[overflow] Re: GHHS

["Kay Shapero" <kayshapero@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lee Gold <leeway@mediaone.net> wrote

(Have I missed some messages, or did this just move in from the newsgroup?)

> > Where does teasing, which has gone on with children for as long as the
> > human race has been able to socialize, cross the line into harassment?
>
> Well, we can easily draw the line between teasing that involves
> physical injury or robbery and other sorts of teasing.  And I'm
> surprised that Zero Tolerance advocates don't realize that they're
> claiming adults can't exercise judgment, the one area where
> adult maturity should pay off.

Exactly.  And of course in practice adults frequently DO exercise judgement
and ignore rules that do not apply.  When Vicky was attending Audubon Middle
School, there was one kid who liked to jump out at people and startle them.
He made the mistake of trying this on he in close quarters, she blocked, and
his momentum transfered itself into sending him into the lockers.  About a
dozen kids saw this and reported exactly what happened, and she did not get
into trouble for "fighting" as might have happened were they too rigid.  The
other kid didn't get into trouble either - they figured (quite correctly)
that there was no malice involved and he'd learned his lesson from the
bruises he'd already picked up.   None of this prevented the school from
taking prompt action when kids got into *real* fights.