I understand wanting to take claims seriously. But I also think that there should be some LOGIC to the claims.

Well, if you believe in psychics, would it then be logical to accept the claim? I dunno.

OK, here's another story of school-related idiocy: "Just kidding."

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - On a Monday morning last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to announce some horrible news: Several students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend.

Classmates wept. Some became hysterical.

A few hours and many tears later, though, the pain turned to fury when the teenagers learned that it was all a hoax — a scared-straight exercise designed by school officials to dramatize the consequences of drinking and driving.

Maybe the school officials should have said, "But a psychic told us there were car accidents...."

Perhaps they could arrange for the child to be tutored by the teacher who was fired for performing "magic" in the classroom?

I suppose it's too much to hope that the psychic in question was at the very least fined for wasting child protective services' time?

I don't care about the psychic, it's the people at the school who bear the blame.

Agh, tommyrot, that's awful.

When Emmett broke his nose a couple of years ago, his teacher managed to make a complete hash of explaining why he wasn't there to the rest of the class, and a couple of kids became convinced that he'd died in an accident and went into complete hysterics. I literally can't conceive of anyone deciding to do something like that to schoolkids on purpose. That's a world of WTF.

Also -- how effective as a "scared straight" technique did they think that was going to be in the long run? I can't believe it occurred to absolutely no one involved in the planning of this kerfuckery that the students wold likely walk away thinking not so much, "Gee, it would be awful if my friends really and truly died," as, "Grown-ups will lie about fucking ANYTHING to get you to think they way they want you to."

Which is, in itself, not an un-valuable lesson, but probably, just barely, not quite what the planners intended.

What a bunch of completely shitty people.

Also -- how effective as a "scared straight" technique did they think that was going to be in the long run? I can't believe it occurred to absolutely no one involved in the planning of this kerfuckery that the students wold likely walk away thinking not so much, "Gee, it would be awful if my friends really and truly died," as, "Grown-ups will lie about fucking ANYTHING to get you to think they way they want you to."

Do they not watch South Park (My Future Self n' Me)?

I'm sorry, but the person I would blame is the education assistant. Fine, you go to psychic, free country and all that. But then you take the psychic's word verbatim?!?!

Fine, you take the psychic seriously, you ask some questions, talk to the kid's peers, whatever. You do not go straight from psychic to CPS. And this is just the education assistant? Didn't the actual teacher or principal stop and say, "Whoa, I appreciate your concern, but before we call in CPS, let's see if we can get something, anything more concrete than hearsay?"

If I was on that schoolboard, there would be some serious questions being asked of that chain of responsibility.

The death of a classmate may be the one thing that freaks out kids the most. I can still remember the day in 8th grade when it was announced (with complete accuracy) that a classmate had died. The thing that gets me most was the complete and utter silence between classes. Because if there's anything 8th graders aren't good at, it's changing classes quietly.

Creating that situation as a "learning experience"? Insane.

The Mississippi has overflown 19 levees.

Hmmm, overflown. . . overflooded? Nothing seems right.

I am in happy tears after watching the documentary For the Bible Tells Me So, about religion and gays. It was on the Sundance channel if any of you want to catch it. Really moving and important information for LGBT youth and adults. It made me think of Ariel Schrag and her struggle with accepting that being gay is "natural."

ETA link: [link]

I'd love to have a follow-up to that detailing occurences of school vandlism. They were lucky not to get a riot.