Think Twice Before Making Fun Of Vegetarians In New Jersey

TFM Intern9 years ago

Make fun of vegetarians in New Jersey and you could find yourself facing some serious consequences. According to the New Jersey School Boards Association, making fun of someone on the basis of their diet is considered bullying. This all got started after a sixth-grader told another one that he should eat meat because he’d be smarter and have bigger brains because “vegetarians are idiots.”

From NJSBA:

In a recent decision, the New Jersey Commissioner of Education determined that a board of education did not act in an arbitrary or capricious manner when it determined that a student’s comments about his classmate’s vegetarian lifestyle constituted an act of harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB).

The student was disciplined by the assignment of five lunchtime detentions during which he was given the opportunity to speak with district staff regarding his actions, with the intention of preventing future instances of such conduct.

Personally, I think the school board needs to take a deeper look into the incident in question. First of all, was the vegetarian kid disrupting class activities by spouting off nonsense about how clean he feels and how great his life is? Was he chastising others for their diet choices, or trying to start a “meat is murder” chant? I don’t think a ruling can really be made until we’ve heard all sides of the story. Props to the first kid for the whole “vegetarians are idiots” line. That made my day..

[via NJSBA]

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