The world has lost its collective mind, that’s for sure. I mean how else to explain that boys can now be girls and vice versa? Providing further evidence for our collective insanity is the brouhaha in Hackettstown, N.J., over a girl who has been suspended from school because she called a fictional police officer a pig.
The “facts” of the case form their own theatre of the absurd production. This young lady, referred to as K.C. in court documents, is gay and biracial (as an aside—I don’t understand why biracial is a controversial thing anymore. I don’t understand why anyone would take issue with the ethnic makeup of a marriage or the children produced by that marriage).
According to an article published on Patch, K.C. “says she was targeted based on her political beliefs, race, and sexual orientation by the school administration after calling a fictional police officer in a book a ‘pig’ in English class. During the investigation, administrators allegedly used racial and sexual slurs, the lawsuit claims.”
K.C. was given a one-day suspension in March of 2017. The alleged verbal harassment by the school administrator has caused K.C. to voluntarily boycott school since May of last year. And that, kids, is what’s called cutting your nose off to spite your face. I mean, voluntary depriving yourself of the education that will help you succeed in life may be defined as insanity; it’s most definitely defined as stupidity.
Getting back to what kicked off this circus of nonsense, Patch reports,
During a March 13, 2017, English class at Hackettstown High School, students were picking parts to read from Willy Russell’s play about a corrupt police officer, “Blood Brothers.” K.C. volunteered to read the part of the officer, calling him “the pig.”
English teacher Kathleen Matlack scolded K.C., who apologized, the lawsuit says.
Later that day, the school called K.C.’s mother to say K.C. would undergo a HIB (harassment, intimidation and bullying) investigation for her “pig” remark. Officials said a fellow classmate, who was a member of the class but not in the room at the time, could be offended by the comment because their parent is a police officer.
During a meeting to address the comment, O’Leary and HIB specialist Jennifer Spukes allegedly compared calling an officer “pig” to the “casual use” of slurs to describe blacks or homosexuals. Officials asked how she would feel if those words were used to describe her, the lawsuit says.
Should students refer to police officers, even fictional ones, as pigs? No, of course not. Should schools be suspending students for referring to police officers, even non-fictional ones, as pigs? No, of course not.
You see, suspending students over non-violent words and actions can also be called cutting your nose off to spite your face. Why would adults voluntarily remove confused kids from one of the things that can help unconfuse them?
If the school had acted with just a little common sense, it would not find itself in the midst of an embarrassing and potentially costly lawsuit. More importantly, kind, gracious teaching during these intervening months may have brought K.C. to the point where she realized her immature error. But we’ll never know because the school decided to suspend a kid for calling a fictional cop a pig.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member