A couple of days ago a woman came to me worried about her son. The story she told me prompted this article and made me further question the sanctity of our school system. Apparently the child we will call Cody was riding on a bus full of other boys all about the same age (within a year or so) to an athletic event. He and some of the other boys started talking about their sexual endowments (they called it something else) One suggested they should compare, so each boy reaches for his own zipper in an attempt to win the contest. As luck would have it everyone backed out except for our friend Cody who proceeded to expose his "contestant "to open air and a snickering crowd.
Now the school system still has open showers, like they did while I was in school. While taking a shower at the same time their genitalia is exposed to the watchful eyes of the teacher/coach and other boys or girls. This practice has been accepted through the years and is not likely to change soon. I assume had these boys compared themselves in the shower it would have been cool but since it was on the bus it becomes a FELONY.
One of the boys told his mother, I am sure laughing about Cody's embarrassment. The next day Cody was arrested and charged with Indecent exposure to a child (the other kids were the same age but still minors) the police locked him in Juvenile detention where he was to stay until trial in 10 days or so. He was to only have contact with his family once a week, for one hour. According to the cops it would be easier for them to deal with the situation if he was detained. They were more worried about THEIR convenience then this child's well being.
Cody is just thirteen years old, but if he is convicted he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. There will be jobs he can't have, places he can't live and he will be marked in the same category as a pedophile. With this kind of diminished life style what do you think the odds are that Cody like so many other young men feel that the only life left to them is a life of crime. The school system and law enforcement has done it again created another criminal.
When I was in school the child would have been suspended and/or paddled but he would have retained his future. Can we really expect our kids to have the judgment of an adult and never make mistakes? I thought that is why they went to school in the first place, for social and academic growth and development.
I have heard of a young girl also thirteen that got charged with destruction of government property because she wrote on a bathroom wall at school with a marker. It took $5 of soap and 10 minutes work to clean it. This young woman had been a straight A student and never any real trouble. She now has a felony on her record which will be a major hindrance in realizing her dream of being a veterinarian. With this holding her back, did our twisted system just create another welfare recipient?
We send our kids to school hoping to get them educated and ready for life but a lapse in judgment in the CHILDS behavior and the system will potential ruin them for life.
If our kids are more violent and cynical then they were then maybe the school should have classes on tolerance and humanity instead of R.O.T.C. They have plenty of time to learn to march and carry a guns (our Politicians will see to that) when they are older. Or maybe cut out wood shop isn't it more important to build character then a bird house.
If something isn't done soon kids will get even more cynical and cold as our Prisons get bigger and fuller by the day.
