MindOverChatter, I base my opinion on many instances that I know of that are similar to these. I don’t need the nitty gritty of this particular story. It is one of a thousand similar situations. Change the kid, change the locality, and change the time of year, but the outcome is the same. And for heaven’s sakes stop demeaning the kids. Kids make mistakes they are supposed to, they are kids. And “NO” their lives are NOT supposed to come to and end because of a mistake. Whether I believe or you believe that speaking to the other gender is right or wrong, lets consider it a mistake. Mistakes can be corrected and can be forgiven. No one suffered, no one lost life or limb over it. I prefer the three strike method. The child needed a warning and maybe a consequence but not one that would ruin his life forever. Again, the punishment does NOT fit the crime and it is high time that Yeshivas found a consequence that does. After all the child is only human. Can you or anyone say that even the Rosh Yeshiva has never made a mistake? Should a Rosh Yeshiva suffer such a sever consequence equal to ruining his life over a mistake he made?
Pac-Man, The Yeshiva doe NOT need to save the rest of the class from being severely negatively influenced by a a pupil who spoke to the other gender. I doubt if the boy was walking around telling everybody that he just had the most amazing conversation with his neighbor in broad daylight while all the neighbors could watch or listen. It absolutely does not teach action results in consequences. It teaches that Yeshivas are unreasonable and are willing to ruin your life over nothing at all, for no reasonable reason at all, no matter how good a person you are.
The school year is nearly over, there are only a few weeks left so there is not much time to influence anyone. And in this case, of a good bochur, the yeshiva should have given him credit for influencing the other boys for the good for so many years. This only teaches that you might as well give up and die if you make a mistake because your life is over. This is NOT what the Torah teaches us!