What?!

That is all I could say right after I heard the story I am about to relay.

The parents of some students of a secondary school are taking the school to court for punishing its entire fifth-form class after some pretty out of hand behavior by a few students. I think the group punishment was that there would be no graduation for the entire Class of 2006. Some parents have expressed their opposition to what they think is an unreasonable action by the school. It appears complaints to school authorities have gotten them no satisfaction and so they have threatened to take the school to court. Yup! The parents are suing the school!

Image hosting by PhotobucketBut the most amazing part of the story is not even this although it is pretty far-out. I wonder if anybody can guess what the original offense committed by the few was. Well the Roman Catholic affiliated school had organized a spiritual retreat for its most senior students. It is a tradition of sort among RC schools here. Anyways the retreat was on and it probably presented an opportunity for introspection by the majority of students. But some of the students of the all-girl school were not having any of that. Spiritual, smiritual...Introspec-wha?

Haahaaa…some girls had other ideas about what they should be doing for the weekend and they were eventually caught sharing among themselves a marijuana cake and porn magazines. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Bad girls! Hahahaha ...I had to laugh the first time I heard the story. But my initial reaction was "WHAT?!"

I mean can't imagine me or any of my peers doing that when we were fifth-formers, which seems like eons ago considering what the kids think they can get away with now. Maybe a page or so of soft porn but a whole flicking marijuana cake?! I mean what the hell was going through these kids’ minds?

But back to the suing parents....The school now is shamed in the public especially because they are an RC run school and they are upset about having the whole purpose of the retreat shot to hell and back. The Principal and school authority then hand down the harsh sentence of no graduation but not to the offending few, mind you. All fifth-formers get to share in the sentence!

And so now some parents, who feel that their children were not involved and had worked hard for graduation, are now fighting the school’s judgment in a court of law. As to whether things can be resolved amicably before it gets too far or whether the parents are just calling bluff is left to be seen. In my opinion, I think the parents may have some reason to gripe though. That group punishment thing is silly especially if you know the culprits and that no graduation is a big black mark on the students’ record if they did nothing wrong. It is case of Petra paying for Paula. Not Fair!

Comments

Abeni said…
Something identical happened here a few years ago.It had to do with my alma mater ruling that some students who had dishonoured themselves and the school in public would not grduate.Seeing that the incident involved some children of the upperclass they threatened to take the matter to court.GHS backed down and the offenders graduated
6:38 PM
Der Ozzman said…
It's a perfect example of people in autority wielding so much power that they don't know how to handle it. It just doesn't make sense especially as they knew who the offenders were. Well I guess when you have silly admin, you get silly students.
12:02 AM
Jdid said…
just punish the offenders and call it a day. still suing the school seems a bit drastic
9:36 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Parrots of Dominica

Image
Isn't it a beaut? This is the national bird of Dominica. Its scientific name is Imperial Amazon. It is found only in Dominica and local name is Sisserou, the Carib word for parrot. The Sisserou parrots on Dominica all but disappeared after the passage of Hurricane David in 1979. Scientists believed that only about 50 of them remained on the island after the destructive storm. As such Dominican Forestry and Wildlife officials had to wait until 2000 to get a glimpse of the huge parrot in its stumping ground, the Morne Diablotin National Park. The Sisserou parrot resides mainly in the thick rain forest reserve situated at the foot of Dominica's highest peak [4,747 ft, Morne Diablotin]. The parrot shares the lower elevation of its home with the other equally popular Jacko Parrot. The Jacko Parrot or the Amazona Arausiaca is smaller than the Sisserou and is also endemic to Dominica. Dominica is lucky in that these two parrots of the Amazon species have survived to this day. Parrots...
Read more

I know black men who hate on Oprah

Image
I often wonder why so many black men hate on Oprah so much. Well I guess she is not in the physically beautiful league of a Pam Grier, Lena Horne, Halle Berry, Vanessa Williams, Janet Jackson etc. The above women among many others are the women black men tend to hold up as attractive. It seems that most black men think that physically both Oprah and Whoopi for example are as attractive as a donkey's behind. I think both these women are beautiful in their own right and therefore I don't agree with these men but I understand. In the real world it is in this way most men's preferences are shaped. So I concede on the attractiveness quotient bit. Oprah however is a woman who, like many black women even if they are only successful at having raised some kids into upstanding contributing citizens, has done wonderfully well for herself, by herself and most importantly with lots and lots of hard work. She has achieved and achieved big and is a mover and shaker in the world. So ...
Read more

Old Traditions: The Mystical & Supernatural

How many people remember the old stories about persons who were born with special gifts? And the stories of the scary occurances? I remember the mysticism that surrounded unusual births; like a child being born with a veil/caul over its face, a breech baby or even twins. The child born with the veil has supernatural powers. They could communicate with the dead and/or see into the future. After reading two books by Tina McElroy Ansa "Baby of the Family" and "The Hand I Fan With" I realise that African people in the USA shared many of those beliefs with old-time Dominicans. If a baby was born left handed then it would always be protected from obeah spells from others. No socouyants or lougahoo could scare them. The foot first baby from what I remember would be a blessing to its mother in adulthood b/c its birth was far from anything anybody could call a blessing. For twins, I just know that they are viewed with a bit of awe and wonderment. You are just downright...
Read more