Last week the education blogs were abuzz over the suspension of a Pennsylvania sixth-grader for sharing Jolt caffeinated gum with a classmate. Administrators ruled that the gum violated the school’s drug policy, which forbids over-the-counter caffeine stimulants such as NoDoz, and 12-year-old Courtney Rupert was suspended for three days.
A three-day suspension seems rather excessive to me, but I’m all for holding a kid accountable for her actions. Jolt’s main selling point is its extra caffeine. The manufacturers of the gum, however, think Courtney got a raw deal: the company has announced that it is awarding her a thousand-dollar scholarship.
“Basically we’re going to try to reverse the karma of the universe. She got a bad deal. We decided to give her a good deal,” company co-founder Kevin Gass said Friday at a news conference to announce the “Chew More Do More” scholarships.
Of the 10 $1,000 scholarships to be awarded annually, Gass said one will be named for Courtney and will go to “someone unfairly victimized.”
Guess that’ll teach young Courtney a lesson!
HT: Chris O’Donnell.
That’s the trouble with policies like that. You end up giving a lot of free publicity to the very folks you would like to have less influence.