--- 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