Should Students Be Suspended for Flatulence? Child Discipline Experts Clear the Air
I'm keepin' this door open til you two stop.
Just when you thought you’d heard it all comes this little gem from Ohio. Thirteen-year-old Anthony Nicols and one of his Canal Winchester Middle School classmates were recently part of a ruckus on the ol’ school bus. Could you describe the ruckus?
Why, yes. Indeed I could. It was the passing of gas. The boys were turned in by the bus driver who had apparently grown weary of the adolescents’ adolescent hijinks. But did their flatulence really deserve suspension?
According to school administrators, it did. For the act of passing gas, they concluded, was an “obscene gesture” which had violated the school’s code of conduct, an offense punishable by suspension.
So, okay, we’ve all been there, right? I mean, at least I have. On a school bus, that is. And I don’t know about your school bus experience, but mine? It contained some flatulence. Was it disgusting? No question. Childish? By it’s very definition.
But was it something I’d describe as obscene? No.
Obscene is a modifier that belongs to phone calls or smut mags. Not to boys who pass gas. They’re covered quite nicely with words like gross.
Besides, if flatulence were a suspendible offense at my middle school, then one thing’s for sure: my 8th grade classroom would’ve been pretty empty most of the time. Especially on the boys’ side of the room.
So, to me, the punishment didn’t fit the crime. And it appears as if I’m not the only one who feels that way.
Parenting expert Dr. Michele Borba, had this to say about the episode:
“Obscene would be egregiously disrespectful, something that would offend every other child. Obscene would be something that would offend any other child’s character and well-being. Is this obscene? No … I can’t imagine any other child on that bus that hasn’t been exposed to this or done it himself.”
And you know she’s right. Because she’s right about everything. Including her take on a certain book about triplets she read. And loved! But I digress.
So how should the episode have been handled? Borba suggests simply separating the two, um, noise makers. Have one sit in the front of the bus and one sit in the back. But suspending them? Too much.
Borba’s colleague Dr. Marvin Marshall agrees.
“The person who did the suspending should be suspended themself. It is absolutely ridiculous to do this.”
What to you think? Does this type of disturbance deserve a suspension? Or is this just an example of kids being kids?
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Source: AOL
Unless they were forcibly holding another child down or cornering them into a seat and releasing their gas upon him/her, then no, they did not deserve a suspension. If the flatulating friends are repeat offenders (seems that way) I would say maybe a few detentions would be in order. To that (as a reasonable additional punishment) the two boys having to write on the chalk board “I will respectfully refrain from releasing acoustic preludes to a poop while in confined spaces” 100 times. That seems more fitting than a suspension.
Redonkulous.
The word “inept” comes to mind when reading about Canal Winchester Middle School’s response to the flatulent happy lads. Perhaps detention, or more appropriately clean up duty would have been more appropriate. I get the idea of enforcing policy to maintain order but the interpretation of said policy really needs to be handled by responsible adults to be effective.
Vincent | CuteMonster.com
No, I don’t think it warrants suspension from school but it may have been appropriate to issue a warning and then suspend their bus privileges for awhile. Maybe it’s not obscene but the driver and other students shouldn’t have to put up with it either.
@angela—no argument here. it’s gross. yet not obscene.
@vincent—RIGHT ON!
@goddess—totally.
@Juli—do you watch the Simpsons? hmm? do you?
This just seems dumb.
@LindaTOO—i agree
@JBoogie—well, not to split hairs with you, but each and every time one passes gas, technically, they have gas. but i get what you’re saying. and i agree. i don’t think that these boys had a chronic GI issue they were battling. assuming the boys have done the whole fart-on-the-bus time and time again, i agree w/ you. banning them from the bus would be an appropriate measure. but not suspension.
as far as the excuse question, it’s a good one and a fair one. i guess i’d turn it around on you. at what point do you think the excuse stops being an excuse? these boys were in middle school, yet you say of your 9th grade class: “I always have to address this incredibly childish issue at the beginning of the year.” so, are you saying that your 9th graders aren’t “kids being kids”?
thanks for the comment.
I doubt this was a case of these kids really having gas…I teach high school, and I always have to address this incredibly childish issue at the beginning of the year with my ninth graders. They do it on purpose, they do it for laughs, and it’s a major–MAJOR–disruption. Girls start squealing, everyone starts yelling about it stinking, and the boys are guffawing at how hilarious they think they are. It’s gross, and if parents aren’t going to teach their children how to be mature then it’s up to the school. I’d ban them from the bus. And by the way…when does the excuse “its just kids being kids” stop being an excuse?
As long as you aren’t punishing the kid who has a legitimate fart and can’t hold it in. They ARE a fact of life and some people have more issues with gas than others- I know. One of my kids does. The others don’t. But that one just has MUCH more gas and I’m not sure they can hold in each and every one. Granted, you’d probably get SBDs in that one’s case – but you’d still get the stank. Don’t MAKE parents initiate a whole medical education plan just for occasional farts, K? Cause if I had to in order to maintain the integrity of the child’s school record,I would, in a heartbeat.
Good point, JCO. No, I don’t think my 9th graders are “just kids being kids” (although I do believe that our education system should go back to 7-9th grade being middle school and 10-12th high school because of stuff like this, but that’s another thread!). In 9th grade, the boys still think it’s hilarious to fart and and start laughing and pointing fingers. They still want to be the class clown, mostly because their mom is still picking them up in the car line after school and they want to impress their ‘boys’. By 10th grade, they have a friend giving them a ride home from the much better student parking lot, and they realize that that one “cool” girl rolling her eyes and saying “You are so gross” will ruin their chance at getting to touch a boob this weekend.
Farts happen….:-/