Boys Suspended After Tiny Toy Guns Brought to School

[demsrule4life]

Jan. 26 - They're small enough to fit in the hands of G.I. Joe, but school officials say a gun is a gun. Three third graders face suspension after bringing the tiny guns to school.

The third graders, ages eight and nine, were in the cafeteria at Bemiss Elementary when the toy guns were discovered.School officials say the guns posed a threat to other children's safety so the boys were suspended.

What an absurd world we live in. I really don't care about being on the downslope of life.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=4067676&p1=0

[Superfly]

1. Hip Hip Hooray for Zero-Tolerance...er....

I mean zero-common-sense policies!

Question:

"guns posed a threat to other children's safety"

How can toy guns pose a threat to other children's safety?

[Withergyld]

2. They might...

put them in their mouths and choke???
:shrug:

[Superfly]

4. So, we are only worried about

"other children's safety" and not the safety of the three boys, right?

[Withergyld]

7. Maybe...

<sarcasm> they were worried about the evil forces contained in those fetish objects might affect the other children. <sarcasm>

[alwynsw]

8. reminds me of the young'un who got expelled last year for her evil reed

knife. Pacifist aspiring bassoonists shouldn't have to trim their reeds with sharp objects.

[Superfly]

9. Or the kid who forgot his Boy Scout knife in his

knapsack and was expelled. Yeah, that's the lesson we want to teach our kids....

[demsrule4life]

6. There is a very good reason why cafeterias

should be banned in schools.

[MrSandman]

3. Good thing he wasn't in Goose Creek.

[Superfly]

5. Another problem with this article....

"Three third graders face suspension"

then....

"...so the boys were suspended"

Which is it? Were they facing suspension or were they actually suspended?

[Muddleoftheroad]

10. If you have the money or the time

Your children should definitely NOT be in public school.

[alwynsw]

11. Once again, a prime example of PC and Nannyism gone wild.

Buy the video! Nannys Gone Wild! See them pour milk in the streets. Watch them make school cafeterias meatless in daring nighttime raids! Watch in amazement as toothpick dispensers disapper all o ver the country! (Hey! Toothpicks are sharp objects.)

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Columbia]

14. I'm a big advocate of being PC myself

But that doesn't justify the lengths that these zero-tolerance policies go. They go beyond PC and into the realm of the idiotic.

Additionally, having control of our children's education is not in any way political, but just good, responsible parenting.

[alwynsw]

16. Agreed.

In a nutshell, it is the right and the priviledge of the parent to determine what is in the best interest of the child.

Before anyone goes off on that statement, I am advocating religious freedom, dietary freedom, and even political freedom.

[alwynsw]

15. If you'll take the time to look and ask

you will find that quite a few liberals, myself included, believe that the more extreme factions do indeed go too far.

I resent your implication. I am not seeking, nor do I need the approval of such extremists.

The vital element of liberalism is freedom. Speech control, diet control, and limitations of freedoms of any sort are anathema to the true liberal.

I gather fromm your post that those who oppose smoking bans, alcohol bans, etc. would be of questionable liberal credentials as well.

[RoeBear]

19. Do you consider this...

...to be your specialty?

[RoeBear]

12. 'School Becomes Laughingstock of the Country'

That's what the headline should have been.

[funkyflathead]

17. Choke! Choke!

"He's choking on a corn dog, no wait A PLASTIC TOY GUN!"

[alwynsw]

18. I asked my wife, the teacher

who retired in 2002. She just rolled her eyes and said, "How idiotic! Don't they have treachibg to do?"

[Superfly]

21. What in the hell is "teachibg"?

nt

[demsrule4life]

22. I knew he was going to get busted for that

Payback for calling me a hoosier and a yankee in the same sentence. :)

[Superfly]

23. Maybe he needs to go back for some more "teachibg"

or speeeling lessssons

[alwynsw]

24. Cry me a friggin river

[alwynsw]

26. Go tell it to someone who gives a crap

[alwynsw]

25. Go ask your buddy AshKKKroft

[milliner]

20. the real issue here

is that the adults in charge are quite content to pass these mindless rules because it relieves them of having to make decisions. Follow me for a minute here.

These things start with the educational establishment. By that I mean the state boards of education and the area education associations. These people take their lead from the'experts' in academia.

Word gets to the Superintendents that zero tolerance on guns and knives serve several purposes. One, it conveys to the public your proactive and caring approach, It is politically flame proof, who could object? Also when an incident does come up you are again protected from any uncomfortable decisions because...Hey I'm just following the rule.

The local board approves because the superintendent is the expert, and how can you vote against it, you would look like a Neanderthal.

IMO the purpose of the adults is to guide and direct. If life was so simple that a few rules makes it all right, society would have done it a long time ago. Oops I guess they call those totalitarian regimes. And that comes dangerously close to the truth, the educational establishment is much more comfortable with the ideals of communism than democracy. The allusion of public involvement is there but 99% of the decisions are made by the establishment and the elected boards have little if any control.

And that is why little boys face action, because they did something they did not know was wrong. Disciplining these kids is criminal and I would be the most obnoxious person imaginable until a true adult found some courage and made the right decision instead of hiding behind rules that can be overlooked if they wanted to.

[alwynsw]

27. I disagree. The REAL issue here

is that Superfly and demsrule4life are poopie heads

[Superfly]

28. Personal attack!!! Personal attack!!!

Baliff, whack his pee pee!

(Cheech and Chong)

[alwynsw]

29. I know you are, but what am I?

(PeeWee Herman)

[beevul]

31. I expect noting less from the "bullets for brains crowd!!

Poopie heads?

I'm ofended!!

Next ask me who is the queen of may.

[alwynsw]

40. Careful, beev

You could be the next poopie head

[beevul]

44. Uncle...UNCLE!!!

N/T

[hrd2imagin]

30. It's an interesting coincidence...

that the boys all brought their toys in on the same day!

I think this was a planned protest. Hooray for 3rd grade activism!

[bleedingheart]

32. Personally I think that school is for learning not playing

and parents who send their kids to school with toys are lacking common sense.

I wonder how well these boys read? Bet their parents don't know because they don't even know what these kids are taking to school.

Where has common sense gone??? Please tell me????

Remember the day when your toy was confiscated if you were dumb enough to bring it to school??? Did your parent go to school and retrieve it??? I bet not...I bet they would have told you it was your fault for IGNORING the schools rules on toys!!!

But today we have kids with cell phones, pagers, toys and other kinds of nonsense in schools and the parents are outraged..

[demsrule4life]

33. After you had your toy taken away

were you suspended? Get all kinds of learning in while suspended from school.

[bleedingheart]

34. In my day if you brought toys to school they were thrown away

if you stepped out of line in any way you were suspended or given detention...unfortunately there is no video...but perhaps these kids were also stepping out of line.

In my day if you even talked back to a teacher you got detention, repeat the behavior and you got suspension.

By the way I never brought toys to school, I saw enough kids get their stuff thrown out that it taught me a lesson.

[demsrule4life]

35. Honestly I don't remember bringing toys to school

to damn long ago :) I did feel the sting of a wood paddle one time though.

[bleedingheart]

37. Today it is unheard of for a kid to get a paddling

so you are old! ;-)

hahaha

[demsrule4life]

38. I got into a fight with the "toughest" bully in school in the gym

locker room What really pissed me off I was just starting to win the fight when the gym teacher broke it up. If only old Mr Price could of just waited a few more minutes, I would of took two paddlings.

[bleedingheart]

39. I got detention for defending myself from a bully

I took my shoe off and beat him on the head with it...and it was a wooden heel... (he had spit snuff in my hair and was tormenting me on a bus)

I would have gotten suspension but since I was an honor roll student and he was a repeat offender I got detention for three days....

That kid never bothered me again though... getting beat up by a girl ruined his tough guy reputation...

[beevul]

42. I hear that...

it was a yard stick for me. That was near the end of the days they did that in public schools though.

[alwynsw]

41. Detention? Is that all?

We got a good old fashioned meeting (up closeand personal) with the "board of education", as our principals, Harvey Hackworth and later, Merlin Morehead referred to it. Then our folks got a call so we could meet Mr. Hickory when we got home.

For those unfamiliar with the above terms "Board of Education and "Mmr. Hickory", they refer to good old fashiioned ass whuppin's.

I'd rather have had the detention.

BTW. In elementary school we were encouraged to take toys to school. The teachers kept them in the classroom closet until recess. Something about using our imaginations.

In my wife's days as a teacher, she took toys to school for the kids; things such as whiffle balls and bats, squirt guns, nerf toys, etc. It broke the tedium for both the teachers and the kids. She taught advanced science and poetry (separate classes, Superfly, you dunce). Well wahddya expect from a double masters in earth sciences and education, with batchelors degrees in earth sciences, english, and17th century French poetry? Here's the bragging point. She began teaching at age 23 with those degrees and both masters in hand. I wish I were that bright. BUT I SHOOT BETTER!

[MrSandman]

43. Detention? We don't need no stinkin' detention.

We had them paddles.

[bleedingheart]

36. yeah you learn to pay attention and follow the rules and

most suspensions in our district still require you to come to school..you just get to sit in a study hall all day with a teacher who administers the homework you would have gotten in class...so the education part still continues...