SF student suspended over Connecticut poem (about school shooter)

[BarackTheVote]

102. "understanding" is quite often the reult of genuine "trying to understand"

Her teacher should have sat down and talked to her and tried to understand what she was saying in her poem. That's totally cool, and if the teacher had done it with genuine interest in this girl, what she was going through, and what the meaning of the poem was, it would only be encouraging. And if, over the course of that discussion, she learned that the girl was a nutjob, then, okay. Send her to the shrink.

As for your "would you feel the same" comment, I call hyperbole and strawman on you. That is not the situation we're talking about. We are talking about a teenage girl (who is not exactly a high risk profiler for a school shooter) whose work was stolen and used to persecute her. Anyone who respects artistic expression and freedom of speech should be absolutely incensed by this situation. But since you ask the question, yes, I would feel the same, especially since neither of those lines express intent. And it's, frankly, easy to understand monsters, at least in the broadest terms; those lines don't suggest anything more than that. But even if some kind of intent was expressed, I'd still talk to the kid as a first step, maybe bring in the principal at that point, express your concern, and try to see if the kid was just practicing creative writing, or if they really were a danger.