Letter: Student’s cartoon wasn’t a big deal

Friday, Feb. 4, 2005 | 9:12 a.m.

A high school student made a cartoon depicting a teacher as a Nazi and then has the Nazi shot. The teacher finds the comic and wants the student expelled. An administrator agrees. Then both Las Vegas newspapers print the story. As a former high school creative writing teacher, two things puzzle me: Why doesn't the teacher understand it, and why do our papers think it's a big story?

First, kids have little power over anything. As teachers, we are authority figures. We talk too much, give too many orders and we are often boring to kids. We're Nazis. Get it? The comic is an underground artwork that is an overreaction. It's what teens do. It's not a thought crime. Take a deep breath and give the comic to the kid's counselor. Threatening a teacher is serious, but this student is not threatening. The Columbine event was an anomaly committed by kids who were really suicidal. The counselors already know who these self-destructives are. Don't push to have the kid expelled and verify in the minds of other students that teachers are what the comic says they are.

Second, I don't see why this has to be a big story for the newspapers. The overreaction of the media just puts pressure on the school administrators, who then overreact with police-state, zero-tolerance policies. It's not a big story. It happens every day. Kids overreact. Adults should not.

JERRY BITTS