We came across this terrific letter to the editor by Mark Roberts titled How times have changed. The letter used the terrific film “A Christmas Story'” to make a serious point about the current school to prison pipeline. We felt that it was worth sharing here.
I love the Christmas movie “A Christmas Story,” but I guess things have changed.
You see, Ralphie first got in trouble in a conspiracy to inflict bodily harm on a classmate in the infamous frozen flag pole case. Justice is tougher today, and he was convicted on circumstantial evidence. That got him in-school suspension.
It got worse though, when Ralphie was charged with attempted bribery of his teacher by bringing her an enormous fruit basket.
He was finally expelled from school after the Scott Farkus fight and the associated breach of verbal etiquette.
Things continued to deteriorate when Ralphie’s parents were found guilty of child abuse by attempted soap poisoning and the Department of Social Services sent him to a foster home.
The final straw came when he was found to be carrying a deadly weapon, a Red Ryder BB gun. Now Ralphie is in jail.
Isn’t it great to see how much better things are this holiday season than when Ralphie was going to old Warren G. Harding Elementary School? Merry Christmas to all.
