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An eight-year-old boy has sparked an unlikely outcry in Sweden after failing to invite two of his classmates to his birthday party.
The boy’s school says he has violated the children’s rights and has complained to the Swedish Parliament.
The school, in Lund, southern Sweden, argues that if invitations are handed out on school premises then it must ensure there is no discrimination…
The boy handed out his birthday invitations during class-time and when the teacher spotted that two children had not received one the invitations were confiscated…
A verdict on the matter is likely to be reached in September, in time for the next school year.
We’ll all be waiting in anticipation for this next giant step forward in juvenile jurisprudence.
@15 “If nobody likes you, you’re much better off getting to the bottom of why this is the case when you are 8 years old”
Priceless!
I may be a little off, but I thought the “Bad” kind of discrimination stems from things that ‘you can’t change’, such as race, gender, orientation (some see that as debatable).
However, if I don’t like someone, that is something that can be changed. Discrimination is a part of life regardless of what is going on. You have to discriminate when you decide which place you want to go eat, or what you want to eat. You have to discriminate against other movie theaters when you go to a different one. You have to discriminate when you decide not to give a loan to a friend or associate.
Bottom line is that while discrimination over the years has been seen as just a ‘race, sex, orientation’ issue, discrimination is in every single decision we make.
As far as the issue with the birthday invitations, it ought to have been left alone. You aren’t going to get invited to every party, you aren’t going to be liked by everyone, and it’s actually really good to not be in the first place. Imagine how embarrased or ashamed the kid (that was giving the invitations out) felt once the teacher’s response was to confiscate them?
What about his rights in that?
I don’t think it is any of the teacher’s or the schools business who some kids parents decide to invite to a party unless that party is during school hours or on school grounds. Why should a parent have to invite an entire class over to slumber party or whatever?
In a lot of cases it’s less the kid that doesn’t get invited than the fact they don’t care for the kid’s guardians. In others they don’t want the kid around because they are no fun. Not everybody in a class is going to be best buddies.
Neither the teacher nor the school is going to change either of those last two.
What do you expect out of a non-US country?
I experienced this same problem at my daughter’s school in the US, Ohio to be exact. She was in the 5th grade, went to school and was handing out her invitations and about mid-morning I got a call to come pick her up and to speak to the principal. I took off work and when I sat through like 20 minutes of explanation, I seriously told the man: WTF?
So, having laughed my way out the door, my daughter then proceeded (the next day) to hand the cards out to the kids as they left school (she stood outside and before the kids got on the bus).
Once again, I’m called back and basically the rule is (now) she can’t do this on school grounds. Our only recourse is to snail-mail the cards (with postage), tell the kids verbally (out of earshot of those not invited or I’m back in the same situation, seriously) or call the kids at home.
Well, I guess then everyone should pass every single class they take then, too. I could certainly see the argument that passing a student is an “invitation” to the next grade and if you don’t “invite” everyone to the next grade you are descriminating those children who are destined to dig ditches or work at McDonalds as an hourly manager for the rest of their lives from those who want to go to college.
But then that slipperly slope continues. If a college is recruiting on school grounds and makes an offer for a scholarship, shouldn’t everyone in his class get one, too?
I can’t wait for my son’s first real school invitations to go out!
Sweden must be a wonderful country if they have enough free time to obsess over such minor things.
This is outrageous. Some kid wanted to invite his friends to his party, now these two kids he didn’t invite could have been just bullies, or nerds or something, but big deal, if he doesn’t want them at his house at his party, big deal. Just because they are kids doesn’t mean that someone has to lay out a red carpet for them, along the bumpy and steep bridge of life.