A chat with my tenant's son about his school project

He's 16 and said his teacher told him his essay on internet regulation was 'too political' and he had to pick a new topic. It hit different because he was just trying to analyze the rules on a gaming forum he uses. Has anyone else seen this kind of thing happen in schools now?

3 comments

3 Comments

jaken232mo agoTop Commenter

Teachers are scared of everything now. Kid should have just turned it in anyway.

ericp672mo ago

It's the same reason you can't find a decent playground anymore, @jaken23. Everything gets padded or taken out over some tiny chance of trouble. The kid's project probably got flagged by a system looking for problems that aren't really there. We've built a whole world where the safest move is to do nothing at all, so of course a teacher would rather avoid it. Turning it in anyway just gets you a meeting with the principal.

noahjenkins1mo ago

My nephew's school banned baking soda volcanoes last year. The teacher said it was a safety issue because someone might get it in their eyes. It's not about real danger, it's about covering themselves from any possible complaint. That fear of getting in trouble kills creativity and turns teachers into rule enforcers. The system punishes any small risk, so of course they shut things down. We're teaching kids that playing it safe is more important than trying anything.