Well sure, that's an appropriate response

[JupiterBnG]

Now this is a thread worth 80 pages of input.

Now that I've digested the OP and read all of the comments submitted - I'll add my opinion...

I applaud Fred for his article (thanks Uncle Chip) - and Ironcity for pointing out the bold facts of our "suffering society/country". We're all adults here, yes, we are - and we can all look back to some time in our lives, when things were different, when we played outside and had creativity to build a fort (and you didn't need to put on sunscreen). When you could watch a wholesome program on TV and not worry about the next word coming out the actors mouth less it be offensive to the nation. When we could all stand in class and proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America.

Somewhere, somehow this all changed.

We can no longer discipline the children that we bring into existence without the fear of some social worker and government program coming to our homes and threatening to take/and sometime take those same children. Society ("they") have empowered the generations, after us, to question authority, as a whole and promote that we no longer need God in our lives and promiscuity, curiosity and just plain ol' "it ain't right" is now "ok".

I'm going to throw you a left curve. Stay with me...

Take another look back at your childhood - reader, be honest with yourself - the worst thing we "may have had to deal with" was racism. Today, that's the least of our problems. When I look back at my life, my parents had no problem with Mr. Wilson stopping me and correcting me for my errors. They had no problem with Mrs. Jane/Brenda/Karen, whoever, to grab me by my ear and walk me home to say, "Kevin was misbehaving and I just wanted to let you know". Today, we fight the "freedom of speech", "freedom of information" - and, worst of all, "freedom to be publicly stupid regardless of the cause".

I liked it when things were simple in life. The school should be very ashamed of their response to an honest mistake that was acknowledged by this upstanding young man. What they've now done (regardless of his social upbringing/race) is planted a seed of doubt - "what is going to happen the next time I tell the truth"???

We've done this to ourselves and only God can help us now.

All of this amounts to the abdication of responsibility by parents. Parents have stopped taking accountability for their children by no longer holding their children accountable themselves. The real travesty is that the first reaction when a kid ***** up is for the parents to say, "Not MY child..." I'm not that old, but I'm old enough to be from a generation that, when I screwed up, I sure as hell knew my parents were going to punish the hell out of me, not leap to my defense. The sense of entitlement that kids have these days is astonishing.

 

[Rod Farva]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20140606_ap_4d92b817e597464ab9e4464a23ed10cb.html

He was only suspended the two days until they could hold the hearing and then everything was fine.
Seems like the school just followed normal procedures.

There is nothing "normal" about any "zero tolerance" policy. It's just laziness.

 

[Supersteeler]

Public schools suck. They aren't school, they are nothing more than daycare.

I can only imagine how your teachers felt about you.

 

[bermudasteel]

All of this amounts to the abdication of responsibility by parents. Parents have stopped taking accountability for their children by no longer holding their children accountable themselves. The real travesty is that the first reaction when a kid ***** up is for the parents to say, "Not MY child..." I'm not that old, but I'm old enough to be from a generation that, when I screwed up, I sure as hell knew my parents were going to punish the hell out of me, not leap to my defense. The sense of entitlement that kids have these days is astonishing.

Nice added point - can't believe I forgot that. I'm slippin'!!!