Student suspended after voicing marijuana opinion — This is where things are headed in the public schools in both the USA and Canada. Kids, just shut up, will you? Say nothing about anything. Show disinterest, become a nihilist.
Kieran Kings views on marijuana have led to his suspension from Wawota Parkland School.
King said he was threatened with police action by Principal Susan Wilson previously after making the case that marijuana was less harmful than alcohol.
“In my opinion, cannabis is safer than they say, it is not worse than alcohol or tobacco,” said King, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student. Wilson accused King of using and selling marijuana at school, according to a media release issued by the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party. King has offered to submit to a voluntary drug test to prove otherwise.
“Ive never smoked marijuana. Ive never even seen it,” said King.
related link:
Another account by Media Awareness Project
This kid is getting raked over the coals for stating an opinion (that happens to also be a fact) and asked to take a drug test?
He needs to refuse and have a lawyer.
I thought LEARNING was acquired through dissent. A good debate of alternatives to find a Central/common ground.
NOT to pound rhetheric down our throats.
Maybe he should have lectured to the students that transvestite porn was safer than alcohol, instead.
RBG
Every day I have less and less respect for school boards and administrators. [sighs and shakes head] If I ever have kids I plan on home schooling them so they don’t become morons.
This is merely a result of the George Bush government installed by the GOP Taliban . Hopefully we can restore some of our basic freedoms 18 months from now.
The GOP and the religious mafia has done damage to our young people in squelching any challenge to authority early on. The goal is to deteriorate their will to free thought at an early age and “fall in line”.
Yes the student was suspended after voicing his opinion, but according to the article he was suspended for leaving a closed campus without permission, NOT for what he said.
Well, reading the WHOLE article teaches us two things. 1) Canada is also in decline, and 2) there is a whole generation of kids who don’t have clue #1 how to stage an effective act of civil disobedience. That is the real shame of all this.
Scientists at the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility can tell whether marijuana confiscated in a traffic stop in Fairbanks likely came from Mexico or the Matanuska Valley. They’re also working on a way to determine whether it was grown indoors or out.
http://www.physorg.com/news101728230.html
And my friend can’t get a grant for solar research which could predict the next Maunder Minimum and Little Ice Age, maybe as early as 2025?
#8
If pot was legal there would be no need for the Stable Isotope research and your friend might just get the grant needed to do some meaningfule work…
Just a thought…
#9 – I honestly have no idea what a stable isotope is… But there does need to be a roadside marijuana test that can determine when pot was last smoked and adequately gage a level of “high” (not that I’m sure there are levels of high)
I a big pro-legalization guy and very anti-driving drunk or stoned, so I think that is a critical tool for DUI enforcement.
#5, didn’t even read the article did you? Typical neo-lib, blame everything on Bush, even when Bush has had nothing to do with it, you sir, are the worst kind of hypocrite.
Now about the story, it happened up in Canada for one, so frankly my opinion on how Canada runs their schools is just that and opinion only. If Canada wants to teach their kids that the earth if flat, that is their business.
However, I will say that this would disturb me greatly if it had happened in the US, but would not surprise me. Government schools by their very nature encourage group thinking, and punish individuality, the child dared to think outside the group, and under most government schools that has to be stomped out as early as possible, no matter how much since the argument makes.
Just more logic from your neighborhood government schools. Aren’t you glad they are in charge of teaching your kids?
#11 – Typical neo-lib, blame everything on Bush, even when Bush has had nothing to do with it, you sir, are the worst kind of hypocrite.
Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, virtues and feelings that one does not truly possess.
What is the word for someone that has no clue what words mean?
Should have paid more attention in “government” school. That’s where I learned how to use a dictionary.
The schools cannot excersize the right kind of control on their students. They should allow dissent speech of any kind, but also allow the teachers and admins to beat the students that aren’t there to learn. All in all, education was better 100 years ago than it is now. The bad thing is, we have the ability to choose something better, and aren’t making the choices.
#13
I beg to differ with you on this one. Education’s biggest problem in the states IMO is the amount and speed at which we are trying to teach children not the quality of the teaching. The teachers are expected to run thru a HUGE amount of data in a very limited amount of time. This process is only being quickened as more and more is attempted to be taught. With current research in brain based learning our understanding of how people learn things is increasing the speed at which subjects can be taught. These methods are helping to decrease the ages at which certain things are learned; be it reading writing or calculus…
I believe that if anything the overall quality of teaching has gone up and will continue to do so. Our problem is finding the equilibrium of speed at which topics can be taught vs learned. This is relative to to each individual student rather then relative to each individual age.
I would think that creating a less structured environment for our elementary and high school years based off the current college systems would be a huge plus to our overall education system.
Currently kids are locked into a class (moving up or down a grade is not very commonplace) and moved year after year to a new “tier” of education. This holds back people who excel in a specific subject and cripple kids who cant keep up in certain subjects.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but my high school math program was very mixed as far as what grade was in which class. People who did well were placed further up THAT subject’s tier. People who weren’t as fast to pick up the information were placed in classes that would move at a slower pace or that would go over more simplistic subjects. This allowed for those who wanted to move through math quickly and who were also good at it to speed up into higher levels of math, be it calculus or stats. If this process was implemented on a large scale throughout the lower education systems I think it would benefit our future children’s overall success rate.
RBG: who are you more concerned about, drunks or stoners? Stupid sheep.
As for the kid, it was great that he had an opinion, the only problem was it wasn’t the one they told him to have – because, you know, you’re supposed to believe and do everything the gubment says.
Words to live by (read it three times):Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.. –Thomas Jefferson
#14, Commendable suggestion.
The only problem I see is that the schools would have to become much larger then they are today in order to accommodate the various classes being taught at the same time. That might be achievable in larger towns and cities, but not in rural areas.
This takes me back to my high (no pun intended) school years, actually about 1968. That was my first debate over the legalization of marijuana.
Now, this was in a Catholic High School…
I have NOT changed my opinion (and have gained additional information to support my view) about the fact that marijuana should NOT be illegal, but taxed and limited to adults only, similar to alcohol or tobacco.
In fact, the two legal ‘drugs’ are far more dangerous than pretty much any ‘illegal’ drug.
J/P=?
14—-When I was a Kiddie, I was a military brat in Japan. The military schools were ok but my parents wanted better so I was sent to the local “International School” run by Jesuits.
Now it seems that the military was concerned that what with getting transfered, students should be taught “one year ahead” so that on transfer, they wouldn’t be caught behind. The Jesuits did the same thing with reference to the local (military) schools.
Upshot was that when my parents could not affort Jesuits schools, I went to military shools in Japan, then we were transfered back to the States. I was basically presented THE SAME COURSEWORK for three years in a row, sometimes with the same books. My grades went from A to C to F and was going to have to repeat 8th grade until my Dad showed them my A’s from three years earlier on the same test questions. To this day, I don’t think I have recovered.
Of the following 3 items, pick 2 you think should be legal or decriminalized:
1.) Alcohol
2.) Marijuana
3.) Tobacco
Why? Also, why should the remaining item be made illegal (or kept illegal)?
Also, I’ve discovered a great way to eliminate marijuana. I light it on fire and inhale the fumes through a water filtering system. It turns the marijuana into ash. Works really well, you should try it some time.
[Duplicate post. – ed.]
Well we seem to have gotten a little off-topic. But that’s alright with me. I’ll put us back on track, a bit.
If they really want to kids (and all people) to eat healthier and not do harmful drugs. All they have to do is educate them about it. But this flies in the face of many american commercial industries. That depend on an under-educated public making bad choices. Whether it be smoking (anything, but especially Tobacco), drinking, doing narcotics, going into debt. You name it, the kids aren’t being taught to avoid it, because it will hurt some special interest’s bottom line (later).
The only real reason that smoking marijuana is “bad”, is because it could greatly reduce children getting hooked on Tobacco products. Kicking a pot smoking habit is a whole lot easier than kicking nicotine dependence. As evident by the complete lack of any Marijuana gum or patches.
Ok, so smoking pot can be harmful. But smoking anything can be harmful, so why let the tobacco industry off the hook? These schools aren’t expelling kids for getting caught with cigarettes. There’s no jail time or fines for minors possessing tobacco! That’s getting an unfair exemption from the law. Either make it ALL illegal, or make none of it illegal. But then educate the kids on why it’s a big mistake to use this stuff. The way they spend so much money educating them about the world wars and the space program (promoting both as our way of life). Stop turning out kids as suckers for every con artist, corporate marketeer and slick politician that comes along.
#9, If pot was legal…
To quote Frank Zappa, “I don’t do drugs, I don’t like the effects it has on some people!” (From SNL, the ’80s)
Obviously, no lawmaker in this country from city, county, state or national level has ever had any experience with the law of supply and demand. I’m certain this topic has been debated on this blog ad nauseum, but the lawmakers have never learned from the prohibition debacle of the late 20’s. The “war on drugs” will never be won. Ever. Demand is there, and someone will be willing to risk it all for supply.
I don’t advocate drug usage nor am I a drug user (well, except for an occasional Guinness and maybe a great cigar). Good luck, you morani.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition
19—Your post is no more “on topic” than mine was.
What is the topic as originally posted?
Could it be that this student was punished for “nothing more” than voicing pro pot position as Headlined? Sadly no. Directly, the student was punished for leaving campus against school policy.
So what is this incident all about?? Moles get whacked when they stick their heads up. Real lesson is taught if you can catch yourself doing it, and stop!!!!!!!
Just to clarify, the morani I mentioned in the above post refers to the current lawmakers who can’t understand the laws of supply and demand, not the folks here. I’m tired of dragging that Nomex suit out.
24—I’ll grant you it is a little bit murky from the description of the first article, (not really if you read the whole thing) but if you read the second article it is unavoidably clear that the student was arrested for leaving the school grounds.
Send me notice when you teach your class about “post hoc ergo proctor hoc.” (Another account by Media Awareness Project==at end of post)
Let’s see. The government says that drugs are bad. The government spends enormous amounts of money teaching kids that drugs are bad. The government hands out enormous amount of money to prosecute kids who ignore that message. Kid at school ignores message and gets in trouble.
What did anyone expect?
#25 – You aren’t the only one who watches The West Wing 🙂 – but the second article confirms my original post. The principal instructed the kid not to discuss his findings, which is effectively an agent of a government, in this case Canada, attempting to chill a citizens right to free speech (which I submit is a natural right of all human beings, anywhere, under any government).
The student’s only choice was defiance or submission, and submissions sets far too dangerous a precedent. The kid was suspended (not arrested) for three days… and what is worse it was done in a malicious manner than forces an A student to drop a few letter grades by being denied the ability to take final exams… and officially is was for leaving school grounds… But it was really for taking a stand the administration wanted to oppose.
Teachers have a responsibility to instill citizenship values in a student, and a good citizen resists coercion at the hands of an unjust or tyrannical government.
After, therefore because of… Typically a fallacy. If you can see a scenario where the result is the same but what the kid was telling other kids was that marijuana is dangerous and leads to tragic medical problems, I’ll recant, but as the story stands, this is a case of a kid persecuted not only for a belief, but for supporting that belief with unassailable facts.
#27 – The student’s only choice was defiance of submission,
defiance OR submission
I typically don’t worry about typos, but sometimes they clearly change sense into nonsense 😉
[Fixed it. – ed.]
28–I type so bad I didn’t even notice your error.
I guess two people can look at the same facts and draw 2 different conclusions. You restated your position but added some more analysis. I don’t know if I can do the same.
Yes, its clear to me the student was “under scrutiny” so when he left school grounds without parental consent he was suspended. He was under scrutiny because of his free speech acitivities. His visit to the principals office and the threat of drug testing was done in response to the free speech activities. His suspension was because he was off school grounds. NOW–if you see those facts in that way and choose to think he was suspended because of his free speech rights, thats ok.
Further–I’m sure the free speech activities MOTIVATED the principal to suspend when the actionable event arose, but without leaving school grounds, the kid would not have been suspended.
Its funny. I recall in my high school being taught drugs were not good for you, but not that bad, but they were illegal so don’t do it. BORING SCHOOL. Nothing to protest, I led a sheltered life.
Lets straighten out a couple things here:
Kieran was NOT arrested
Kieran was NOT threatened with drug testing
The school was NOT in lock down before the protesters arrived.
For once, Bush is not to blame, he had nothing to do with this fiasco!
And a note regarding his final exams: The Principal was bending over backwards to help Kieran out, he was going to be allowed to write his exams early, because he was leaving for China before school was done for the summer. She went out of her way to make sure he could write before leaving. I guess he should have thought a little harder of the possible consequences of his actions.
Everyone spinning this story, refuses to listen to any comments from the opposite side, spouting off about proof. I live in this town, anyone that works at the school and knows the whole story, can’t say anything. It’s a privacy issue involving minors!
This whole thing is so frustrating. The media is twisting the events of that day and what really happened has never been explained.
The only side of the story being portrayed is Kieran’s.
I’ve been reading his posts on several blogs and it’s becoming clear to me that the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party saw an opportunity for some free publicity and jumped on it. Kieran was a quiet, depressed, loner looking to fit in somewhere. He went to the cannabis culture web forum for advice when he was asked to stop talking to younger students about the benefits of marijuana. They used him, plain and simple. They spun the whole issue out of control, came to town, screamed and ranted and left Kieran to deal with the results of his/their actions.
I find it incredibly sad that the media, including this blog, in an attempt to report pot-stirring (no pun intended) news, keeps putting out articles that are based on 1% fact and 99% propaganda spewed out by the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party.
I sincerely hope one day the WHOLE truth comes out.