--- Forwarded Message from [log in to unmask] ---

>From: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 09:23:57 -0400
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re:  #5629.4 Plan to Kill in Spanish Partner

A personal interjection, sparked by Gordon Hartig's mention of the
Boston Latin Academy teacher who made a writing assignment which
resulted in a student getting suspended:  the teacher in question
also suspended my elder son when he wrote a petition in her English
class, saying that she felt threatened by a vaguely worded threat
in his closing paragraph. This was well before Columbine.

Let's not go overboard putting all the attention on crazy,
unpredictable kids. As suggested by a Globe columnist in last
Sunday's paper, there are people in our schools who can't
distinguish between fact and fiction.  I believe this teacher
is missing some sterling opportunities to teach children about
the power of words, and how to use them properly. Suspending a
child for something written and submitted as an assignment is
like firing a playful student hacker from your lab staff intead
of giving the student real-life, real-lab responsibilities doing
computer work for the institution.

bruce