California State Senator Says Kids Make Bad Decisions, Discipline is Racist
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California State Senator Says Kids Make Bad Decisions, Discipline is Racist
In a stunning display of either an abysmal level of self-awareness, or an incredible amount of rubbing salt in a wound, California State Senator Skinner (D-Berkeley) cited current neuroscience to claim that kids do not make good decisions, are "immature" and "impetuosity" and thus should not be held accountable for acts of willful defiance. It would be racist to do so.
Before continuing, keep in mind these same people think a child as young as two years-old should be able to make life-altering decisions about their gender (without parents knowledge) and are willing to kidnap children from other States for the purpose of surgical mutilation and chemical castration. That is the salt.
California Senate Bill 274 (SB 274) states: "(a) For more than a decade, the Supreme Court, in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), and supported by neuroscience research, has recognized that young people are different and, because of the hallmark features of youth, such as “immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences,” are both not as culpable as older people and capable of remarkable change."
That is just one of the justifications for SB 274 however, and one most of us realize is true, which is why we are against the highly advertised and pushed for Transgender movement. The California Legislature recognized this fact before, in the California PEACE ACT in 2021.
Sen. Skinner proposes to extend current law (hers as well) that bans suspending K-8 students for willful defiance of school administrators, teachers, and staff, which traces back to two pieces of legislation from 2014 and 2019, the latter also authored by Skinner. The current law sunsets in 2025, Skinner's proposed legislation makes the ban permanent.
Specifically, the bill "bill would remove disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties from the list of acts for which a pupil, regardless of their grade of enrollment, may be suspended or recommended for expulsion. The bill would extend the prohibition against the suspension of charter school pupils for those acts to all grades, indefinitely."
There was a little add-on at the end there, "Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil who is truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities."
Skinner, on her website, states "“SB 274 is based on a simple premise: Students belong in school. Suspending youth for low-level behavior issues leads to significant harm...." Skinner does recognize that "Willful defiance suspensions cover a highly subjective category of student behavior including a student not removing a hat or hoodie in class."
Extrapolating from there "willful defiance" could also include refusing to stop talking, changing seats, putting phones away, taking selfies, making out with boyfriends/girlfriends... students can simply say no.
Imagine being a high school teacher with a class of 35-40 teenagers, who can wander into your class anytime they want, leave anytime they want, do anything they want, and defy you all they want. What is your day like?
Skinner justifies her legislation not just with the obvious kids don't make good decisions science (unless the decision is to "change genders"), but also because of the bogey-man of all bogey-man causes--RACISM.
Skinner cites the California School Board Association that posits "California’s Black pupils are suspended at a far higher rate than their peers." Another reference is A 2018 study that "shows willful defiance suspensions represent 15 percent of all suspensions in grades 4 to 12, inclusive, and 21 percent in grades 7 and 8, among Black male pupils." Skinner also claims, with no evidence, that "Research confirms that pupils of color, pupils who are homeless, pupils with disabilities, pupils in foster care, and LGBTQIA+ pupils are more likely to be suspended for behavior deemed to be a willfully defiant offense even when harmless."
Harmless? What happens if you give a mouse a cookie? Willful defiance will not be harmless when students figure out there are no repercussions for their actions? If students lack maturity how will they know where to draw the line? Is this intended to force districts to implement MTSS programs?
Lance Christensen, who ran for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2022, perhaps gave a glimpse when responding to a Fox40 News report about a fatal stabbing at a high school in Northern California.
Christensen also stressed the importance of contacting your State representatives to oppose SB 274. If you don't know who those are, look to your counties Registrar of Voters office. If in Riverside county, use the "Elected Officials/District Lookup to on the left menu at voteinfo.net.