NCLB as a violation of the Geneva Convention

I was amused by this thought, but couldn’t quite find a way to fit it into the thread that inspired it, so it gets its own thread.

The Geneva Convention states (in part):

Article 33. No protected person may be punished for an offense 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.

Under NCLB if a school doesn’t meet “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) each year then a series of punishments kicks in.

The entire school is punished for the actions (failures) of a few children. Depending on the demographic make up of the school it can be as few as five kids failing causing the entire school to fail to meet AYP.
Schools are constantly being intimidated and told that they need to meet AYP or else.
If a school fails AYP students are able to transfer to another school, and the better teachers leave.
Having a failing school can cause property values to drop.

NCLB violates every single sentence in this section of the Geneva Convention.

Should the USA be tried for violating the human rights of its schoolchildren?

Article 33. No protected person may be punished for an offense 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.

I thought the Geneva Convention only concerned treatment of civilians by an opposition force during wartime? In this case I guess the article in question is intended to prohibit the indiscriminate execution of members of a population because of individual acts of sabotage against the invading force.

Otherwise you could say that any fine of a company violates the Geneva Convention, since there are certain to be some employees suffering who weren’t involved in the wrongdoing.

edit: ‘Protected persons’ is defined earlier in the convention as:

Persons protected by the Convention are those who, at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.

which doesn’t include the employees or pupils at the school.

The Geneva Convention states (in part):

Article 33. No protected person may be punished for an offense 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.

i thought the rules of geneva only worked during wartime? anyway i think that if a school is not up to standards should be closed and the whole country be punished

Well yeah, but what’s the fun in discussing it that way?

uh well if you want to add on something like

AX: for the purposes of this thread the Geneva Convention applies at all times, to everybody

then you can. Seems pretty pointless though.

I guess you can call the Geneva an “ad hoc” item. It can be only used, like unpro stated, for wartime treatment of civilians.

Anyone with a twisted lust for power can ‘interpret’ the Geneva convention any way they see fit.

President Bush did it along with Dick Cheney when they not only signed off on torture, but eagerly approved of it.