[packetpirate]

I can definitely relate to his feelings of not being taken seriously in school and being put in the spotlight without oversight. I frequently did dumb things when I was in middle school, and it became a self-actualizing thing as I became increasingly frustrated that I had been pegged as some kind of criminal for doing mostly average rebellious teenage things. But what really got me was when I was increasingly blamed for things I DIDN'T do, and the frustration of it all led me to lash out because I had a difficult time refuting baseless claims against me.

School administrators don't give a damn about the majority of their students. They mostly care about their image and the top 5% of students who make them look good. If you're even remotely troubled, the school system chews you up and spits you out.

I think the worst example of this from my own experiences is during High School when I was put in "alternative education" because they just didn't want to deal with me anymore. Nobody thought "maybe it isn't that he can't do the work, maybe there's problems he's dealing with that nobody cares to ask about" or that the increasing frustration of being a social pariah and someone who can't find the words to express his issues was the problem; they just didn't care, so they just threw me out.

Fortunately, I did finally get my act together and get through college... but I sincerely hope that what I experienced doesn't become common-place just because school administrators would rather "throw out the trash" than deal with the root of the problem.