Another child hurt at school...

It's rare for children to be hurt by guns at schools. It's rare enough to be big news when it happens. But every day, children are hurt in less tangible ways by the school itself.

A high school senior in Texas made a video game map of his school. As a result, police searched his home and confiscated some decorative swords, he was removed from his school and sent to an "alternative" school for behavior problems, and best of all...

“He was reminded to never again produce a map of any school, or even any public building or area,” the police report said. “He stated that he would comply with this request.”

In case you're wondering, it's not yet illegal to make a 3-D model of a real place. (Even for a game with plasma guns.) The police determined that there was no threat. (Didn't stop them from telling him to curtail his actions, with no right to do so, though.)

However, schools have never been bound by due process. They act "in loco parentis," as parents in their absence, and so they can hand out whatever punishments they like. They perpetuate indignity as a matter of course. They make you ask permission to use the bathroom. They make you go from room to room at the sound of a bell. Think about what they tell you to think about when they tell you to think about it. No reading in math class, no math in art class. And they punish kids for doing things that don't violate any rules.

This is why my children don't go to those places, and never will.