The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education really upped that ante on stupid education policies Tuesday when it decided to allow high school students to carry mace amid these turbulent bathroom times in North Carolina. Rebecca Rider brings us part of the sound reasoning for the policy change:
Board member Chuck Hughes was in favor of the sprays on campuses, saying that in his mind, they were purely defensive. He also referenced HB2, saying that the sprays might be useful.
“Depending on how the courts rule on the bathroom issues, it may be a pretty valuable tool to have on the female students if they go to the bathroom, not knowing who may come in,” he said.
“Depending on how the courts rule,” huh? You mean, if they decide trans students can use the proper bathrooms? Absolutely, protection is in order! Let’s arm a bunch of pubescent teens who don’t have fully formed brains yet with a weapon and then create a culture of hysteria around their bathroom peers—what could go wrong?
But members were still concerned that the sprays could be used for purposes other than defense. The board’s lawyer, Ken Soo, said that there have been few cases of a student using Mace against a teacher.
There’s a reason high school students are prohibited from doing things like drinking alcohol—because they’re apt to make even dumber decisions than when they’re sober. Frankly, it’s a teenager’s rite of passage to make stupid decisions, and it’s the responsibility of the adults around them to help limit the damage inflicted by those decisions. Unfortunately, the teens in the Rowan-Salisbury school system are stuck with the severe lack of sophistication afflicting some of the grown ups around them.
Let’s hope no innocent bystanders (i.e. students) who are simply trying to pee fall victim to this asinine thinking. But if someone does, let’s also hope they sue these bumbling board members for everything they’re worth … and then some.