The American education system is ridiculous.
As if behavior disorders, lack of funding and selective teaching weren't enough problems for the average school to face, now it appears that in the post-Columbine America, schools have to deal with even more garbage.
The Associated Press reported on Oct. 13 the story of 15-year-old Brandon Kivi. Kivi, a student in Conroy,Texas, was arrested and charged with third-degree felony for giving his girlfriend a shot from his inhaler. Kivi's girlfriend was suffering from an asthma attack but had forgotten her Albuterol inhaler at home that day. Since Kivi suffers from the same affliction, he gave his inhaler to the girl and may have saved her life.
However, in the state's health and safety code, Albuterol is listed as a "dangerous drug." This prompted the school to suspend Kivi and threaten him with expulsion, not to mention a few hours in the local jail.
Since it happened in Texas, it wasn't terribly shocking: Just look at what it offered to this country as a president. If Kivi plays his cards right, he just may be able to avoid the death penalty. As English and sociology junior Darin Webb said, "It's just another thing to hate about the great, and by 'great,' I mean 'absolutely horrible in every way, state of Texas."
Unfortunately, this bizarre incident isn't isolated to the Lone Star state. Last week in Wisconsin, high school officials discovered that two students had been selling homemade drugs to other students. One student who took the drug, which is supposed to mimic an LSD trip, suffered from severe hallucinations and vomiting. Here is a case that deserves expulsion and criminal charges, but the two students who sold the drugs will face no real punishment. The drug was made from the active ingredient in Robitussin, dextromethorphan. The students reportedly bought the powder form of the drug off the Internet and put it into capsules that they later sold to their classmates. Since it was obtained legally, the school couldn't press any charges.
Luckily for our American image, these weren't the most high-profile news stories nationwide; in essence, what America is saying is that it's all right for students to give each other drugs in an educational environment, as long as the distributors turn a profit and the customers end up puking all over themselves. Mr. Kivi must have been having a real brain fart when he tried to help his girlfriend without collecting something in return.
While the two incidents happened in different states with different laws, there should be a little consistency in this country, and it should go a little something like this: First off, we're not going to be stupid and arrest a student for allowing his or her better half to use his or her inhaler. Those kind of foolish punishments belong in television programs like "7th Heaven," not in reality.
Secondly, any student who is passing around anything that induces vomiting and hallucinations will face a reasonable penalty. Whether they are passing around a legal substitute for acid, magical mushrooms or anything involving Clay Aiken, they will be punished.
Finally, once all of these silly and frivolous problems are taken care of, the system will move on to bigger issues. Maybe there can be some changes in budgeting so that quality educators will receive a quality paycheck. Perhaps schools can become more state-of-the-art. If sacrifices must be made, then so be it.
For instance, education could trade all of the unqualified teachers in the system for every bomb that hasn't been launched yet. That may not be a fair trade, but like the New York Yankees getting whipped in the World Series, it would be nice to see something different.
Chris Fanning is a journalism junior. Reach him at christopher.fanning@asu.edu.
