That is an example of the value level of students. They are by definition learning. Until then they must be checked constantly. Student demands on campus fall into the unlabeled vial model as jbrenner pointed out. They also fall into the Heinlein model of no juvenile delinquent and students are legal juveniles until age 21.

Some get exceptions called legal emancipation. A commissioned officer in the military for example at age 19 may be considered emancipated and awarded the paper but even they may not violate local drinking and smoking laws based solely on a commission. Students are legal children and for every anti-social law breaker there is invariably a responsible adult delinquent in his or her duty. Parent or President Emeritus. those who if they do not take adult steps and make adult decisions such as not emptying out a school in the face of a bomb threat after stating they did not know if it was or wasn't.

Those adults are legally and morally delinquent in their duty and for a start not to be trusted. Accident of birth date aside I suspect Wesleyan University and a high school in Houston and some student counselor in Roseburg, Oregon fall in that category. Obviously age is a convenient means of awarding citizenship status but an inconvenient failure as a means of making that decision.

If those students or that student is brought before a judge and states I was only falling orders as promulgated and awarded by the government itself that individual would a. not be defended by the guilty parties neither would the legislatures, executives and judicial follies be called forth as accessories before during or after the fact. The student would not realize by saying those words he or she had admitted to guilt and pleaded for leniency in sentencing,

So would the teacher or professor who did not check all the labels if they used that for an excuse. Adult educators do. Those who are legal adults de jure but not adults de facto do not. Nor do they check the supplies of damping rods in the Ukraine.

Real life is not equipped with a pause, stop, restart nor a replay button. Knowing the difference is an adult trait called responsibility.

Something sadly lacking but as just demonstrated not entirely in educational and judicial circles.

Had the student in JBrenners class been warned, seen a list of rules posted and flipped them off intentionally fine them an expel them until they learn to accept the level of maturity required to be a student in a chemistry class..

I cannot think of an accident that would remove the tape and remove the label just as i cannot think of a weapon being accidentally loaded. Accident therefore is an excuse a Nuremberg defense. It calls for the strictest of measures until certainty is reestablished. My imagination comes up with a vial on a table with an open wind a sudden gust of wind the vial hits the floor and..hmmmm breaks. The the tape is dissolved the wording lost.

Noticing a potential accident waiting to happen the same. the student should have noticed and reported it no matters who was at fault but the responsible adult MUST do so. That's why good drill sergeants, gunnys, and the like seem to be everywhere all the time and miss nothing.

That's why the best of politicians routinely miss everything. There is no requirement to be an adult de facto other than accident of birth to be a Senator of Representative. There are no requirements to be a judge at the highest level other than nomination and confirmation yet they are confirmed by the most incompetent level available..

Thank you for pointing that out. Heinlein was right. We treat our dogs better than our children.