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Signs I'm (Thankfully) Not Getting Old

I sometimes catch my self having nanny-state thoughts about, say, the value of school uniforms or moralizing about gratuitious sex and violence in TV and film (where the problem is really that that the sex and violence crowds out more interesting content). In the back of my head, the fourteen year-old version of Nick Beaudrot remembers thinking all of these policy ideas were silly, and being frustrated that politicians treat children as uncontrollable little brats who all have to be monitored as though they're practically criminals. I recall hoping that someday politicians would respect kids' ability to make decisions for themselves and stop mandating see-through backpacks, metal detectors, and good music. When I find myself getting close to flip-flopping on those questions, the fear of "growing regular" in my old age strikes.

Thankfully, the insanity of NYC public school's banning the posession—not use, but posession—of cell phones on school grounds has brought me back to reality. Twelve year-old kids are perfectly capable of following directions, and if you just said to them and their parents "you can have a phone, but you have to leave it off during school hours", they'll pay attention.

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Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 09:14 01 May 2006