Drawing gruesome pictures in school

[SO]

A 14-year-old New Jersey schoolboy - whose dad and stepdad are in the military - was suspended for five days because he drew a \"patriotic\" stick figure of a U.S Marine blowing away a Taliban fighter, officials said yesterday.

Gotta love the Thought Police.

Yes, it's all semantics, but let's be clear about one thing: both instances could have been avoided had the children paid attention in the classroom and actually dedicated themselves to learning, rather than goofing off drawing pictures or writing in their diaries.

This is true, but a weak defense. Drawing a picture in class should not warrant a 5 day suspension. If he'd been drawing fuzzy little ducks instead of a war scene, he might have gotten detention at most - and probably a beatdown from his classmates for drawing gay-ass fuzzy ducks.

But what kind of message does this send when kids are told to be patriotic and wave that flag boy and support the war - but then when they draw a picture in support of the war, they get punished?