Distance learning has been around for several years in colleges and universities. According to Encyclopeadia Britannica, "In U.S. higher education alone, more than 5.6 million university students were enrolled in at least one online course in the autumn of 2009, up from 1.6 million in 2002." For the younger students, it's been available for homeschooling, Advanced Placement classes, and small enrollment language classes.
As this Pandemic has transformed education practices as a whole at this time, it shouldn't be too much of an issue with transitioning all classes as we already have the technology. While I have conversed with different parents, many of them had the same mutual concern of explaining how they are concerned that their children will not learn too much because they do not pay attention to the computer for too long. They also mentioned that they are open to other options. While this is a valid concern, I believe that researching other methods is a much more viable action than calling the cops on your children.
An Oakland County, a Michigan black girl, named Grace, the age of 15 was arrested for not doing homework. Part of her probation guidelines included doing all of her homework. Since she refused, her mother told law enforcement to take her away from her and put her in jail. Why is doing homework part of probation? Who knows? She was on it in the first place for having a physical altercation with her mother the previous year. Given the previous issue along with them fighting now over her homework, the Judge denied her defense and sentenced her because she believes that she is a threat to her mother.
As a month passed, she was then released back to her mother as the pressure built up from members of Congress, Hillary Clinton, and more. While I understand assault should be looked at more closely and can be a reason to jail anyone from teenage years to adult, it baffles me how no one seemed to look more into the reason why her mother called the police. Also, why is the completion of homework one of her rules of probation? It is easy to judge someone based on their record, but everything should still be investigated through not just based on the words of a mother.
From my experience, I have witnessed as well as know other children who have been in this situation and it has been a parent's motion of exercising control on a child when they are not getting their way, but even worse...keeping control on a child in an abusive environment. This is done as a way of torture or getting them to do their dirty work. While much of this would not be reported in the first place because the parent would not say what is really going on, one cannot also solely rely on a child's plea once they have them separated from their parent to start speaking out on everything that is happening to them.
Her case has been mentioned in several news articles and videos across the Internet. She has been labeled as "Special Needs" with having ADHD and has a record of theft and assault. Has someone really looked into what is going on inside of her home? Has anyone tried to change her class level, which may be more appropriate than mental health treatment? Why is society so quick to shove pills or inject arms of children with toxicity instead of looking at the root cause of the problem? Has anyone tried to have her speak to multiple counselors? Hmm...from my point of view, she may be in an abusive household. Her case at home sounds a bit similar to parents abusing the privilege of calling policemen to punish their kids. I have seen and heard this from my household as well as others. Her case is screaming abuse and there seems to be a lot more missing from her story. These gaps help criminalize her. Let's see how long it'll take before she ends up locked up again? I hope that she doesn't have to go back in there again and is able to receive the true support that she needs.
She has been wronged in education, by law enforcement, our broken law system, and harmful imprisonment. People should learn to read between the lines. More children's lives would be saved instead of being thrown away for someone else to abuse them.
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