Ari Hoffman, 15, a high school sophomore in Mill Valley, Calif., who demonstrated the effect of radiation on fruit fly reproduction, was disqualified from the Bay Area Science Fair in San Francisco because some of his flies never woke up from anesthesia and others were euthanized because they became infected with mites, violating science fair rules against cruelty to animals.-Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 3/21/96
-- RASchultz --, March 22, 1997
I'm not sure if this story can be taken as a heart- felt politically correct compromise or an example of the irrational craziness infecting the country and it's schools. Recently the Chicago Sun-Times devoted many articles to the ongoing story of an 8 year old student who refused to not wear his earring to class. The child's parents supported this decision, saying that it was unfair that female students were allowed to wear earrings to school, but the male students were not. They also said the school was violating his right to express his individuality. The school board responded that the ban on earrings was an anti gang measure, and said that they didn't want to suspend the child, but would have no choice. Seven other boys at the school also had earrings, and they all removed them when asked. The child's parents refused to comply, and the child said he wasn't in a gang and just wanted to be like his idols Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan. Finally acompromise was reached and the boy was allowed to keep his earring if he covered it with a band aid. Is it just me, or are both sides a little crazy here?
-- Frank Malinowski, May 14, 1998