Texas bills seek to decriminalize childhood

SOME good may yet come out of the case of Casey "The Kid" Harmeier, the 12-year-old desperado from Tomball who faces criminal charges for accepting a dare to remove the cover from a school fire alarm.

Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) says he may call The Kid to testify regarding legislation intended to turn "zero tolerance" into "common sense" at the state's schools. Dutton chairs the House Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Issues, and was appalled to learn that The Kid was still facing criminal charges even after school officials learned they were mistaken in thinking he had actually pulled the fire alarm.

Neither the students, the teacher, who was nearby, nor school administrators were aware that removing the cover set off a local horn but did not activate the fire alarm and send a signal to emergency dispatch. (This seems dangerous to me since in the case of a real fire a person under pressure could set off the horn and think the fire alarm had been activated.) The principal had a district police officer, who is also a Tomball policeman, take The Kid in for booking. He was charged with a felony before his parents were notified he was in trouble. (The charge has been reduced to a misdemeanor.)

Dutton said it is hardly uncommon for students to be turned over to police, even for less serious offenses than what The Kid was thought to have committed. A common technique these days is to have school district police issue Class C misdemeanor tickets not for crimes but for violations of school rules. These tickets require trips before a municipal court judge or a justice of the peace. "They've issued tickets for chewing gum," Dutton said.

As Billy Jacobs, a former Texas Education Agency school safety official, has said: "We hold children to higher standards than we hold adults. We don't leave any room for children to make mistakes."

Dutton said he's heard from school district police who are appalled that they are being used to enforce school rules rather than providing security and enforcing the law. "One officer said he thinks this breeds disrespect for the law," Dutton said. If district officials do turn over students to police, Dutton said, "they ought to notify the parents before they do it, especially if there is no threat of life or injury. They should talk to the parent and the kid before referral."

Dutton isn't alone among Houston-area legislators working on the problem. Rep. Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands), who chairs the House Education Committee, tried to pass legislation two years ago that would have required school officials to take into consideration such factors as the child's intention in the matter and his or her disciplinary history.

The bill was watered down after school officials promised they would cut back on "zero tolerance" idiocy. I'm sure many have, and many others didn't need to. But enough administrators are still engaging in "zero tolerance" foolishness to make further legislation necessary, and Eissler had indicated he intends to work for some.

Rep. Dora Olivo (D-Missouri City) is pushing a bill that would allow a student who discovers he inadvertently left a Boy Scout knife in his pocket, or a hunting gun in his truck, to tell a school official and turn the knife or gun over without reprisal. As it is now, students who inadvertently bring a pocket knife or prescription drugs are sometimes treated the same as would-be thugs and pushers.

The problem of criminalizing childish behavior is not a bleeding-heart liberal issue. Some of the most thoughtful suggestions have been developed by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation. Testifying at a Senate committee hearing last year, TPPF's Marc Levin noted that there has been a sharp rise in the sentencing of students to district alternative centers, which may be related to the fact that TAKS scores of students at these centers don't count against their home schools. The most recent statistics indicate that 80 percent of the referrals are discretionary, suggesting that many are relatively minor infractions. Levin recommends that schools be required to involve parents in the case of noncriminal and nonviolent behavior, giving parents the opportunity to work with the school to change the child's behavior before he or she is removed for weeks or months from the regular classroom.

Noting that about 500 kindergartners and more than 2,000 first-graders are sent to district alternative centers every year, he also suggested that guidelines be developed regarding such young children. These are only a few of the proposals that will be considered in Austin over the next few months. Teachers and well-behaved students need safe and controlled classrooms for learning to take place. But allowing school officials to hide behind "zero tolerance" and to criminalize childish mistakes is intolerable.

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British pupils pass key English test with 30pc mark

A mark of 30 per cent was enough for 14-year-olds to pass national tests in English A mark of 30 per cent was enough for 14-year-olds to pass national tests in English this year, it has been revealed. In maths, they could achieve the required level with a score of only 39 per cent. The news prompted claims that pupils are being let down by an education system which allows them to be seen as successful despite poor performance in exams.

The pass marks in this year's tests were revealed by the National Assessment Agency. Eleven-year-olds needed 43 per cent to pass English by gaining the expected level four, 46 per cent for maths, and 51 per cent for science. These pass marks are either the same or slightly higher than last year's, suggesting the papers were judged to be marginally simpler. National curriculum levels run from one to seven in English and science and one to eight in maths. The Government expects 11-year-olds to reach level four. At 14 - Key Stage 3 - pupils are expected to reach level five at least, which this year required a minimum 30 per cent mark in English.

Parents' leaders voiced concern over the low level of the pass marks. Margaret Morrissey of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations said: "We are not doing children any favours with these low pass marks. It may look good for schools to have many pupils clearing these hurdles, and maybe it makes parents feel happy for their children. "But when they go out to work, it is going to be picked up by employers. In anyone's book, if you have got 30 per cent of something, you have not succeeded."

A spokesman for the National Assessment Agency defended the marks, saying it used "a range of evidence in order to maintain standards".

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Shaky British universities

A swath of universities were in financial crisis even after the introduction of tuition fees, according to a secret government list made public last night. More than 40 institutions feature on the list, which classifies them as at risk of financial failure after 1998, when means-tested tuition fees were introduced. Those on the list include South Bank University in London, Liverpool John Moores University and Queen Mary, University of London.

Another three institutions were deemed to be so at risk that their names were kept off the list, which was revealed after a Freedom of Information request by The Guardian newspaper. The Higher Education Funding Council for England published the list only after pressure from the Information Commissioner, who ruled that students applying to certain institutions had a right to know their financial buoyancy.

The disclosures highlight the problems institutions face, despite the introduction of fees, after decades of under-investment and the explosion in undergraduate numbers. In the academic year 1998-99 students started paying up to 1,025 pounds a year each to attend university, putting an end to free higher education. The move started generating thousands of pounds of extra income. But many of the universities and colleges named have been struggling to recruit sufficient numbers of students and keep their spending under control. Many have been forced to combine their strengths through mergers with other universities

A spokesman for the funding council said: "We work with these institutions to ensure that they develop a robust recovery plan, and this normally results in their restoration to financial health. "The information is historical in the sense that it refers to situations in existence more than three years ago. Much has changed since then." The Guardian, however, named one of the three endangered universities whose identity was not disclosed as Thames Valley University.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"

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