Here's yet another reason why Canada's schools suck.

King said he was threatened with police action by Principal Susan Wilson previously after making the case that marijuana was less harmful than alcohol.

"In my opinion, cannabis is safer than they say, it is not worse than alcohol or tobacco," said King, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student.

A curious student goes home and researches a subject in which he's interested. He then discusses his findings with friends at school.

This is how people learn. When you find something interesting, and you dig up all the information you can on the subject. When you find people with similar interests, you share opinions as a group and learn from each others experiences.

Except in Canada. If your facts aren't contained in an education-board prescribed text book that's fifty years old, your opinion not only carries no weight, it's deemed to be dangerous. Asking questions which are not answered in the prescribed reading is exactly how an individual gains greater knowledge of a subject. Any fool can remember that 1+1=2, but if the pupil doesn't ask "Why?", or "How?", then they really haven't learned a damn thing!

What kind of message does this send to kids in our schools? If you ask too many questions and start to think independantly (ie. not agreeing with the school board), you're sorry ass will get suspended, and you're life will be ruined.

Kieran King is no slacker. He's an honor student with all of his grades in the 80's and 90's. And damn lucky for him. Due to his suspension, he'll be forced to miss his final exams. Due to his excellent academic work he'll still be able to pass. And unfortunately his transcript will reflect his ability to think independently as a negative.

With a school system that penalizes students for "thinking outside the box", it's no surprise that:

Compared with other industrialized countries, Canada is sinking in a pool of mediocrity that threatens to pull down our standard of living, says a new report from the Conference Board of Canada. [...]

The report card's results "tell a story of governments, businesses and people punching below their weight," its authors say. Even though the country is rich in natural resources and its population well educated, "too often we trail the pack. The failure to innovate is a large part of the explanation for our mediocrity -- a mediocrity that is hampering what we can do and what we can be."

Labels: Canadian Justice, drugs, etc, Kieran King