I was reading the Chicago Tribune this morning, and there is a story on the front page about a senior HS student at Cary-Grove High School in Illinois, who was charged with a misdemeanor disorderly conduct because he wrote an essay with "violent content". Apparently, a male student (who happens to be Chinese American) wrote an essay for a creative writing exercise, the content of which "disturbed" the teacher, who reported it to the department head, who reported it to the principal, and then apparently to the police, who arrested the teenager. He's described as an excellent student, but they declidned to mention if there were previous discipline problems with him. His father would not say anything about this issue either. It's reported that the essay was "violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location."

I don't know what was in the essay or what the kid's previous history was, but it seems to me that this is overreaction. I just read a horror story which had tons of violent content, can this guy be arrested for disturbing me, as this boy was apparently arrested for disturbing his teacher? (That was the Cary police chief's rationale for the arrest and the charge.)

A slippery slope...