Imagine, if you will, for only one moment. There is a “bad” kid in school — let’s call him Sam — who has caused problems for other students and the teachers since the day he showed up in Anywhere, USA. Sam’s parents had been called into the school on many occasions, but his parents and siblings didn’t think that there was anything wrong with him. Sam had them into believing that he was a great student, person and an asset to the whole family.

Sam had promised his parents and siblings great things from him and told them that if they just believed in him, he’d make them proud to be a member of the family.

Sam would tease and mess with the younger, smaller kids in his class and take over their desk space for his gain. A teacher, Mr. Austin, saw what he was doing and made him stop, but only after being forced to. For a few years Sam was a pretty quiet student, but was still bothering a few of the younger students who didn’t say anything to any of the teachers for fear of Sam’s reaction. He supported many of the other bullies in school who would intimidate others and he made sure that no one would be able to trace it back to him.

In these few years Sam was able to plot and plan how he was going to get back at the teachers that caused him so much grief a few years back.

Sam is now in high school and his plan is set. But, unfortunately for him, Mr. Austin’s son is Sam’s high school teacher. Mr. Austin was tipped off by someone saying that Sam was planning something. Mr. Austin believes that the other students and teachers might be in danger because of Sam’s plan.

Mr. Austin confronts Sam, who claims that he doesn’t have anything that will hurt anyone. Sam proceeds to tell Mr. Austin how much his family still believes in him and how great everyone at his house thinks he is.

Mr. Austin isn’t fooled and speaks to the teachers in school about this situation.

The teachers give Sam another chance to tell them if he has anything in his locker that will hurt anyone. Again, Sam denies that he has anything and makes it a point to let the teachers know how much everyone in his family loves him.

The teachers have finally had enough of this situation and decide to take a vote to see if they should look into Sam’s locker and see what he is hiding. The vote comes back and they all decide (unanimously) to search Sam’s locker.

Sam knows that the teachers are planning this.

This has given Sam a chance to move and hide some of his plans and some of his weapons that he claims that he doesn’t have.

In the meantime, many of the smaller students have gone to the teachers hoping that they would do something about Sam.

The smaller students are afraid that they will get picked on even more and they are very afraid of Sam (and what he might do) at this point.

Some teachers have reason to believe that Sam has given some of his plans and weapons to other bullies that manage to hide in class just before they hit a student and run away. But, believe it or not, there are still some students in this class who think that it is wrong to search Sam’s locker. Even though Sam may hurt them in some way, they still believe that Mr. Austin was wrong to take this to the other teachers and to even suggest that Sam’s locker be searched.

I think that Sam’s locker should have been searched a long time ago. Actually, I think that Sam should have been expelled the first time he caused problems in this school. It shouldn’t be the responsibility of the school or of the teachers to keep an eye on him to see if he is behaving like a good student and a good person in society, regardless of what his brainwashed family thinks. Sam is a bad kid and this shouldn’t have even been a problem if it was taken care of properly the first time.

Imagine, if you will, if this were a true story. I am not trivializing the situation at all with my metaphor. I am just hoping that some people will realize what the situation is and I hope that this will help clear up the idea.

Would you be for or against the searching of Sam’s locker?

For the sake of your life and your family, I hope you choose for the search.

Sarah Bolton

is a senior in English from Glidden.