The PTA of Ridgemont High was fed up with the use of crack, pot and coke among the students.The PTA of Ridgemont High was fed up with the use of crack, pot and coke among the students. At each meeting, the teachers complained about how difficult it was to control their classes. Teen-age sex was also rampant. What were they going to do? Mrs. Stanley, the PTA president, presented a solution. "Discipline," she said sternly. "Good, old-fashioned discipline. A whack on the butt. More formalized public spankings. It worked in my day. It will work today." The teachers and the parents agreed. The town council had never passed a rule outlawing corporal punishment in the public schools. The only reason physical punishment had never been used at the high school before was because some of the parents had objected. Now, things had gone too far. The PTAtook a vote. 66 out of 70 members for, 3 against, l abstention. It was agreed that a behavior code and list of punishments would be posted for the students. The next morning, students giggled in disbelief as they read the following notice posted on each homeroom bulletin board and in every hall: The students of Ridgemont High School have been granted the right and privilege of a free, public education by the laws of the United States. Any student who interferes with any other student's right to that education, whether through an act of negligence or malice, has trespassed against his or her fellow student's rights and against the rights of the entire student body and faculty. Consequently, that student shall be punished. |