You know, I’m pissed off enough that the Jetsons lied to me, and that in the 21st Century we are not, in fact, being served by robot nannies and flying around in jetpacks and shit. I’m pissed off enough that society hasn’t advanced to that point yet. Meanwhile, not only have we not weaned ourselves off fossil fuels and created world peace, we can’t even stop handcuffing kids to stuff if they get out of hand:
JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Public schools in Jackson, Mississippi, will no longer handcuff students to poles or other objects and will train staff at its alternative school on better methods of discipline.
[snip]
The Mississippi lawsuit was filed in June 2011 by Jeanette Murry on behalf of her then-16-year-old son, who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It said staffers routinely restrained students for hours for offenses as minor as dress code violations, forcing them to eat lunch while chained to a stair railing and to shout for help when they needed to go to the bathroom.
The settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee, says all district employees will stop handcuffing students younger than 13, and can only handcuff older students for crimes. In no case will employees shackle a student to a fixed object such as a railing, a pole, a desk or a chair.
Here’s a dumbass question: Why are “district employees” allowed to handcuff students “for crimes” at all? Are we talking about police officers/psychiatric wardens in the pay of the school district? If so, okay, maybe, but why else on earth would anyone be empowered to cuff your child to a pole?
A.