an inconvenience to them and they were working to eliminate me.

Kids who aren't depressed by school are the ones with something wrong with them.

Re:Well there you go...

[tomstdenis]

I was similarly an outsider in school. While I generally "got along" with people in the sense we were polite, I was often the target of jokes, and other shit. Mostly because I didn't subscribe to pop culture to the same degree, I didn't wear expensive nike shoes, or really dig GnR (any 8 year old who claims to get it is lying anyways), etc...

Of course I was also fairly well occupied outside of school. I was in Air Cadets, went out with the few friends I had, played music, and was a general all around PC hacker.

I think the trick to surviving school is to think, as I did, that school is a small part of your life and 1 second after you grad from high school it's all over anyways. It's been 7 years since I left school and I have yet to meet any of them again, even though I still live in the same town.

It's the kids who put too much stock into their station in school life that get wicked depressed when they're not part of the cool clique.

Tom

Re:Well there you go...

[JudgeFurious]

I think that's just a universal truth. I'm over twenty years out of high school and I could have written some or all of both the preceeding posts. I cam to the same conclusion too. I am still in touch with one person from my graduating class and could locate maybe 5 of them. It's the most trivial four years you'll of your life and the only problem is that at the time it's taking place you can't see it.

Re:Well there you go...

[tomstdenis]

Yup. Though I think college is a bit diff. While there still are "cliques" usually they only exist in the "popular" students who usually flush out by 2nd or 3rd year anyways. I still keep in touch with a couple of college buddies but mostly because we ended up with the same tastes in games/movies/beer.

Of course it doesn't help that the media hypes up the existence of the school life. "So then like brittany totally dated john, but john was like totally into jane, but ..." WHO GIVES A SHIT?

Admittedly, what little of american schools I've seen they're different from us cannuck schools. More emphasis on being the "captain of the sports team" and all that jazz. While we have sports here, and amongst the sports fans there are popular folk and all that shit, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. We don't have packed stadiums to watch 14 year olds toss a football around, etc.

Tom

Re:Well there you go...

[c6gunner]

Yeah, because things have gotten SO much worse since the 1940's, when all Japanese Americans were locked up for no real reason.

Or since the 1800's, when the sheriff was whoever had the biggest gun, and the law was whatever he said it was.

Or in the early 1700's, when the Brits owned and controlled everything, slavery was status quo, and a whole race of people was considered to be sub-human, and treated accordingly.

Yep, things have really gone downhill in the US. With this sort of track-record, who knows what could happen next!

Re:Well there you go...

[MyDixieWrecked]

I was a senior in high school during the 1999 Columbine shootings.

Several months before columbine, there was a shooting at some other school and the kid only injured a couple people (I think he killed like 3 and injured like 6) and I called the kid a pussy and if I had done that, I could kill at least 20, assuming I have enough ammo. Saying that prompted some friends of mine to elaborate on my strategy, which I did, and about a month later, the Columbine shooting happened and the next day (or maybe a couple days later) I was greeted in my 1st period class by a pair of policemen who escorted me to the station to talk to a detective.

As I waited while the detective went through my backpack and removed my notebook, he commented on the fact that I was wearing a trenchcoat and he asked me what kind of music I liked and what videogames I played. At the time, I was an avid Quake player and was hooked on KMFDM (and at this meeting, I was wearing a Maralyn Manson shirt). He flipped through my notebook, and saw dozens of drawings of spattered fluids, severed hands and heads, and sketches of bullet casings. It was just what I was into drawing at the time. I go through phases and had he looked at notebooks the month before, he would have seen lots of rope and barbed wire and stitches and electronics sketches.

this whole thing prompted a full investigation into me, I had to see a therapist for a couple days before they let me back in school, every little scrap of paper that they found that was the least bit violent, they questioned me about... I was frequently pulled out of classes (most often, my calculus class; which I wound up failing due to the frequent interruptions) and every little thing I wrote was studied. It really fucked me up and, although I'm not prone to violence at all, it was really pissing me off and I had to hold back to keep from throwing something at my principal.

it was completely stupid that they did that and it really was for absolutely nothing. I understand that if i was caught discussing that stuff and then I DID shoot up the school, if they did nothing about it, there would be serious problems, but at the same time, it was total bullshit. There's no reason to do that to someone just because they wrote a violent story. Look at all the published authors out there. Look at books like Fight Club and American Psycho (now, major motion pictures!). If someone writes that kind of thing for class, they risk expulsion or at the very least, some serious investigation. If someone writes that whilst trying to sell a book, they stand to make some nice money for themselves.

This fear of terrorism and violence and shootings in today's society is really stifling creativity. Literature will be hurt (due to young people being forcibly held back from writing what they want). Violence in movies is moving to a very stylized look, which although not all bad, I really like gore movies with realistic violence (ichi the killer, battle royal, etc). Even videogames are becoming targets and game studios are threatened with lawsuits just because some whackjob killed someone and happened to own a copy of their game. A man obsessed with John Lennon goes out and kills John Lennon. Who's to blame? The guy's psychosis or John Lennon's music? Why not the music? People blame videogames just as readily. A man obsessed with nascar is dragracing and kills 5 pedestrians in the process... why doesn't anyone sue Nascar?

Re:Well there you go...

[drinkypoo]

I think if kids were reminded more about life after school they probably would level out and the prima donna cool cliques would get a clue.

I don't think it works that way for the same reason that little kids cry when they drop their ice cream cone. Nothing truly bad has ever happened to them. By the same token, school is [ostensibly] the most important thing you've ever done as a child. Your parents make a bigger deal out of it than almost anything else. And it's the most influential social scene they've ever been a part of.

School is simply presented as the most important thing in their lives. If it isn't, we should stop treating it that way. If it is, then maybe WE should take OUR roles (as citizens, parents, educators, whatever we are) in education more seriously. We should actually work to stop the bullying, and I don't care if the bullies are athletes or not (but the schools certainly do.) We should treat children like humans, not like animals. They have needs and desires and hopes and fears like the rest of us and to dismiss them is to do them a great disservice.

Re:The arresting officers

[Anonymous Coward]

So you're advocating a zero-tolerance policy towards the enforcers of ridiculous zero-tolerance policies? That's pretty recursive, don't you think?

The Essay?

[arth1]

I've been following this case for a couple of days now, but can't seem to find anyone who has posted the essay anywhere. So I appeal to the /.ers -- anyone know of a copy?

Without seeing the essay in question, we can't know whether there were substantiable threats being made, or whether this clearly is a free speech issue. From all accounts, it appear to be the latter, but I would like to have all doubts removed.

Re:The Essay?

[bryce1012]

A link to another article, with an (admittedly short) excerpt, and a picture of the student (which, sadly, may shed some more light on the issue):

http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=306398

Re:The Essay?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because of what he wrote? If we start locking up and examining every person for what they write, we will be in a sad society. I have written some pretty "disturbing" things in my life, but I have never had anyone question my sanity. Some of my pieces have even been published, where not just a few school administrators saw them, but at a minimum tens of thousands of people read them.

I distinctly remember a poem I wrote, where I described in first person the sensation and thoughts of a person committing suicide by jumping. Even my own mother looked at me like I was nuts, and we all joked about how someone might say something, but nothing came of it. People never questioned my motivation or the writing. You know there is this quote attributed to Sigmund Freud, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

I hope the criminal charges against him get dismissed and that he returns to school to complete his senior year. It seems pretty obvious to me that there is a great potential that the decision they made was both racial and reactionary. Neither of which are right.

Re:The Essay?

[_bug_]

That being said, this kid sounds like a fuckin nut job.

Excellent knee-jerk reaction for someone having absolutely no context for the writing.

If you made judgement on the writing alone, all of 4chan would be in jail. Look, the kid could have written it specifically to see how the teacher would react, he could have written it to explore things that disturb him in a manner that is safe, he could have been writing it as a joke, or perhaps he wrote it specifically to be disturbing and to invoke that feeling in the reader. Isn't part of art (whether it's writing, painting, sculpture, whatever) to invoke emotion in the reader/viewer?

Your kind of reaction, done with very limited information on the situation, is a perfect example of what's wrong in the world. This need for immediate gratification, in this case by passing judgement so you can now move on to the next topic and not bother with this again.

It's just silly.

Re:The Essay?

[bitslinger_42]

Sounds like a nut job? To me, he sounds like a teen following the directions of the assignment and trying to determine where the limits lie. While not as well executed, Lee's essay has elements that are similar to sections of T.S. Elliot's The Wasteland, the drug advocacy of Alan Ginsberg, the poetry of Sylvia Plath. Literature is filled with dead people we now refer to as artists and legends who became thus because they explored the dark edges of humanity. Oedipus Rex is all about incest and patricide, the works of Shakespeare are filled with violence, sex, and death. So, take this background, a bright student, and an assignment that instructs the students not to censor themselves, and just what did you expect to come out? No poets get recognized for writing about happy puppies and cute kittens.

Add to that, the only text from the essay I've seen has been excerpted out of context. If I just give you this text "And ate the fellow, raw.", what would you think the poem was about? Perhaps a bit from Silence of the Lambs? A quote from Penthouse Letters? A story about eating octopus? Nope. That's from Emily Dickinson's "In the garden". Context is key to meaning.

Should the teacher have done something? Probably. Should someone have talked with Lee to find out if he really had violent tendencies? Sure. Should they have charged the kid with a crime for following, perhaps to the logical extreme, the explicit instructions on the assignment? Definitely not.

Disorderly conduct?

[eln]

FTA:
Disorderly conduct, which carries a penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine, is filed for pranks such as pulling a fire alarm or dialing 911. But it can also apply when someone's writings can disturb an individual, Delelio said

If this is true, then the disorderly conduct statute should be declared unconstitutional. If writing something that could disturb any random individual (without directly threatening that individual) is an arrestable offense, then the very idea of free speech is pretty much out the window. After all, if the First Amendment isn't there to protect possibly disturbing speech, what is it there for?

Re:Disorderly conduct?

[SQLGuru]

Wasn't it the teacher who incited the disorder? The student turn in homework expecting it to remain visible to the teacher only. However, she shared it with others which sparked a heated debate. The action that lead to the disorder was not the writing of the paper but the sharing of the paper. I propose that the TEACHER be arrested for the charges.

Layne

It was all a misunderstanding

[vivaoporto]

It was all a misunderstanding. The student was clearly using the new Speech to Text feature on Windows Vista. Below is the quote that disturbed the teacher:

Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Why do their grades matter

[nate nice]

The story points to them being a "straight A student". What does this have to do with anything? Are they implying that a persons GPA is an indicator of their abilities to shoot others at school?

Just what was the point of that?

Racist Reaction?

[bill_mcgonigle]

On the off chance the kid is a nut job I guess you need to check him out

Allen Lee - is that like Stan Lee or Bruce Lee? Just wondering if we have a teacher running in fear of young asian men.

Better article

[scottennis]

(Northwest Herald) CARY, Ill. In addition to telling his teacher she could inspire the first shooting at Cary-Grove High School, Allen Lee also wrote about stabbing, drug use and a dream about a shooting spree in an essay for his English class, records show.

But Lee said Thursday night that the excerpts were taken out of context in an assignment that explicitly instructed students not to judge or censor their writing.

Lee said a friend planned to distribute the complete essay and assignment to Cary-Grove students today to provide context to a story that has gained national attention.

"It's not the full [essay], or with the assignment," Lee said of a criminal complaint in which prosecutors charged him with disorderly conduct Thursday. "People are already judging this without seeing the assignment. ... None of it was meant to be threatening or harmful to anyone."

Louis Bianchi, McHenry County state's attorney, said Thursday he would prosecute Lee on the misdemeanor charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine.

"I think the teacher did the appropriate thing," Bianchi said. "Now, it's going to be brought to the attention of the courts."

Cary Police arrested Lee, 18, near his home Tuesday morning on disorderly conduct charges after Cary-Grove Principal Susan Popp called police.

Lee, who plans to enter boot camp for the Marines in October, said teacher Nora Capron told the class to write about whatever they wanted.

A copy of the assignment obtained Thursday night included the following guidelines for a "free writing" exercise:

"Write nonstop for a set period of time."

"Do not make corrections as you write."

"Keep writing, even if you have to write something like, 'I don't know what to write.' "

"Write whatever comes into your mind."

"Do not judge or censor what you are writing."

The assignment included additional guidelines such as, "If your free writing is neat and coherent, you probably haven't loosened up enough."

The Lee family met with representatives of High School District 155 Thursday to discuss potential disciplinary measures, said Dane Loizzo, whose law firm is representing Lee.

"We're attempting to get Allen back into the school with his friends and peers as quickly and judiciously as possible," said Loizzo, of the Woodstock-based Law Offices of Loizzo and Loizzo.

Messages left with district Superintendent Jill Hawk and district spokesman Jeff Puma were not immediately returned Thursday night.

Criminal Charges
School officials allege that in an essay for his ninth-period English class on Monday, Lee wrote about a dream where he went into a building, started shooting people with guns, had sex with the dead bodies. He then retracted it saying, "but it would be funny if I did."

A person can be charged with disorderly conduct if their actions are alarming or disturbing to others.

The district responded to another threat made last week at Crystal Lake Central High School. About half the students at Central stayed home Friday and police presence at the school was increased after threatening graffiti was found on a bathroom wall. The graffiti was determined to be a prank, officials have said.

Capron read Lee's essay Monday night and called her department chair, who then spoke with Cary-Grove Principal Susan Popp.

Popp called police and signed the disorderly conduct complaint shortly afterward, prosecutors said, and Lee was arrested Tuesday morning.

Attorney Thomas Loizzo said the student complied with the assignment.

"How is the student supposed to know where the line is between creativity and censorship?" he said. "The assignment didn't specify that if you wrote something that the teacher thought would be offensive, that you could then be prosecuted criminally."

Attorney Dane Loizzo agreed.

Its Not Censorship, its Thoughtcrime

[Lil'wombat]

According to a Chicago Tribune Article today, the assignment directions were to write stream of consciousness and to not judge or filter your writing.

Seems to me this was a smart kid playing games with a stupid touchy feely assignment for a blow-off class his senior year.

Should the kid have been referred to a counselor? Sure.

Should the kids parents been contacted? Absolutely.

Arrested because his thoughts are disturbing? No.

Knee-jerk reaction to Virginia Tech

[MMaestro]

Face it, this is happening simply because of Virginia Tech. Schools have become (more) paranoid of students so ANYONE that writes an essay, a story, a letter, draws a picture, makes a movie, makes a comment that could possibly lead to violence down the line will get you picked up by the authorities. I don't like it personally, but thats what happening.

My friend had a similar situation happen to him after the Columbine High School shooting. He made up a death-list and talked about it to friends and other students in school PRIOR to Columbine. After Columbine, he was picked up by the school administrators and police and spent several days in consoling until they decided that he wasn't serious.

Re:Knee-jerk reaction to Virginia Tech

[Chosen Reject]

From the article:

However, Virginia Tech's actions toward Cho came under heavy scrutiny after the killings because of the "disturbing" plays and essays teachers say he had written for classes.

Finally, games are out of the lime light just like rap, rock and roll, movies and comic books used to be. The new evil ill in our society will be plays and essays. I can't wait for them to go after Andrew Lloyd Weber. That guy is dangerous.

Re:Knee-jerk reaction to Virginia Tech

[Rei]

Hey, have you ever gotten a paper cut? Know how much that hurts? Now, that just takes perhaps an inch of paper edge. An 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper has 39 times that much paper-cut potential. In a ten page essay, you're looking at almost 400 times the amount of pain that could be inflicted. Then, what if he figures out a way to make multiple cuts with the same section of paper edge? We're talking lethality potential.

I'm really scared for the future of our country when kids these days are walking around with essays. I hear that Mexicans go around with them all the time, too.

Don't even get me started on pens. We'd be safter if kids brought swords to class instead.

Re:Knee-jerk reaction to Virginia Tech

[hoggoth]

> The new evil ill in our society will be plays and essays

Yeah, I read this one that had witchcraft, rape, incest, slavery, prostitution, murder, cannibalism, ethnic cleansing, baby killing, and strange religious cults.
It was called the Bible.

Re:Knee-jerk reaction to Virginia Tech

[jacksonj04]

In some parts of the US, it's also known as "Science Textbook".

Re:Knee-jerk reaction to Virginia Tech

[Anonymous Coward]

So when God sent an angel to wipe out the first born of every Egyptian, or commanded the Hebrews to commit ethnic cleansing on Canaanites in order to occupy their land, that wasn't an endorsement? May I ask, then, what is?

Let me guess: whatever commands or actions by God that happen to be convenient to use for proselytizing. We can safely ignore the rest and chalk it up to "intrepretation."

When my angel goes in front of you, and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods, or worship them, or follow their practices, but you shall utterly demolish them and break their pillars in pieces (Exodus 23.23-24).

When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you -- the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites...and when Yahweh your God gives them over to you...you must utterly destroy them...Show them no mercy...For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7.1-11; see also 9.1-5; 11.8-9, 23, 31-32).

But as for the towns of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive. You shall annihilate them--the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites--just as Yahweh your God has commanded, so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against Yahweh your God (Deuteronomy 20.16-18).

Three different passages, from two different books, and and the same message from the mouth of God commanding the death of every man, woman, and child. Let me guess: it's taken "out of context," right? Or perhaps the message has been adulterated through man--in which case, what standard of measure do you have to claim any other aspect of the Bible hasn't been also.

I know: whatever happens to be convenient to believe.

Crazy Writing + Young Asian male... OH BOY

[SixFactor]

...Let the stereotyping begin.

Seriously though, thanks for the article.

It's fine for teachers to be vigilant and all following the VT massacre, but the principal and his/her underlings could have at least spoken to the kid about the essay (if you can call it that) to get the straight story.

And herein lies one of those traps that these "educators" can set up for themselves: a free-form assignment, unfettered by structure, unrestricted in content, heck, turn it in on toilet paper if you want, combine that with the ethnicity of the writer, and it gets used as evidence of a threat and an arrest.

The arrest is a clear case of going overboard. If this does not get corrected, well I guess we've found a new way of wrecking a young man's future.

Full disclosure: I are an Asian male... not young tho.

Sigh

[HungWeiLo]

In the mid-80's, I wrote a short story about a group of terrorist who seized a building and ended up killing many people in their quest.

Not only did I not get into trouble, I was rewarded with an excerpt reading in class and a free trip to a gifted writers' workshop where I won awards and accolades.

If I did that today, I'd be sent away pretty quickly, I'd imagine.

"Student arrested for not believing in God"

[DodgeRules]

Disorderly conduct, which carries a penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine, is filed for pranks such as pulling a fire alarm or dialing 911. But it can also apply when someone's writings can disturb an individual, Delelio said.

So if a student writes an essay about there being no God, and the teacher is heavy into his/her religion and is disturbed by the essay, then according to the law, the teacher can have the student arrested for disorderly conduct?

Freedom? What freedom?

[wurp]

The US as far as I know has never been a free country. Certainly it hasn't in the last 70 years.

Why can the government tell me who or how many people I can marry?
Why can the government tell me what plants I can grow?
Why can the government tell me what substances I can own?
Why can the government tell me how (or if) I should dress?
Why can the government tell two consenting adults what they can do together, or whether they can charge one another for it?
Why can the government tell me what countries I can visit?

I don't know of anywhere that I would really call free, and I am thankful for the freedoms I have. I am also watchful of the freedoms that are guaranteed to me but seem to be slipping. But I would love to see someplace that was really free.

Another 'offtopic' moderation coming my way, I'm sure...

Re:Overreactions

[computational super]

I wonder what was in the essay that made the teacher go bonkers.

Ah, but you're missing the point of censorship - you see, once something has been censored, nobody can see it. If we could see it, we'd have to use our own common sense and judgment to determine if it was actually harmful or not. That's not only hard work, it might even lead to the wrong conclusions - you may end up disagreeing with the Powerful Ones as to whether or not it needed to be censored. Plus, children might see it! As anybody who's never spent any actual time with an actual child knows, children have minds more fragile than Tiffany glass which can be irreparably, irreversibly destroyed by the slightest immoral thought at any time.

Rational subjective judgment and censorship can't coexist; we have to throw one out. Clearly, censorship is the lesser of the two evils.

Re:The arresting officers

[EatHam]

ohferchrissake, don't mod me insightful, I didn't either. And if the essay were there, I wouldn't have read that either.

Re:The arresting officers

[Odin_Tiger]

Writing something disturbing is enough to cost you your right to own a gun? Wow...I sure hope Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino aren't avid hunters.

Re:What is "disorderly conduct"?

[moeinvt]

>Also, doesn't the US have a constitution which makes freedom of expression an absolute right?
>>Yes, but that does not exempt you from the consequences of exercising that right.

That's ridiculous! It's obviously not a "Right" if the government can throw you in prison for exercising it!

Standards

[BenEnglishAtHome]

I work for a very large federal agency and I occasionally teach sexual harassment refresher courses for my employer. I volunteer for this duty because I am one of the few people I know who will openly admit that I've been placed formally on warning for sexual harassment. I use my experience to illustrate the change in standards.

25 years ago, when my agency first started paying attention to the topic, the standard was "reasonableness." If a sexual advance or reference would not be found to be a problem by a reasonable person, then it wasn't punished. If *any* activity was found to be a problem by *any* person and that person made such known, then no reasonable person would repeat the activity. See what I'm getting at?

Do something outrageous; get punished.

Do something questionable and no one complains; nothing happens.

Do something questionable and someone lets you know they have a problem with it; now you know that it is unreasonable to repeat that action because someone finds it objectionable.

The bottom line was that everyone got one mistake. If you did something stupid, you could be told so and as long as you didn't do it again, you were OK. That standard worked fine.

I was placed formally on warning for sexual harassment when I stepped into an elevator with two women, one a secretary and one a high-powered exec. I said hello and the exec said "How are you today?" I answered "Lessee, I'm about to get off work on a beautiful Friday afternoon and in the meantime I'm locked in a small room with two beautiful women. How could I be any better?"

The exec put me on warning. The secretary was shocked that anyone could take offense. I got away with it because under a standard of reasonableness, I could not be expected to anticipate the reaction of the exec and could therefore not be held accountable. However, I now understood her rather low standard for getting offended and it would be unreasonable for me to violate it in the future; thus, if I were to make another such witty remark to that exec, I would be suspended or fired. I stopped speaking to her and everything worked out fine. The "reasonableness" criteria was a good one and quite workable.

Nowadays, the standard has changed. I stress to my classes that my very first comment in that elevator would have resulted in severe disciplinary action under our new standard where sexual harassment is now defined, essentially, as anything the victim decides to characterize as sexual harassment. My classes find the example sobering, as well they should.

Re:The arresting officers

[Red Flayer]

Yes... the point is to cause a stack-overflow and crash the governmental system.

This police action disservices literature.

[HellYeahAutomaton]

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Jack Kerouac

Re:Freedom? What freedom?

[Anonymous Coward]

They're only "straw men" in your mind, and because you don't like them. Had you bothered to look closely, you'd realize that his points are quite valid, albeit intentionally absurd. But they most certainly relate to your points, which are also valid, and only slightly less absurd.

Freedom as you describe it cannot exist in concert with civilization as we know it. That is not because of your points, but because of the ease with which the freedoms you pontificate about are extended to their extreme.

And please do not even attempt to say it wouldn't happen.

Re:Freedom? What freedom?

[thomas.galvin]

Why can the government tell me how (or if) I should dress?

This is why

Re:The arresting officers

['nother poster]

It. Have "it" removed. Remember, you need to dehumanize the enemy to make it easier for the panicy masses destroy them.

The essay, in its entirety

[dtolman]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-07042 6student-essay,1,6366371.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Blood sex and Booze. Drugs Drugs Drugs are fun. Stab, Stab, Stab, S...t...a...b..., poke. "So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone..., then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did." Umm, yeah, what to wright about...... I'm leaving to join the Marines and I really don't give a (obscenity) about my academics, so why does the only class that's complete Bull Shit, happen to be the only required class...enough said. The model citizen would stay around to vote in new board member to change the 4 years of English policy, but no one really stays around to vote for that kind of local crap, so whoever gets there name on the Ballet with a pretty face gets to do what the (obscenity) ever they want with local ordinance. A person is smart, but people are dumb selfish animals. We can't make rules for ourselves so we vote others to do it for us, but we can't even do that right, I meen seriously, Bush for President? And our other option was John Kerry who claimed to parktake in Vietnam Special Forces missions that haven't been declassified....(obscenity) Bull Shit. So Power Flower Super Mario. Pudge, hook, rot, dismember "Fresh Meat." Mostly new/young teachers are laid back, and cooperative with students as feedback and input into the curriculum and atmosphere. My current English teacher is a control freak intent on setting a gap between herself and her students like a 63 year old white male fortune 500 company CEO, and a illegal immigrant. If CG was a private catholic school, I could understand, but wtf is her problem. And baking brownies and rice crispies does not make up for it, way to try and justify yourself as a good teacher while underhandedly looking for complements on your cooking. No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.

Authors Note: This production of writing is done in the most accurate manner I can depict of the original writing. Grammar and spelling mistakes are included at the best accuracy possible. The first phrase in questions is in fact a Green Day song. The second reference to drugs is in relation to the schools history of drug problems. I am personally clean of all controlled substances. The statement in quotes is done so as a non personal statement as I would have done in reference to a character for a story. The reference to the gun P90 is from a video game, combined with a reference to necrophilia as a comment regarding a seriously messed up situation. A situation such as the rape of villagers during a raid by U.S. troops in Vietnam. I really do not care too much about by continuing academia as in relation to grades. I do however believe on continuing my personal education, and I am actually still working for my classes. My views on the graduation requirements explain themselves. The reference to Mario and Pudge( a DOTA character) are completely random as is this essay. The reference to a person being smart and people being dumb is based on a quote from "Men in Black." I generally do believe the public opinion is best. The rest of the essay is rather self explanatory, the main statement in question I have already released a comment online about. I request that all information I have released is read together, and nothing given separately or as an excerpt as the administration has seen fit to do.

On an additional note, I have completed the MEPS (Military Entry Processing Station) examinations, and yes a psychiatric evaluation is included in the process. If I'm qualified to defend the country, I believe I'm qualified to attend school.

Re:The arresting officers

[ibbie]

Ok, this is the essay in question.

Re:The arresting officers

[Anonymous Coward]

I have never seen such a truckload of bullshit wasting a sheet of paper. Perhaps they shouldn't arrest him for conspiracy, but he sure deserves severe punishment for maiming the harmless English language and spitting out such crazy rantings. When someone said the new enemy would be essays I was afraid literature would suffer, but this text is to literature what you singing in the bathroom is to opera. ;-)

Now seriously: How come this guy is a Straight-A student???? I am afraid the average level of intelligence has dropped dramatically there in the US....

Re:The arresting officers

[StarkRG]

They teach some pretty disturbing things already, ever read Poe? The Telltale Heart is one of the tamer things he wrote, though it's one of the most well known.

My personal favorite is The Cask of Amontillado. How f**king disturbing is that? From what I remember (I've only read it once) a guy leads his drunk so-called friend down into the deepest part of the crypts during Carnival, chains him to the wall and proceeds to build a wall around him while the guy has recovered from his drunken stupor and is screaming his head off... Yeah, I read that in school.

Is that ok because it's set in Italy? Hell, there's really not a whole lot in there that places it at any particular time, it could be present day with a few small changes.

Now, I actually can see what they were worried about if it had to do with going someplace and shooting people. But they shouldn't be jumping to conclusions, they should find out the intent of the paper, and possibly get the kid some counseling. Really, the problem here is knee jerk reactions and lack of free health care.

Imagine what could be if people who have issues (fantasizing about killing people, raping little girls and boys, etc) had easy access to free counseling. Even the cheap ones cost $50 - $75 per session, and people who end up doing these things are usually ones who can't afford much, don't have insurance, and really need the good doctors. Yeah, are some ways to get financial assistance from the government but it's extremely difficult and time consuming. Apparently the powers that be don't care about helping these people until they've gone and done something wrong. Then people have already been injured or killed. The people who did it have had a taste of it and are going to need much more serious counseling and they're in an environment which doesn't facilitate recovery. Now, not only are we paying for their counseling, we're paying for their room and board, and they're not even contributing to society (no job). Oh, and I almost forgot: there's always the death penalty instead of counseling, perhaps TPTB like killing people instead of trying to fix the problem (that's what I used to do in Sim City when I couldn't pay for fire departments, just bulldoze all the surrounding stuff and the fire won't spread).

Yeah, our country's system sucks.

Re:The arresting officers

[norman619]

This is hilarious!!!! So he got arrested over this? Come on now... When I was a kid I wrote a pretty dark piece in my English class and was praised for my use of metaphor and vivid imagery. They didn't call the cops on me or send me to see the school shrink for a heart to heart. They took my piece for what it was. This essay was just him venting. If they think this is bad they'd most likely die of fright if they were able to read the REAL thoughts of the students. For the most part I feel this kids essay was a critique of his school and society. Nothing here should be raising any red flags. The stuff he put to paper is the same stuff kids say when they talk to each other. This poor kid has learned that when someone asks him to be open it really means "only say nice things." How pathetic.

Re:The arresting officers

[jZnat]

Maybe the Grammar Police arrested him. :D

Re:Freedom? What freedom?

[asninn]

Outside of the "13 year old" and the "smuggled out" part, I don't really have a problem with any of the above, actually. What's wrong with having a dozen partners? What's wrong with rolling joints? What's wrong with shooting heroin (in a criminal sense, not as a medical condition that should be treated)? What's wrong with being in a nude? What's wrong with transvestites? What's wrong with prostitution, as long as it's voluntarily and nobody's forced to do anything they don't want to do (if people *are*, that's bad, of course, but in that case, it's bad no matter whether what they're forced to do is prostitute themselves or something else). And finally, what's wrong with people from Somalia?

As long as everyone involved is an adult and as long as everything's done with the informed consent of everyone involved, I frankly don't see why you should have a right to dictate what others can or can't do. I assume, based on your nickname, that you enjoy coffee. I'm also going to guess (without any basis) that you're heterosexual and not celibate (or that you wouldn't be if you had a girlfriend in case you don't have one). How would you feel if I came along and told you that in "my society", doing depraved things like drinking coffee and having missionary-style sex with your girlfriend are (or, at the very least, should be) illegal? Wouldn't you feel that this is an intrusion into your private matters - that as long as your girlfriend wants to have sex with you, there's no reason why the two of you shouldn't, and that whether you drink coffee or not is noone's business but your own?

Maybe you think that that's not the same, but if you do, you couldn't be more wrong. Freedom is always the freedom of others.

Re:The arresting officers

[Fulcrum of Evil]

Who cares about law enforcement? The question is whether he's broken any laws and, the last I heard, writing something disturbing isn't illegal. This is just a bunch of panicky idiots overreacting like they always do. God help us, the morons are running the place.