Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
Source: Log Cabin Democrat (AR)
Copyright: 2002 The Log Cabin Democrat
Contact:  http://thecabin.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/548
Author: Robert Merkin

TESTING TARGETS WRONG STUDENTS

In "Conway school board will study issue more before making decision" (Log 
Cabin Democrat, July 10), a surprising number of parents agree with the 
four associate justices of the Supreme Court who opposed random drug 
testing of students participating in extracurricular activities.

In the dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that 
the Tecumseh, Okla., drug-testing program "is not reasonable, it is 
capricious, even perverse: (It) targets for testing a student population 
least likely to be at risk from illicit drugs and their damaging effects."

The loser in this decision was Lindsay Earls, an honor student whose 
academic and extracurricular achievements won her admission to one of the 
nation's finest, most competitive colleges, Dartmouth. Before she sued her 
school district, she had already passed several drug tests her school 
demanded so she could pursue extracurricular activities.

The "winners" are academically low-performing students, the pre-dropout 
crowd who spend their after-school hours by the railroad tracks. They will 
not be tested for drugs under this decision. The Supreme Court gave the 
go-ahead to force the chess team, the debating team and the calculus club 
to submit to random urine testing.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens