Does A School Have The Right To Confiscate...

[Boski51]

Did you read the thread? Anyone who is going to cuss someone for disrespecting them looses the right to expect treatment as a mature person. Sorry...

As for you outwitting your principal



Trust me, when 99% of adults will tell you this, you are not some great exception, its part of life. I'm sorry, it just is and eventually you learn it. Though, the same as most of us were, telling you this will not convince you, its something you learn in time.

Lohman446: You and I finally agree on a topic! When I took Con Law in college I was surprised how "flexible" the constitution really is. Fact is this: You only have the rights that are fashionible in the time you live and those you fight for.

I really feel for the kid that started this thread. He is getting a public education of what not to do when you get caught doing something your not suppose to. When in doubt-pull the race card (What was that? I never got that point in the argument.)

[Eric Cartman]

It still appalls me today to find that people will treat teenagers like they are 5 years old when the truth is they are more mature than most adults.

A teenager is not stupid/immature because he or she is in highschoo. You do learn more as you become older but when a person says immature, it infers that compared to the general population they act like little kids.

The phrase "respect your elders" is the worst attempt at calling younger people idiots. Just because you are older than someone does not mean you are better.

I still remember feeling just the way you do now. The feeling that adults are looking down on you and not taking you seriously is hard to take. Although you won't believe this now, you will look down on teenagers and disregard them when you hit your late twenties / early thirties in exactly the same way that rankles you now. You'll realize it when it happens and you'll be able to laugh at the irony. Again, I know you don't believe me now, but you will in another 10 / 15 years. As lohman said, you are no great exception and we all go through this.

[slade]

Lockers are always fair game because of technical ownership, and it appears if your in the school so is your bag / person. What a crock. That being said, I don't think your vehicle ever is... Obviously I don't totally know that. I guess it comes down to, is the administrator acting as your guardian with your parents not present (and everyone elses) or is he/she acting as an agent of the state. If they are not an agent of the state then a lot of your rights just left...

my post had nothing to do with lockers, just vehicles. even though the parking lot is on school property, youd think that it would be the same as public property considering its a public school, but aparently not. also my school has an on campus parking lot and a parking lot at a baseball field ~5-10 minutes walk away, which isnt school property... although ive heard that the same rules apply there because it is "official school parking".

i dont drink or do any drugs, but that isnt what bothers me. in part it is that i think it does violate the rights of the students, and even though i dont have anything to hide i wouldnt want someone searching my car. second of all, im not the only one that uses my car. technically, it is a "family" car and when my sister comes home from college (or during the summer) i share the car with her. she goes to an art school, enough said. i cleaned out the car just last week actually and found a can of beer under the passenger seat. i had driven to school unknowingly with that can of beer from the first week of school. what if it was found during a search? i didnt even know it was there.

also, this has never happened and i dont think it will, but suppose i went to paintball practice sunday and when i got home, forgot to take my gear out of the car. i left my bag in the trunk or back seat. then i stayed up a bit too late, slept in, and was late for school, and forgot about it. then someone searches my car and finds my gear.

Typical response from another 16 year old smart aleck.

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something."
-- Plato

sometimes i hate it when people try to throw in quotes they know like that. Plato said quite a few things i think (and others would agree) are stupid, not right, or blatantly wrong. he said in the ideal city, rulers should lie and decieve their subjects as they see necessary, and "inferior" babies should be killed. He said democracy is the second to worst government possible, only slightly better than tyrrany. and he also talked at length about sexual relationships with young boys.

[Lohman446]

There is an interesting legal theory here I had explained to me. I'm sure its a lot more complicated than I understand it, but...

In reality only agents of the state are bound to not intrude on your rights. For instance, if you were hiding a murder weapon in your house, and I broke in, found it, and turned it over to the state they would be allowed to use it - as long as they had not directed me in its aquisition.

As such, if a school administrator, in a search is acting as your guardian (and the gaurdian of all the other students there) they may in fact have the full right to search you and your possessions at any time and for any reason. They may also have the right to take possession of your private property. If your parents do not object this is almost certainly true in a school setting. However, if they find a violation of law, they may hand it over to the authorities without your parents permission (in some cases they may be required to).

Its an interesting concept and to some extent valid. Certainly every day care provider / baby sitter cannot be expected to never intrude on the protections you have from the state and you are not protected from your legal guardians or parents doing it. If they are your gaurdian, then your car may well be within there rights to inspect and search. Though there power likely only goes as far as your parents would allow them, the question is, are your parents going to object before or after? If they object before hand, formally, is the school going to allow you to attend? There rights go a long way into intruding on yours, and unless your parents (or you if your 18) stand up for those rights, you may find that intrusion acceptable under the law.

My personal opinion of school administrators, teachers, and activist judges who abuse there power aside, one has to look at the reasoning behind these decisions and the attempt for the greater good. As much as I do not like the above three, you can see cases where it has helped. Still doesn't change my opinion, but I am surely not going to deny all benefits.

[SCpoloRicker]

Get Off My Lawn!!

/seriously, you're retards
//I was too, of course
///Porch!!, etc.

[Migz]

Okay I'm kind of lost here are flash drive against the rules or did you have something on your flash drive that was against the rules.

[stop whining buy a mag]

Did you read the thread? Anyone who is going to cuss someone for disrespecting them looses the right to expect treatment as a mature person. Sorry...

As for you outwitting your principal



Trust me, when 99% of adults will tell you this, you are not some great exception, its part of life. I'm sorry, it just is and eventually you learn it. Though, the same as most of us were, telling you this will not convince you, its something you learn in time.

I actually replied early on in the thread and followed it. I found it quite interesting because this happens in my school often. We have administrators who like to be rule Nazis. When someone challenges their authority, as in Echo's case, they immediately go into psycho mode and try to use powers they don't really have. I think cussing at someone is different than cussing for emphasis/frustration. If he went as far as calling the principal a SOB etc then it is disrespect. I don't think that should matter much though because it has nothing to do with the law. If the teacher can't show a list of rules that state you are not allowed to have flash drives and get students to back her then what the principal (and she) did was completely wrong.

I understand that life experiences (over time) can make a person wiser than another person. It just makes me mad when a crackhead (or someone of similar status) tells me to "respect my elders". I don't believe overall intelligence grows as you get older. Lost my thoughts on this.

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that the punishment for not going to school is not being allowed to go to school?

[Warewolf50]

This thread is rather upsetting. It still appalls me today to find that people will treat teenagers like they are 5 years old when the truth is they are more mature than most adults.

A teenager is not stupid/immature because he or she is in highschoo. You do learn more as you become older but when a person says immature, it infers that compared to the general population they act like little kids.

The phrase "respect your elders" is the worst attempt at calling younger people idiots. Just because you are older than someone does not mean you are better. I recently had a conference with my Assistant Principal about punishing me for skipping. There's a lot of background to it but in the end he told me that I would most likely be suspended. I gave him a blank stare for a few seconds and asked him what I had done wrong. He told me I had "attempted to leave campus which is against school policy". I then asked him for a definition of suspension. His exact words were "a punishment in which a student is not allowed on campus for an allotted amount of time". I put 2 and 2 together for him and told him what was so hypocritical about this. Against school policy, I attempted to leave campus. Now coming on to school campus would be against school policy. He thought about it for a second and explained to me how my parents would react to it. I explained to him that if my parents reacted in a negative way, I'd be sitting in my room all day most likely sleeping. Sounds like an amazing punishment to me.

Echo, you seem very mature and knowledgable about your rights. Using profanity does hurt your case a little (because it is against school policy, I do not care for respect) but what the principal did was illegal as long as the files in your flash drive did not contain anything seemingly malicious. File the complaint.

Hmm on a seperate note, the punishment in suspension is not having to miss school it is that normally you are not allowed to make up any work that your miss while you are suspended which really hurts your grade. A 0 on a missed test that you cant get any more credit for is a real grade killer.

So if you care about your grades and your future at all it is a bad punishment

You really out witted your principal on that one.

[skife]

Echo419, you should be punished further for swearing at the principal.... causing a scene, ect...

c'mon kid. he was "disrespecting me" People disrespect people ever single day, suck it up, he's got more athority than you, respect that, he's in charge of a whole school, respect that. What have you done that you should earn so much respect.... Respect isn't handed out man, its earned....

[maxama10]

maybe the principal should earn echos respect then?

[tsc]

maybe the principal should earn echos respect then?

Adults do not have to earn the respect of the minors in their charge. It should be given freely of, at the very least, a sense of overall respect for one's more experienced and educated elders.

Some points:

This is not a constitutional matter. Period. Nowhere in the constitution is a clause protecting bratty high schoolers.

High school students have no rights while on school grounds, regardless of any rights given to minors outside of school.

If there were executables on the drive, he was violating school policy. Odds are, using the drive on the computer is also a violation, unless otherwise stated.

It's high school. Count yourself lucky if this is the most grevious atrocity ever commited against you, or the most hardship you will ever have to endure.

[Boski51]

maybe the principal should earn echos respect then?

Why? The kid screwed up. The principle has no need to "earn" the respect of the student. That's not what school is for.

Wait until you get to college and pull that #$%$. Your out AND they keep your money! Or when your at work. Your out and you don't get ANYMORE money.

You'll see.

[TheDuelist]

Interesting. Echo's last post was 8:30 this morning. I wonder what that says?

[The Action Figure]

your principals gay, mine carries a baseball bat around

[tsc]

your principals gay, mine carries a baseball bat around

What a stellar example of what an educator is supposed to be.