It’s always interesting to see what the rest of the world is willing to do for things that are often taken for granted in the United States. If you ever think about dropping out of school, look at what these teens are willing to do just to get into one!
Faking Attacks in Order to Graduate
Correspondent Haggai Huberman reports on a new phenomenon among the Arabs of Judea and Samaria: Youths carry knives or small bombs across checkpoints in order to get themselves arrested so that they can study for high school matriculation exams at the State of Israel’s expense.
Sitting in jail for a number of weeks or months is a small price to pay, and the returns are significant: A high school diploma, and a high social standing as a “freed terrorist.”
Huberman notes that earlier this week, IDF soldiers reported that they had thwarted an attack in the northern Shomron when they arrested two 19-year-old boys carrying two pipebombs of one kilogram (2.2 lbs.) each. However, the IDF later concluded that the boys were merely trying to get arrested for the purpose of matriculation exams, and that the pipebombs were not designed to cause significant damage.
Hey, Jack, you commented at my blog, so I figured I should return the favor.
This article is interesting and there are even parallels (minus, you know the terror aspect) in America. Homeless people, faced with the choice of sleeping on the streets, in a shelter, or in jail, often commit petty crimes, like public urination, in order to get a warm bed, a couple of meals and a shower.
On a corollary: a man held up a bank for $40; handed the 2 twenties over to the security guard and said “Today’s your day to be a hero” and waited to be arrested. Upon reaching court, he asked the judge to give him a prison sentence of 3 years, until his social security started kicking in, because his life as a minimum wage menial laborer was less preferable than jail. I’d like to lastly add that the prosecutors were at a loss as to what to do: put him in jail or argue that the man didn’t commit a crime.
Moral of the story: goes to show you that you don’t need to look outside of the US to find those similarly desperate people.