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Is Trump a War Criminal, and are We His Victims?
Every student has suffered punishment from a teacher who has violated the 1949 Geneva Convention by forcing the entire class to stay after school/face detention because one knucklehead has misbehaved. Specifically, according to Article 33 in the fourth convention, the treaty states, “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.” [emphasis added]
Meanwhile, in Article 50 of the same convention, it states, “No general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of individuals for which they cannot be regarded as jointly and severally responsible.”
Now, does that mean that teachers who enforce collective punishments are “war criminals?” No, they are not, because we are not in a state of war in the classroom (although some teachers in disadvantaged school districts may choose to disagree — but that’s fodder for another conversation).
It simply means that the teachers who use collective punishment are (A) too lazy to try more appropriate, individualized punishments, (B) too intellectually challenged to devise better means of…
