Viewing the world in binary produces bad consequences

The graduation ceremonies are officially over for Gonzales County and at least one student wasn’t able to participate in the festivities.

If you haven’t read by now, Nixon-Smiley’s Brandon Casas was barred from attending graduation because of an incident that occurred less than two weeks before the big event.

To recap, Brandon brought a pocketknife to school, unintentionally. A coach spotted it in his pocket, and he gave it to the coach because the principal and the counselor were not at the office at the time.

The coach gave it to the athletic director who turned it in to the principal. By the end of the day, Brandon was bought in to the office where he was informed that he’ll be going to in-school suspension for three days, barring him from attending prom. Afterwards, Superintendent Dr. Cathy Lauer informed him that he would not be allowed to walk, saying that she didn’t want to give any leniency so that other students will think they can get away with it.

Lauer explained to us according to the NSCISD code of conduct, a knife on campus is an automatic Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement. Graduating seniors who are in DAEP during the last week of school are not allowed to participate in commencement exercises.

To clarify, Lauer was speaking about these cases in general due to student privacy rights that prevent the district from discussing the incident in question, especially before the student identified himself to us.

The biggest problem with the way Brandon’s case was handled was the black/white universe it resides in.

When explaining the code of conduct, Dr. Lauer stated “a student who brings a knife to school and realizes he or she has done so, can voluntarily take it to the principal’s office and will be treated differently.”

Despite her statement, Brandon wasn’t treated differently. We can speculate and say because a teacher saw the knife in his pocket that this provision doesn’t apply to him. But in the story, the coach accompanied Brandon to the principal’s office and then the counselor’s office so he can turn it in. They weren’t there. Had they have been in the office, would Brandon have been able to walk? I believe so. But instead, he was barred from graduation.

The real world doesn’t operate in this black and white universe. There are multiple shades of gray. Yet right before these young adults step into the real world, we are teaching them that it’s either all or nothing, right and wrong, yes and no. The real world doesn’t operate in a binary system. Read the news, turn on the television and you’ll see that people aren’t treated that way.

The #LetBrandonWalk topic on Facebook and Twitter was unable to spark much interest other than a San Antonio TV station picking up the story as well as some gun rights blogs that ran the story to push their own agenda. But it did bring some awareness. This should be a teaching moment for the graduates.

I wrote a column on the Friday paper with some last minute advice for those attending college. Here’s some general advice for those jumping into the real world, despite whatever path you may take.

There are things in this world that are unfair and others that are unjust. Pick your battles. Fight for the unjust. There are a lot of things that are unfair, but you do not have to use up all your energy for it.

Heck, it’s tough enough fighting for the unjust. You get worn down. As a guy who has written about and talked about all of these police shootings and slayings of unarmed civilians, you get tired. It’s exhausting.

With that being said, Brandon not being able to walk was unfair, but not “unjust” as I’ve explained. Yes, it was worth talking about, especially since it’s a real-world example on how operating in a binary world causes problems.

But he will move on. As a matter of fact, while interviewing him for the story it seemed like he accepted his fate, days before graduation.

So as much as this story was worth retelling, it’s not worth using all of our energy to get worked up over. He will see better days. I’m sure graduating basic training as a Marine will be worth twice as much as graduating high school.

Let this be a teaching moment, not some sexy story you can use to push your own agenda. There were people saying if the district allowed him to walk, everybody should be able to walk. No, that’s not the point. And again, that’s living in the binary world.

We live in a world where many interpret grayness as black or white. That’s a problem. And Brandon’s case showed it.