Back in the days when I was in junior high school—12″ long-playing records, only seven (!) TV channels, another criminal foreign entanglement (Vietnam)—we had wooden or Formica-topped desks on which one could easily see, like the hieroglyphics found at Egyptian ruins, the scribblings/musings of countless prior students who sat at the desk. I’m sure I did my share of adding to this historical “record” of (mostly) innocuous doodlings while sitting through a less-than-fascinating class lesson.

However, I can safely say that in the 16+ years I spent in school, not once did I ever see anyone hauled out in handcuffs for indulging in this benign practice. Yet this is exactly what happened to 12-year old Alexa Gonzalez in my neck of the woods (the borough of Queens) when she was caught writing on her desk with an erasable (!) marker. What’s worse is that this is not even the first time that a student has been arrested in a NYC school for doodling on a desk. Last month, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of another 12-year old female student who was arrested in March of 2009 (the borough of the Bronx that time) for committing a similar felony.

Getting back to poor Alexa, the article tells us:

Alexa is still suspended from her school, her mother said. She and her mom went to family court on Tuesday, where Alexa was assigned eight hours of community service, a book report and an essay on what she learned from the experience.

A book report? I would suggest Mein Kampf. What she learned from the experience? “Zero tolerance” (a “progressive” concept which was not around in my school days—something for which I am eternally grateful) means zero tolerance for sanity in the public school system.