crimethink.

It seems that "crimethink" is now an official offense in our nation's public school system.

To wit: a straight-A senior from Illinois was arrested for writing an essay that was "disturbing" to his English teacher. He was charged with Disorderly Conduct, and forced to attend classes elsewhere.

I repeat: the content of the essay (which, of course, has not been made public, and which was handed to the teacher in private) rated an arrest and a criminal charge.

With thought control and enforcement, with mollycoddling and book censoring, with "zero tolerance", with warrantless searches and see-through backpacks and surveillance cameras, what kind of adults is that kind of "public education" going to produce? We'll end up with a bunch of obedient conformists who are afraid to rock the boat, who are conditioned to yield to authority without question, and who look to that authority whenever any decision-making is involved.

Oh, and don't make the mistake of blaming the liberals for the travesty that is our national education system...one half of the community wants zero tolerance on guns and violence, the other half polices the library shelves and has no problems with weekly drug dog visits. No, this particular mess is the result of pushy folks from both sides of the spectrum, the sort that knows best how to raise not only their own kids, but everyone else's as well.

I know one thing for sure: my kids will not see the inside of one of those mediocre, soul-destroying, mind-numbing glorified day care centers. Quinn's schooling has already begun, and I fear that the quickest way to extinguish his already apparent love for learning would be to throw him into a pen with twenty other kids and have some state-paid career educator administer a curriculum that's a One Size Fits All solution for the bright, the average, and the slow.

No, thank you, and keep your frakkin' property taxes.