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Hearing Stone in Love -- Journey
Silly Suits and The Silly Teens Who Bring Them
So, this Wisconsin teenager is unhappy that he's got homework over the summer for one of the classes he signed up for in high school, so he sues the school district over it. The state of Wisconsin, it should be noted, has decided to teach this kid a lesson:
On Thursday, Wisconsin Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager released the state's reply in which she asked the court not only to dismiss the suit but suggested Larson and his father may need their knuckles rapped for bringing a no-merit lawsuit.
Her filing in county court in Milwaukee said the state had "no authority to implement any policy regarding course assignments" and that local school districts had the power to abolish summer vacation completely and hold classes all year long.
She also said that because the Larsons had been advised of the same thing informally beforehand, and sued anyway, the state schools superintendent "should be reimbursed for costs and attorney fees incurred in responding to the ... unmeritorious complaint," to be assessed against the Larsons.
So not only would the kid have to do his homework, he'd also have to pay through the nose for deciding to sue. Talk about a learning experience.
I'm not notably sympathetic to the kid, I have to say. For one thing, I had summer homework four all four years I went to high school, and not just a little -- every kid in school had a summer reading list and had to write reports on the books he or she read. We all managed to do it just fine, even those of us with summer jobs.
For another thing, suing the school because you don't want to do homework is as close to the definition of frivolous as you're going to get. I think the fact that someone is out there suing for the right to be less educated pretty much wraps up why people are getting twitchy about the future. If you want to be less educated, that your business, but I don't see why you should sue a school district to do it. You can be less educated on your own.
I do hope the kid (and his dad, who brought the suit with his son -- his dad! That's a whole other rant) gets dinged for the cost of the suit. Aside from dissuading other kids from doing the same silly thing, this kid would have learned the value of education -- and the consequences of suing to avoid it.
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I never had summer homework. the kid knew he would have it if he did ot want it then he had the option of dropping the class.
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Kid doesn't surprise me. I teach college. I see laziness and this entitlement sense of getting something for nothing every day. What sickens me is the parent. Now we know where the kids get their infantile concepts.
~~ jennifer -
I'm with you...except I think that this child should have to do an additional report on the justice process due to his unique experience.
I am admittedly a geek, even as a child I loved school, and it galls me that kids today (and yesterday too) fail to appreciate the great gift and responsibility an education is. I think it is one of the USA's most under appreciated rights.
Damn shame too.
7/11/07 3:02 PM