Metal Detectors..., A rant and a question..

[Wing]

Okay I really need to rant. >=O You guys don't have to read it but I have to questions at the end that you can skip to. ^^

-rant-

I'm SO mad. The stupid City--no no, I mean Mayor and Chancellor just issued a reinforcement policy on no taking cellphones and anything metal to school for that matter in ALL Middle and High Schools in the City. They're checking up on us randomly. >_< I think this is INSANE. Not only does my school is 3500+ students but HOW in the WORLD are they going to scan every single kid by 8 AM. Doen't that seem unrealistic? I'm going to miss my classes!! Argh and then I get out of school at 5:30...and I need to contact my parents. x_x Traveling around the city and the five boroughs is not safe. This is NYC for goodness sakes~ NYC was one of the places that terrorists have attacked. But no, that's not the whole reason I'm mad. My poor cellphone.. ;_; ...I feel lost without it lol. I don't use it at school but I know my parents are just a call away lol. I greatly dislike the mayor and the chancellor. >=O. Petition time. I hope I can. This so UNFAIR! Also, they are searching bookbags...I don't think that's right. You know, like invasion of privacy? I learned in my law class that only if there is reason to believe that there is something wrong with a student then they can check, but other than that it is invasion of privacy. When we go through the detectors too, if we wear belts we have to take them off! >_< Gah...! What is happening to my school system...I'm so mad. Angry.

-End rant-


Okay. If you didn't read the rant, it's okay. I just need to get that out!! I'm so angry.

-Do you think it's right for schools to search bookbags by law?
-Do you think it's right to take away cellphones when parents obviously need to check up on their children? I'm talking about mostly middle school kids (11 year olds that travel to school by themselves) and some high school kids (like me ^^.. yea. I call my parents when I get out of school.).

[Hasaki-Keissi]

Personally, and according to the Bill of Rights, it is a violation of Guaranteed rights to all persons under, if I remember correctly, the Fourth Amendment. Under the clause that states something along the lines that all are protected from UNLAWFUL search and siezure, which in essence means that they do not have a warrant issued by a judge or if it is not in the interests of national security. (Which by the way; the NSA, CIA, and FBI are exempt from this rule by some exectuive order in their founding guidelines from the presidents at the times they were formed.)

As far as I see it, it is an unlawful order and the masses have three options by which to deal with it:

1.) The people can accept and abide by the Law.

2.) The people can abide by the law and actively try to change it.

3.) The people can choose to disobey the law and actively try to change it.

These are the very principles by which the American system works, aka Civil Disobedience. It is also said that, "If there is a law or measure that a government institutes, that is unjust, it is the duty of the people to change it." Or something to that effect, but I'm sure that you get the point.

And the last time I checked, the Mayor or the Chancellor have no power to issue such a law. That is similar to when in 1906 the Mayor of San Francisco declaired Martial Law after the Earthquake. (Maybe not the best example n the world and perhaps a tad bit extreme, but I hope that it prooves my point.) These types of things, one must read through the state's constitution and figure out if they have overstepped their boundaries. If they have, then it is your job to notfiy the proper people so that it can be taken care of. (I know for a fact that a Mayor can not issue such a thing in my state. [Big history bum and has read through my state's constitution.])

You ahve every right to be angry. (On a lesser note, it reminds me of the last rally my high school had. During the rally [they're manditory, so we make do with what we got and what we have.] Someone in my section [I was sitting with the Seniors] pulled out a beach ball and everyone was hitting it around. When they took it away, there was an uproar and people were openly cussing out the teachers and administration. It was almost to the point of riot. So maybe that isn't exactly the same, but I hope that you can see where I'm coming from.) Now, I'm no saying that you should riot, but it's always there. And there are other ways of getting revenge and protest on them. (Like having everyone refure to talk for the entire day, or something like that. Have everyone take a complete vow of silence and protest against work and testing. So that the issue is brought up in the media or something like that.)

I hope that it is resolved for you in the end. I hope that this has either given you some ideas or some way to look at it to get what you want. And remember, you are the power of the future, they can never take that away from you. The politicans have no power over you, but you have power over them.

[Kaname-chan]

frankly, I'm surprised they didn't do it sooner (not that I think it's right...)

I can't really say anything because I live in the suburbs and don't spend a lot of time in any city, but from the two times I've been to NYC....I can say I wouldn't want to be "stranded" out there >_< I think I'd want a phone....(this is coming from the only person over the age of 12 who doesn't have one currently, lol) But I'm also a little biased on the issue too. I don't think younger people should be allowed to have them at all...but that's because in the suburbs when you don't need them for 'safety' issues, people still bring them into class and disrupt class and are generally annoying. I can't speak for life in the city though ;;;

But even in my high school, they had sentries at each door and you couldn't enter or leave without them checking their palm pilots to make sure you were supposed to be there (they had everybody's schedule in those things...). And this was only months after 9/11 (I was just starting 11th grade when that happened) so it's a marvel that a NYC school is only starting this....

Not that I agree with it.....it's unconstitutional after all...but they again, they do it theme parks and stuff like that too...so it's really not surprising. Annoying, though. Eh, I'll shut up. I'm probably not making any sense anyway Wing-chan, Ganbatte!

[Hasaki-Keissi]

Maybe social climates are vastly different between our communities, but it is for safety reasons that every person in my town has one, that is over the age of 10.

And my school, well...secretly, the janitors keep shotguns close by just in case...and they're locked up as well...so no worries.

Tsu-chan, you aren't alone in the thoughts you have. (At least on this issue.)

[Steve007101]

Well, first up, Kanamechan you're not the only one over 12 who doesn't have a cellphone, I don't either. I live in the suburbs too, I don't really have a social life as you may know, and it's really not a hastle to ask someone else for a phone if I need one anyway. I think Hasaki was dead on considering all things lawful or otherwise.

On cellphones, not just lawfully, but it's not practical at all to do that either. If it's a personal problem with cell phones that's up to the teacher and administrators to deal with, I know our school works it out pretty well and the teachers are tough but fair, but if it's an information problem the government 99% of the time if better off going straight to the companies themselves running the services and most of the time they wisely cooperate with reasonable evidence. However, that's just for cell phones, if you were to go with metal detection entirely that's even less practical and so extremely costly and time consuming it's insane to suggest it unless it was done with passive monitoring systems in the first place if there even was a good reason to do it as well.

But let's say they don't have a convincing reason, honestly I personally wouldn't mind it, if it would be better for us and we weren't even identified personally unless we fit a certain criteria then it would be perfectly ok with me to monitor us all passively, but that's just me and if it wasn't time consuming on our part.

[Wing]

Honestly, the only thing that they did after 9/11 was cut out all trips and we had 9/12 off from school but that was it. -_-;;

Well...I only got the cellphone when I was 15. It wasn't because I wanted it but because when I was 15 I moved out of the borough that I lived in and into another but I didn't switch schools. It really doesn't matter that I didn't switch schools because all the boroughs belong to NYC, but the distance now was that I had to cross a bridge to go to school. My parents got it for me so that I can keep in contact with them and they were really paranoid after 9/11 since the City is one of the targets. Not only my parents but a lot of parents are paranoid, so the cellphones are like the connection to their children. I rarely use mine though. (Only my parents and bff call me on it.)

I was just mad because I just hate it when they punish a whole group of people for the ones that are actually guilty. I don't use it in school. It just makes me feel safe..yea.. ^^;; It's always off. No one can get through to me. -_-;; lol.

In a city this big with so many people, it's kind of good that you have a cell. Over the years since 9/11, my parents have not let me freely walk in Manhattan when there were the yellow alerts and stuff like that. Of course, nothing happened, but yea...it's the city. Crazy drivers. I'll admit that. I love NY but its crazy sometimes.

Okay I'm rambling, so thanks Hasaki for backing that up with that info. ^^. I really want to make a petition, but yeaa. I'm kind of shy lol. Oh well. I may do that. A lot of teachers aren't happy with this either so yea. Gotta talk to my law teacher. Hehe.

Anyway, I think that it's stupid because my school has a campus which is really rare in my urban kind of setting...so if they put metal detectors right outside the gate, kids are going to see it and turn around and go back home. (They tried detectors at one other HS recently and that's what happened). Now, if they do it by the doors going directly into the building, kids can hide whatever they want in the bushes on campus. I don't think that there will be enough people to watch 3500+ kids all at once. ^^;;

The chancellor said that this was to cut down on violence but then yea, like my teachers said, if they want to carry a weapon into school, they'll find a way to get past it. (This girl at this other HS got her cellphone pass the detectors by hiding it in her bra. -_-;;) But overall at the school, they confiscated 129 cells. ;_;

About the cellphone ringing in class that Steve mentioned... it happens, but not everyday. Maybe once a week? It happens but it's not that common. Even teachers cells ring in class and some of them answer it. =X

Honestly, if my school was smaller and such, maybe I wouldn't be so mad. It's the line that's going to kill...

Thanks Kaname-nee. ^^ Yea. I know, they do it at themeparks but they don't take away cells lol. In the city, getting to and from school, we mostly rely on public transportation of trains and buses and some come in cars so on these long rides, a lot of kids carry their music players and cells to entertain themselves while they're on the train because sometimes, the trains are delayed. I dunno. I guess the city is just too dependant on technology to get around everyday.

Thanks Steve. *sigh* 3500+ students. -_-;; Hehe. My friend's school has 4000. :D I want to know how many classes they are going to miss.

Here's the article when it was put into effect:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/27/nyregion...r=1&oref=slogin

And this is what our wonderful Chancellor said:

"Chancellor Klein defended the scanning and the cellphone ban yesterday, telling reporters that students had used cellphones to take pictures in locker rooms, cheat on exams and summon friends to start fights."

(I don't see kids using Cellphones to take pics in the locker rooms. There is a teacher in the locker rooms.. -_-;; Cheat on exams? How? If we don't go out of the classroom? Teacher could just ask to hold the cell while the kid goes to the bathroom if they are so worried about that.. O.o fights...I don't see many of those and if there are fights the police is called. I've only seen the police at my school for various reasons about 5 times this year.)

As well as this teacher from that high school:

"If it's really an emergency, the parents can call the school."

(...I'd like to ask this teacher, if the student is travelling to school in the morning or travelling home in the afternoon when school is not in session and the parent wants to know how their kid is doing, travelling home... will they call the school and ask them, "Is [insert name] at [insert street name] and is she/he doing okay?" ... I wonder how the school will have that info.)

O.o this is getting too long...oops, sorry. ^^.

[Hasaki-Keissi]

The most compelling reason for having cell phones in the hands of the student body during school hours, is unfortunately a rather grim circumstance. An organized group of criminals, you can call them terrorists if you likes. (And situations like this have occurred overseas.) Where a group of highly armed "soldiers" has taken over a school during the operational hours and has held the students captive. Now during such occasions, the armed men usually secure any and all communications in and out of a school and usually consist of a group numbering over 40 or so, so escape will result in deaths. This, though, the likelihood of it happening within US borders is slim, the possiblity still remains. Now assumbing that they don't take away the kids cell phones or someone managed to hide one somewhere even if they did take the others away, that one phone has become a life line to the trapped students and allows the police to coordinate with the people inside the school that would be willing to rise up and overtake their captors. This requires timing, and only at key points like when they arange for food to be brought in, or other such points in time; can such an event take place. (I hope that I am not making to grim a scanerio for you people.) Now, the chances of one cell phone getting by them, if they do take them; is much higher if there are many cell phones in a given population of students.

Moving on from the situation I have drawn up. They haven't realized that their supposed "master" plan, is nothing more than a answer searching for a problem, so what do they do, they draw up a problem that never existed in the first place and only after this falacy has taken root, do they come forth and show their true faces and agendas by revealing a plan to fix the nonexistent evils and problems in our world. They do this without thought or concern. They just want to look good on paper. These people, have no understanding of the world as it really, but only the world of their falacies and deceits.

This is almost tyrannical, yet it is masked in the face of the percieved public "good."

These evils that he spoke of are nothing but mere fiction to suit his personal agenda. Damn elitist swine of a politician; he serves not the public, but only the people that give him money and his own personal agenda. He speaks a poison so soft that it can seep into the deepest recesses of society and people wouldn't even know it was there.

The schools are no better, they speak to comfort, but what they do is meerly bowing to their mischevious and decietful masters. They haven't the heart to say what needs to be said, such people aren't worthy of respect. They aren't worth half of what they speak.

If this is allowed to pass, there will be nothing stopping them from doing even more things that violate our basic civil liberties and our basic rights as people. I know that NYC gov has never been a clean government (and I mean everything from the police all the way up to the highest point.) in anyway of the phrase.