<p>Yes, it can be a criminal offense to wear gang colors to school.</p>
<p>Public schools do not always fall neatly within a single gang’s territory. Where there’s an overlap, extreme measures are needed to prevent gang violence from being a daily school occurrence.</p>
<p>Is there a current link for some regulation addressing the illegality/criminality of wearing what would be considered gang colors to school?</p>
<p>The only law I’ve found so far criminalizes “interfering with the educational process,” and I believe that was from Mississippi, which is notorious for its school-to-prison pipeline. </p>
<p>Since I was relying on California law, I apparently misspoke. (Okay, I’ll admit it - I was flat out wrong!) I still recall having seen juvenile convictions in California arising from dress code violations, but it appears there would have to have been something more to support an arrest - such as a refusal to leave school grounds after being sent home for a dress code violation.</p>
<p>Someone asked me to compare getting a C in a class and how it follows a kid and getting in trouble. A class grade is an accumulation of several months worth of studying, test taking, paper writing etc. if you mess up on one paper, you can often make up for it on the next.</p>
<p>If you do stupid and drink before prom, while some claim, well that’s never just the one time, well, so what to that justification for further punishment for years. Sometimes doing stupid is just that, doing stupid. </p>
<p>You can’t treat a one off incident the same as months of class time that makes up a grade.</p>
<p>It’s just like you can’t say well you have gone fives miles per hour over the speed limit ten times so this ticket we will add them up for fifty over and then punish you accordingly.</p>
<p>So yeah I do see a difference.</p>
<p>As well we can retake classes, retake the sat, get extra credit, and all kinds of ways to make up for a bad day. The state allows you to take an online class for a ticket, and life often gives people warranted second chances and you don’t have to rehash one day in your life you did stupid.</p>
<p>We aren’t talking drunk driving, robbing a bank, rape, we are talking an act that pen did damage to oneself, or potential damage. It’s like putting people in jail for being addicts in a way. Not that what these two girls did was any where close to that, but the same close minded mentality is at work. Punish for a long time for something that shouldn’t deserve long time punishment.</p>
<p>Yes drinking and drugs are bad for teens, I know that. But continual punishment for one off events is just wrong.</p>
<p>I bemused by the idea that some people seem satisfied with a system in which a youthful criminal violation can be expunged forever (except, I guess, for some limited situations), while a disciplinary violation in 9th grade can never, ever be expunged. Thus, for example, if you committed armed robbery in 9th grade, and the violation was expunged by a court, you can answer “no” on the Common App, but if you were given an in-school suspension for wearing a T-shirt with a bad word on it, you have to answer “yes” even if your school told you it was expunged and that you can answer “no.” I find that very odd. Even if a very literal reading of the Common App leads to that conclusion, I don’t think it makes much sense.</p>
<p>Sticker, what kind of merit aid do you expect your daughter would qualify for if the drinking-related suspension had not occurred? What kind of aid do you think she needs? </p>
<p>In my state, the flagship doesn’t give out a lot of merit aid, but most of the other public schools give aid based on some pretty objective looks at test scores and GPA. </p>
<p>Many private schools offer merit aid mostly to attract students with higher test scores, but are not nearly as selective in admissions.</p>
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<p>often, not always. And again, it is not consistent from school to school, teacher to teacher. And sometimes that bad grade is earned because you had a bad day. </p>
<p>Lets take it out of the HS level, and into the college level. The class only has one test. That is it. A cumulative final exam. You do well, or you do not. It is one day. There is no make up. That one test determines your grade. </p>
<p>You bomb the test. Bad day, bad prep…whatever the reason. The college requires you retake it because it is for your major and you need a certian grade to move forward. This particular colllege will not remove/replace the grade, and it remains as part of your GPA. </p>
<p>When you apply to graduate school, the grade will show up. You will have the oppotunity to explain the circumstances of that one bad grade. Many cases it will not make a difference in acceptance or rejection to the graduate program. In some, it may. </p>
<p>It really is the same thing, seahorsesrock. Some things just follow you, as unfortunate at that is.</p>
<p>post#366- Hunt, you nailed the problem. It is hard to reconcile a criminal act sealed and no need to answer yes and a possible small infraction that did no harm, such as dress code violation and have to answer yes. In my opinion this is why people get hung up on the question. It’s tough place to be in, if you’re the minor infraction kid. (and his/her parents)</p>
<p>I would note that for those who take things very literally, that if you were required to write “I will bring my notebook to class” 500 times in 9th grade, or if you had a lunch detention because you were five minutes late to class, you should also report that on the Common Application. I would guess that almost nobody reports such violations, and that those who don’t do not think that they are “lying” when they omit them. They most likely interpret the question to only cover more serious violations, since it lists suspensions, expulsions, etc. But the actual language is broad. </p>
<p>Or are colleges poring through thousands of reports of punishments for wearing hats, being late to class, turning in homework late, etc.? Maybe they are.</p>
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<p>Doubt it. They’ve got all they can handle just wading through all the thousands of apps now made possible by the common app and just the increase in general of college applicants. Don’t think they have time to look for the proverbial gum under the desk top.</p>
<p>Hunt, apparently Short Hills/Millburn HS in NJ was “expunging” suspensions for kids involved in hazing. This was a couple of years ago. I do not know if they still do, but it seems to me like one rule for rich kids, one for poor.</p>
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Rich kids are probably more likely to get their criminal offenses expunged as well. It seems to me that this may vary all over the map, and it would be better to have a common policy. Personally, I think a reasonable method of expunging some offenses is a good idea as long at is fairly applied.</p>
<p>I would also add that it’s my observation that rich kids are much less likely to be “found responsible” and punished than are poor kids, even in the same school.</p>
<p>comparing how grades are done for 14/15 year old and college student of 20/21 or grad students is a straw horse argument. how many freshman classes in college are based on one paper or one test only, not that many i would imagine.</p>
<p>most hs grades ARE based an accumlation of various elements and i can’t imagine a class grade in HS based on ONE test or paper, especially for first or second years, so to equate that to Grad school is ridiculous.</p>
<p>kayf - not all kids at Millburn HS are rich, right? Or are you saying that all kids involved in hazing were rich?</p>
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<p>My son had 2 HS classes who’s grades were based only on the mid term and the final, seahorsesrock. And he has 2 classes his freshman year in college that only have a midterm/final. We are not talking about a huge gap in age. We are talking aboot 15-19 year olds in either case (soph/jr in HS to fresh/soph in college). So no, it is not “rediculous” except in the eyes of somenoe trying to justify their own actions. </p>
<p>I admit, you are very skilled at justifying your actions! I am impressed! </p>
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<p>Hunt, the common app specifically says that they want higher level penalties, not detentions or below. So those would not be included.</p>
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No, it doesn’t. I just checked to make sure. You may interpret its words to mean that–and that’s a reasonable interpretation–but that’s not what the words actually say. And that’s sort of my point.</p>
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<p>I guess you could interpret the “not limited to” phrase to include detentions or other forms of a disciplinary action. </p>
<p>Last week I tried to look up any info on college board that would clarify what they did and did not expect students to report in this section, but the website is pretty void of any direction. I have to wonder if that is by design.</p>
<p>See post#175.</p>
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Of course you could, and I suggest that some posters on this thread might say that it’s simple and clear, and that you must identify all forms of disciplinary action, large or small. Again, that’s my point. Your common sense “edited” the question to eliminate something that it’s clear to you isn’t really being sought. That is probably what most people would do, and it wouldn’t occur to them that they are being deceitful in any way. “Mom, should I report the time I had to clean erasers during lunch because I was late to class?” “Don’t be ridiculous. They aren’t looking for stuff like that.”</p>