Despite media reports, the principal of Camden-Rockport Middle School has clarified that the school did not ban farting in class. Good thing, because libertarians would have had a field day with that one. But it is kind of funny that the story spread faster than a noxious gas filling a room, even reaching the WSJ online and other media outlets. The culprits who dealt the news item in the school newspaper have been identified, though they could not be named because of school confidentiality.
Student journalists filing for the school papper erroneously reported that the intentional farting and subsequent class disruptions of some eighth-grader boys had led to a rule prohibiting intentional farting in class. Supposedly offenders would be punished with detention. (What about shutting them in a small room with the fruits of their own labors? That would be real justice.) I'm sure teachers are relieved to know the rule was never in effect, because who wants the job of detemining whether or not a burst of flatulence was intentional? However, we should note that kids who intentionally rip one can still be disciplined, under the much broader "class disruption" rules. Yes, innocents will not have to suffer because school admins are soft on intestinal crimes.
