Eleven Year-Old Suspended for Cartwheels

	Duration: 03:52 minutes Upload Time: 06-10-10 23:22:01 User: lfaegre :::: Favorites :::: Top Videos of Day
Description: Deirdre Faegre, of West Covina, California, is just like any other sixth-grader: exuberant, fun-loving, full of energy. Deirdre has been taking gymnastics lessons since she was six years old. During the lunchtime break at her school, San Jose-Edison Academy, she enjoys doing cartwheels, handstands, and other maneuvers she's learned. The principal of the Academy, Denise Patton, warned Deirdre repeatedly about doing such things on the playground. She tried punishing the girl with lunchtime detentions, verbal warnings, and a conference with the parents. Nothing worked; you simply can't keep an 11-year-old from doing something she loves to do. Finally, Ms. Patton suspended Deirdre from school for one week, claiming that her gymnastic moves "created an unsafe situation for herself and others." Ms. Patton went on to give a few examples. For instance, she's afraid Deirdre - now remember, this child has been taking lessons for five years - might choose to do one of her stunts too close to a door and get whacked if someone opens it from the other side. Or, a passing schoolmate could accidentally walk into Deirdre's path while she's executing a cartwheel and be injured. Another of Ms. Patton's worries is that other children, who don't take gymnastics lessons and don't know how to perform the moves, will try to copy Deirdre and wind up with potentially serious injuries. Uh...yeah. DaWebmistress, who has never been the athletic type, has fond memories of doing cartwheels, flipovers, and other stunts on the playground of her elementary school. As she remembers it, nearly every child in her class knew how to do a cartwheel; it was practically a prerequsite of childhood. No one ever told her or the other kids to stop because it was "dangerous;" in fact, the teachers thought it was good exercise for all of the children. No one worried about a classmate walking into the path of someone's cartwheel; anyone who did would have been arrested for Felony Stupidity. The same philosophy guided the careful avoidance of any door that might open unexpectedly. And as for emulating each other's moves, DW's friends were in constant competition to see who could do the most flipovers without running out of breath. If someone else's method looked easier, it was copied by everyone in the group. DW's late father had a saying that he would use when she aggravated him to the point of terminal frustration: "Kids should be born when they're 5 years old and turn 18 on their next birthday." This is obviously what happened to Ms. Patton. She seems to have completely missed an era of her life that should have been filled with the same exuberance that Deirdre Faegre demonstrated on that playground. But in this case, DW will let Deirdre's dad, Leland, have the last word: "Contact sports, apparently, are fine. But this one is so ... dangerous it requires the cartwheel cops." It's all right, Mr. Faegre. As far as DaWebmistress knows, the Felony Stupidity law is still on the books, and it applies to school principals, too.
Comments
dejuanp ::: Favorites yeah, they show this on cnn, but i wonder when the jena 6 story will be shown again...but i guess this is something that's going on that the world just needs to talk ab0ut. no offense to the poster. amazing what is priority in this country. 07-09-09 18:50:54 __________________________________________________
lfaegre ::: Favorites "The plain reality is that the Constitution as originally adopted, and expounded in The Federalist, is no longer with us; the forms and titles remain, there are still entities called states, and there are divisions of administrative function. But the system of limited powers that was supposed to be the palladium of our freedoms has been consigned these fifty years and more to the dustbin of forgotten doctrines." ---M. Stanton Evans 07-08-25 11:12:19 __________________________________________________
freedomfry17 ::: Favorites TOO MANY WORDS. here you go, you can just copy and paste. "I think people who attend public schools are idiots/ unable to think for themselves" It seems that someone who thinks lowly of the citizens of a nation thinks lowly of the nation itself. I'll dredge up a few "on the record" statements next post... or will you ban me before that time comes? 07-08-25 10:24:27 __________________________________________________
lfaegre ::: Favorites Everyone who attends a public school is a prisoner of the state as they are likely unable to escape the tyrannical system of indoctrination commonly referred to as a 'public school.' I am a perennial candidate for public office including but not limited to the California State Legislature and United States Congress. So I am already on record... 07-08-24 21:53:20 __________________________________________________
freedomfry17 ::: Favorites Just for the record, would you mind coming out and saying that you think everyone who attends a public school is an idiot? Because that'd be insulting, what, at least 80% of the US population? 07-08-24 21:00:06 __________________________________________________
lfaegre ::: Favorites What have you been smoking? 07-08-24 20:03:16 __________________________________________________
lfaegre ::: Favorites The federalism of the Framers did not authorize road construction in the enumerated powers clause of the Constitution. You must be public school educated... Ron Paul for President of the United States, 2008 07-08-24 20:02:09 __________________________________________________
lfaegre ::: Favorites Where liberty exists, the subject is moot as decisions concerning labor are not the domain of the state... 07-08-24 19:57:57 __________________________________________________
freedomfry17 ::: Favorites #10- "Abolition of children's factory labour" so what, should children be working in factories? or do you just pick and choose what parts of the manifesto you rally against? 07-08-24 10:37:38 __________________________________________________
freedomfry17 ::: Favorites hey, I bet there's also something about road mantainance in the Communist Manifesto too! Are you against road maintainance? 07-08-24 10:22:18 __________________________________________________