You Can’t Do That!

Or when will they ever learn?

Two things in the news that caught my eye today, they both involve school that prohibited students from doing something so they wouldn’t get bullied. The schools have it backwards.

The first was in North Carolina where a boy was prohibited from wearing a “My Little Pony” backpack,

School Bans Boy From Wearing ‘My Little Pony’ Backpack, Claims It’s A ‘Trigger For Bullying’
Think Progress
By Judd Legum
March 17, 2014

A 9-year-old boy from North Carolina was bullied — punched, pushed and called names — for bringing a My Little Pony lunch sack to school. The school has responded by telling the boy, Grayson Bruce, to leave the sack at home, calling it a “trigger for bullying.”

Grayson says My Little Pony is his favorite cartoon. In a statement, the school said that Grayson’s bag “created a disruption in the classroom.” The school said they were looking into the conduct of the bullies but have, to date, taken no public action.

And the other case was in Arkansas  at the Sheridan High School in Sheridan,

Arkansas High School Blocks Gay Student's Yearbook Profile
Bilerico
Filed By John M. Becker
March 17, 2014

Administrators at Sheridan High School in Sheridan, Arkansas are in hot water today after they refused to publish a profile about a gay student in this year's yearbook.
[…]
The principal says the decision was made to avoid bullying, but Bruner and Ellis are calling shenanigans. "[E]verybody knows that I'm gay so it wouldn't be any different," Ellis said. Bruner adds, "I'm not going to be walked on with this because it's important to me and to Taylor and to all the other students who were interviewed and the yearbook staff."

The Arkansas Student Publications Act protects students' right to free expression in student publications.

There have been so many court cases that have been found in favor of the students that the schools should have known not to do what they did. Also they are required by law to prove a safe space for learning and you don’t do that by going after the victim but you go after the bully.