Rules and why

January 21, 2010

It is an easy a way distinguish a midwestern American from an English person. Ask a simple question about whether something can be accomplished and even if you can't hear the difference between the accents, the reply will always give away the answer. Maybe it is the rules the English surround themselves with resulting in the term of "nanny state." I was reading a newspaper article and came across a story about following the letter of the law over common sense. Where I feel most midwesterners would simply understand the intent of the law and move beyond the letter of the law, here as is common, the letter of the law is important.
Just before Christmas, a mother called in to report an abscence for her young son from school. Giving the reason, the mother felt it would be a reasonable request that her nine year old son be given time off. The son returns to school the following week without comment. The next week, the mother again phones into the school explaining her son's abscence from school for the next week. All seems to be all right with the school.
The week before the Christmas break the school holds its party for the students who have had perfect attendence. The mother is told her son is not allowed to attend the school function because of his poor attendence record. The boy obviously is distraught, his mother is upset. Mother calls school to repeat the reasons for the boy's abscence. The lady from the school explains the school has set the policy to cut down on abscences and no exceptions could be made. The boy can't go to the party.
Ask most English people if a task is do-able and they will give you a list of why you can't do it or accomplish it. This I think generally comes down to an aversion to change. Ask most midwesterners about a task and the response I always got was "Why can't you do it?" A question versus a statement. Seems funny such a little thing.
Oh, the mother and her boy. The first abscence was on account of his father dying and the mother trying to deal with the boy's grief. The second week of abscence? That was for the funeral. When the school was contacted about it, the head of the school explained the abscences had been cut down because of the idea of a party for students who hadn't missed any school. In this case, the mother had talked to the wrong person apparently. Makes one wonder if the mother was talking to the school secretary and assistant to the head of the school and it was the wrong person, who should she have talked to. The boy didn't get to go to the party and the school kept its reasons why he couldn't.