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Fair isn't always fair....

Comment a comment by NastyPrincess, published on 14 September 2007
Navigate to the top level to view all replies to the article Peanut Wars: Inconvenience vs. Death
other nerds have left 4 comments below

VnutZ wrote: >We’re not going to go rubbing peanut butter all over your kid while taunting you with cries of, "death to the genetically inferior."

Always on the extreme side of things VnutZ, but it’s not that far fetched. I went to EMT school with a girl who’s brother was so allergic to peanuts, that if a jar of peanut butter was even opened in the house (it was a large house), he’d go into anphylactic shock. That’s pretty severe. But it didn’t stop there…. He was allergic to eggs and soy products with almost the same intensity and there were other foods on top of those. I believe his family made the correct choice in his case….he was home schooled.

I used to work as a behavioral assistant and I worked with some pretty messed up kids. The jury is still out on Nature vs Nurture with many of my former clients. One of my clients was so horrible that he clocked me in the side of the head one day right in front of the school disciplinarian. He was sent home as a danger to others. Three months later, he knocked his grandmother out cold for making him take his hat off in the house.

What I’m getting at here by stating the above extreme circumstance is this…. If a child is a danger to others and can be sent home indefinitely for his "behavioral disability", a child who’s "endangered by others" should not expect different treatment. A burden such as autism and extreme behavioral issues are born by both the parents and the school system every day. Teachers are hired by the school system to home school students with special needs who cannot attend school. It should be considered no different in the school’s eyes if a child is in danger of dying due to snack and meal times. If sharing a cookie could kill a child, that child should be dubbed as having a disability and thus be granted state support to achieve their educational goals without a fear of dying every day. In the same way that children are told to stay home from school when they have pink eye due to the fact that they are contageous, it works vice versa…..you can’t ask the entire population of a school to stay home because a few children may be suseptable to another child’s lunch choice.

On another note, it’s hardly fair to ask any family not to pack what they can afford in their child’s lunch box or back pack, so that a classmate might not die. No child should have to bear the burden of, "I opened my pack of peanut butter crackers and Jimmy died."

In closing, a child with severe food allergies is no different than any other child with special needs and thus requires home schooling. The school system should also have to pick up the tab on that child’s education for a home school teacher as well, just as they would for a child with any other disability.

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RE: Fair isn't always fair.... by gnifyus :: NR6

I think your comments about home schooling, or otherwise keeping the children safe in some other way is something they are looking into, but right now under the Massachusetts state law, they have a right to attend school under some non-discrimination act or something. On top of that, this school is full-inclusion (a controversial subject in itself), meaning that almost no one of disability stays home if the parents don’t want them to. Also, for some time, schools and most public buildings have to be outfitted with handicap ramps and elevators to accommodate people disabled physically. That may be what is happening, this allergy is being treated as another disability which ordinarily most people don’t have a problem with; the difference of course is that this disability affects others in an inconvenient way. This is forcing everyone to make a choice in attitude as to whether they will comply with the ban in an effort towards safety, or ignore it and risk lives.
I think that eventually, as this problem continues to elevate, some sort of change of plans will have to happen. The nature of the problem is acute enough so I don’t think a long term ban is a sustainable solution. I defend the schools initial decision to enact the ban because I think they were between a rock and a hard place with the laws they had to follow and the severity of the consequences of taking no action.

Posted 14 September 2007, Hide, Parent, Reply
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RE: Fair isn't always fair.... by Anonymous :: NR0

Bravo…Ignorance and comparing "apples to anything but apples" rises again. If the school as you stated has to pay for all the children with peanut allergies to have a have a teacher home school them, that will finally get the attention from parents to cooperate. The education and special programs the schools receive would be greatly impaired. I think they might consider being inconvenienced before sacrificing the education level for their children so the other children can have a private at home education. I love the idea. It would finally get the parents to wake up and realize that there is no reason for these children to be home schooled. Why should they get a "private" education from the school system. I could just hear it now about "their tax dollars"…blah..blah..blah

The understanding from your comment makes me grateful for the role ADA plays in this country. Because not everyone is so lucky to have perfect health, all the people like you screaming "keep them home, it’s not our problem", luckily our country helps to protect them so that they can live as normal of life as possible. Receive an education, go to work etc… It does take a law because society is the "ME" generation.

The law also states that accommodations in the schools must be made if a) it does not impact the educational programs, b) does not have financial implications.

There fore asking for peanuts to be removed from the school,

a) costs less than providing an at home education
b) will not impact the education the way providing private at home education will.

Any way thanks for humoring me this morning! The ignorance of these arguments is becoming comical!

Posted 15 September 2007, Hide, Parent, Reply

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