Blog Post #5

My Article

This article is about Erin Cox, a Massachusetts teen who was punished by her school for driving her drunk friend home. Erin received a text from a friend at a party one night saying that she was drunk and needed a ride home. By the time Erin arrived at the party to pick up her friend, the police were there handing out drinking tickets. They wrote a note pardoning Erin since she was clearly sober and had only just arrived. Soon after, Erin's school demoted her from captain of the volleyball team and required her to miss the next five games in punishment for simply being there, even though the police vouched for her sobriety.
This applies to AP GOPO because it deals with the issue of whether the school system or law enforcement have more control over a student's life. Even though you'd think the school would pay attention to a written voucher from an officer, they didn't. What does this say about this school, you may ask? I think it says that they believe they are above the law. They claim to have a "zero tolerance policy" concerning alcohol. Do they have a policy about being a good person? Clearly not, because if they did Erin wouldn't have been punished for helping a friend out of a potentially dangerous situation.
This article made me very angry. I can't believe Erin Cox's school would punish her when she's clearly in the right. While I understand the school wanting to stand by their zero tolerance rule, I think this situation is overkill. If Erin hadn't helped her friend out, her friend may have been the victim of a drunk driving accident or worse. As my article expressed, how can authorities expect teens to grow up to be good people if they're being punished for doing the right thing?

Blog Post #4

My Article

This article deals mainly with Miriam Carey's family's reactions to the news that she was shot in a high-speed chase in Washington, D.C. on October 3rd. Ms. Carey apparently rammed into a barricade at the White House prior to being chased by the police. She had her one year old daughter in the car with her, and though Ms. Carey was shot and killed, her daughter was uninjured. Her family stated that Ms. Carey had been diagnosed with post-partum depression with psychosis and had been on medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Ms. Carey had been not taking her medication recently, however, and she told her doctors that she "had been feeling fine recently." According to this article Ms. Carey had also talked about delusions she had in which she believed President Obama was eavesdropping on her and spying on her town.

This article relates to AP GOPO because it demonstrates that the sad consequences of mental illness can have an enormous impact on many people, including people in our government. Clearly this woman was unbalanced and had problems even while on medication and should not have been taken off of her medication. She may have been functioning normally while on her medicine, but that should not have meant that her doctors trusted her enough to take her off medication. I think we're just fortunate that she wasn't able to harm anyone other than herself on this incident.

I think this is a sad and frightening article. It's crazy to think that someone with problems can get so close to harming innocent people. I'm shocked that this woman's doctors took her off of her medications because clearly she was very sick in several ways. Schizophrenics can be dangerous enough, but add bipolar disorder and PPD to that? I'm honestly shocked that no one other than her was hurt because she was clearly not in her right mind. I also wonder, though, if shooting her was the only answer. Even if Ms. Carey was dangerous, the police could have maybe tazed or tranquilized her before putting her in prison. I'm just sad for that little child, though the article makes me think that she has a caring extended family who will hopefully take care of her.