> > In my middle school, you were sent home for the day if they caught you with cough drops or- get this- chapstick. Apparently you were supposed to leave these things with the school nurse and get excused from class to get them when you needed them. I myself happen to be a chapstick addict (maybe there is some creedence in calling it a drug ^_^) and would have been leaving class every fifteen minutes or so. Likewise, when I've got a sore throat, I'll eat cough drops one right after the other.
> >
> > My high school was less ridiculous on that stuff, but you would be suspended if they found out you had Tylenol or the like. My friends and I got pretty good at not getting caught. ^_^
> >
> > It's so nice to be at college where sometimes I'm almost treated as an intelligent adult.
>
> This kind of practice is insane. It's hard to believe how much things have changed since I was in high school. Guns and explosives were against the rules, of course, as were knives. Although, thae latter seemed to be slightly more tolerated. Probably because it was a fairly rural school, where knives are somewhat plentiful in a utilitarian manner. Heck, I think I carried a pocket knife a few times back in grade school.
> The idea of banning all medication is ludicrous. If my daughter ever gets sent home for carrying chapstick, there will be hell to pay. How can a school, supposedly dedicated to educating our youth, expect to teach them anything if you're required to leave class in order to put on chapstick, or get a cough drop. When I had a cold, I still went to school, and my locker looked like a shelf at Walgreen's. (That's a pharmacy-type store for those who are Walgreen's challenged.) Speaking of teaching, just exactly *what* kind of lesson does this teach students?? That they can't be trusted with a small tube of flavored wax?!! They can't deal with that kind of responsibility?!?!!
>
> The real problem is that everyone's afraid of being sued or having violent outbreaks and being singled out a the cause for such an event. When it's obviously attributable to many, many factors. It's not the Tylenol, the word 'shotgun' in a song, guns, gun laws, knives, bombs, video games, movies, television shows, the internet, peers, gangs, clothing, drugs, parental relationships, family values, or anything else that has ever been singled out for being responsible for school tragedies. There's a tiny percentage of various factors that contribute to the degradation of an individual, pushing them toward the unspeakable.
>
> Tra "Judge not, lest ye be judged yourselves" nio

Beginning in the third grade and on thru college, I carried a pocket knife every single day. I still do. I have a little pearl-handled beauty in my pocket right now. I hope they leave one in my pocket when they stuff me in a pine box. I have never stabbed anybody, but I did cut my finger once in high school and bled on the floor. The girl sitting behind me passed out, but they didn't take my knife or kick me out of school. I remember going to the office for a band-aide. The principal kidded me about the girl who swooned over me. It was different for those of us who started school in 1939.
Howard