Intolerance has reached an ultimate low, in a case from Texas, where a 4-year old boy hugged a teacher’s aid before going on a school bus. This innocent act from a boy only two years out of diapers was interpreted as a sexual advancement and now the boy has a permanent school record of sexual harassment. The boy's father angrily denied the accusation, insisting that the decision is shocking because the boy is too innocent and naïve to understand what sex is, let alone harass his teacher.
After great deliberation by school officials, the school revised the young lads record and now his record was changed to "inappropriate physical contact".
Just when is a child robbed of their innocence? Society is adopting a "Zero Tolerance" policy on everything from language, to day-to-day interactions with our fellow man. In essence society is throwing out the baby with the bath water. Before us Canadians get smug over this, remember that we are only 10 years behind the USA in social reform, so it's only a matter of time.
This is not an isolated incident of finger pointing at children. Last March in Lorain, OH, an 8-year-old boy was accused of sexual harassment on another schoolgirl when it was discovered that he had been passing love notes to her. Later in the day, the boy and another boy during gym class started to tease the girl and in the process touched her buttocks. The school then conducted an investigation, and the boy with the crush was suspended on an "Emergency Removal Order." The eight year old's school record now identifies him as having made a sexual assault.
In another cases, a grade two boy was suspended from school after he kissed a girl during recess, and once again the records show he committed a "sexual assault".
In the case of our 4 year old in Texas, the boy does not understand why he was forcibly removed from school, only to be ostracized by the school system. His obvious lack of understanding is exactly why this form of political correction has no place in the kindergarten or elementary school. A 4 year old, or even a twelve-year-old does not know right from wrong depending on their social development.
The zero tolerance policy of sexual harassment is designed to protect woman in the workplace.
These cases are an abuse of such a policy, and if Canadian's are complacent, our children will be victimized by this form of nonsense. But then again are Canadian's really that laid back? ... I think we are.
