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FeedGone to the Dogs
The principal of McKinley High School wants to bring drug-sniffing dogs on campus, but is running into roadblocks in the state Department of Education’s discipline and privacy policies. Says principal Ron Okamua, in The Honolulu Advertiser, “I’m concerned about how do we make our campuses safe and secure. I am all for student rights and privacy rights, but we do have this problem coming onto campus.”
A problem big enough to justify bringing in the hounds? Hard to tell. The Advertiser piece paraphrases Okamura as saying that the school has averaged about 15 to 20 incidents of “illicit drugs” since 2004, but doesn’t provide an interval. Is that 20 incidents a day? A semester? A year? Twenty since 2004?
Also worth noting, Okamura includes cigarettes in his stats, and says, “For me, just one violation is too much. The kids are there to learn.” So, there’s the background philosophy: a zero-tolerance approach that treats cigarettes and meth as if they were functional equivalents.
If Okamura gets his dogs, I have a feeling the students will learn something, but maybe not the lesson he has in mind given something else he said: “I compare it to homeland security. We don’t object to having our luggage searched, our jackets searched ... but yet, when you look at a student locker there’s objection.”
As a matter of fact, people do object to getting searched every time they fly. We do object to squeezing shampoo into 3-ounce bottles, to showing up two hours early, to taking off our shoes. It’s useless security theater, performance art meant to make us feel as though the authorities were doing something to protect us from evil in the world. Read Jeffrey Goldberg’s “The Things He Carried” for a thorough look at the problem—Goldberg routinely boarded planes while toting everything from box cutters to T-shirts that read “Osama Bin Laden, Hero of Islam.”
Here’s what adult citizens have learned from all this: We object to the homeland security rigmarole, but we comply, because we know our objections don’t matter. The searches aren’t going away. Ever. This will be the experience of travel for the rest of our lives. We also know the security gestures are empty and meaningless, but we make the motions and play along anyway. As a result, we’ve learned passivity and cynicism.
There is one difference between dogs in airports and dogs in schools. Travel is voluntary. School is not. What other state-run facilities house captive populations who are subject to random searches for contraband?
That’s something else the students will learn from this: “Wow, the authorities can treat us all like prisoners, even though most of us aren’t doing anything wrong!”
Get used to it, kids.
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Reader Comments:
As a former McKinley High student and now harassed traveling businessman I agree with your sad assessment of our world today but offer a few thoughts for the future. Seems even back then we were being taught to be good rule followers and not independent thinkers. Show up on time, shut your mouth and stay until you are told to leave. Excellent training for the Mcjobs that lay ahead of your average public school student. The passivity you mention in your editorial was learned long before 911. It was bred into you at the earliest stages of schooling teaching you to conform. The ruling class learned their lessons well.
Back in the day I remember lots of drugs on campus. Half the kids smoked pot and 2/3 drank alcohol weekly. I know this because they took an anonymous survey one year and that is what my classmates told them. I remember my auto shop teacher smoking in class bragging he could not be fired. If anything things are better these days then back then. Dogs are not the answer. Sounds more like a minister than a school principal to me. The bigger issues involve what is not taught in public school.
Money won't solve the problems with our schools because there is no problem. This is the way our school system was designed and it works perfectly. Not for the students or the taxpayers but for those who want to control and abuse you (enslave). Wake up and do something about it. Start giving a shit and stop taking the abuse. Just say no. Vote out all school board members, all elected officials and picket your local schools. No child left behind is a joke and everyone knows it. Vouchers are not the answer either. Protesting and complaining may not change anything right away but it does and will have an effect over the long haul. Unfortunately we have to do this ourselves since THEY won't do it for us.
Do a search on: Scientology influence in public schools.
You will pull up a huge chest of information you never even thought of before. And maybe some of the pieces will fit together? If you look further, you may find a list of groups who are possibly linked to Scientology.
Ever wonder about service projects, and the idea of longers school hours and years?