America, 2013:

A 13-year-old Kansas eighth-grader says he was suspended from school on Wednesday because he refused to take off his Vera Bradley purse.

His furious mother says it is discrimination because girls are allowed to have purses with no repercussions.

“I don’t think everyone should be treated differently,” Skyler Davis said. “Everyone should have the same privileges.”

Look, I don’t see why the school administration made a big deal about this. But come on, is there anything more pathetic than a 13-year-old boy whose mommy goes on TV whining about the fact that her special little snowflake is not allowed to wear a designer purse to middle school?

UPDATE: Don’t miss Sam M.’s comment:

“But why is a purse that was evidently OK for two months suddenly not OK? Again, what I object to in so many of these cases is that the enforcement is so capricious and arbitrary, with no recourse or appeal.”

Because that’s how things work, and if you are an administrator things creep up. Most people don’t WANT rules to be enforced zealously. Why? Because breaches are not a problem unless they are widespread. For instance, at the hospital where I work there is a ban on visible tatoos. Do we fire someone for having a small heart tatooed on her wrist? No. Just like we don;t discipline somoene for wearing small stud earrings despite the fact that jewelry is officially banned in a clinicla setting. it’s called “judgement,” and it’s what administrators are supposed to have.

Of course, someone eventually pushes the envelope. And you have a patient complain that a CNA walked into her room with huge dangly jewelry (infection issue) and F-bombs tatooed all over her arms.

So then we have to enforce the rule. And the stud earrings that you were wearing for three months prior ARE suddenly a problem.

So you enforce it until it dies down, and then you get a little lax and it returns to normal until some jerk starts acting like an idiot again.

I bet that’s what happened here. They were letting girls carry small purses for tampons. Small purses became larger ones. She’s allowed to break the rules! And then some dude is carrying a 40-pound camping backpack to class or some such and presto, you have to enforce the rule.

Then this lady goes and calls an investigative reporter about discrimination.

This, in short, is why we cannot have nice things.

Relatedly, a reader sends in this story about a sixth grader on a subsidized lunch program who couldn’t pay his bill. The cafeteria worker threw his breakfast away and sent him to class hungry. What a jerk, right? But here’s the rest of the story:

We spoke with Dickinson ISD and they said it’s a policy they stand by.

“Dickinson ISD’s procedure is that we do not allow student charges for breakfast. Many school districts follow this same procedure. Students get verbal warnings to let parents know once the account starts getting low. Written warnings are sent home to parents before money runs out.”

Castilleja admits either her son forgot to relay the verbal warning or she forgot to replenish his account. Either way, she feels the policy should allow for breakfast charges that can be repaid.

“Or telling the child, we are going to feed you, but go to the office and call your parent and let them know that you need money,” Castilleja suggested. “Anything than sending them to class hungry.”

So, the school tried twice to get the mom and the kid to pay up, but they didn’t. The compassionate thing, indeed the reasonable thing, under most circumstances, would be to let the kid slide. But something tells me the Dickinson policy didn’t come from nowhere. I bet they had let lots of kids slide in the past, but were not getting reimbursed. At some point, something’s got to give. How many chances should this mom have been given? Who pays for that? How can a school district manage its budget in tight economic times if it can’t count on parents doing what they’re supposed to be doing?

Again, walking up to this story cold, it seems like a case of a mean, zero-tolerance school policy inflicting suffering for petty reasons. But is it? Sam’s comment makes me think there is more to this story. In any case, here’s another instance of a mom running to the media for redress of a petty grievance. Don’t want this to happen to your kid? Pay your bill. Mommy didn’t say they were too poor to pay their bill. She said they forgot — and must have forgotten twice. That’s different.