It's a Fork, It's a Spoon, It's a ... Weapon? (MUST READ)

[Swash]

EDIT: It's a FORK, not Ford
I saw this on Yahoo, and it is a must share.

I hardly ever see political/controversial topic up for discussion on IE, but this one may relate to a lot of you because it involves young kids. Read the article about a 1st grader who was suspended, and may face 45 days in a reform school for bringing his Boy Scouts fork/spoon/knife utensil for school lunch.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html?no_interstitial

In my opinion I think they boy should be punished in some form. Maybe a day for two of ISS (or a more age/grade appropriate punishment). His parents should also be talked to about why them letting him bring the utility to school was not the best choice. the zero-tolerence rule should still be upheld I think... it's still a very important rule.

The article also briefly mentions 4 other instances are ridiculous suspensions/punishments.

One was about a 3rd grade girl who received a birthday cake from her Aunt, and it came with a knife for cutting. Instead of thanking the Aunt for the knife and not having a bunch of 3rd graders with cake everywhere, they EXPELLED the girl for 1 year. WHAT?!?!

The second was a 13 year old boy who was suspended in May and ordered to attend a reform school for 45 days after another student dropped a pocket knife in his lap. Now we don't know all they facts; maybe the two boys were messing around with it. But if the actual events played out like it sounds, that is a lack of common sense from the school.

The third was a 7th grade girl expelled after she cut out the windows from a paper house with a utility knife. If she brought the knife too school, that's one thing. If she found it at school or it was in the class, that's another BS move. This was a girl from the same district as the boy featured in the article.


Who are these school hiring. Big 10 officials?? Thoughts?

 

[Attack]

Oddly, I think that the suspension will have more of a scarring effect on a little boy like this than anything else. If you're looking for why people become delinquents and cause serious problems at schools, look a) at their medications (the number of kids these days taking psychotropic drugs is through the roof), b) their family situations (broken homes often result in feelings of alienation and delinquency), and c) the impersonality of the school environment.

Telling a 6-year-old that he is a troublemaker by suspending him teaches him that, well, he is a troublemaker, which is a hard label to shake, and that he is not safe or welcome in a school environment. When kids start feeling like they are inmates, or that nobody at the school cares about them, or that the school is out to get them with petty rules, kids react negatively, and this kind of enforcement of rules only pushes kids more in that negative direction.

I can think of so many ways of handling this threat differently and more positively. Take away the knife, speak to the boy, speak with his parents, explain why he can't have it at school in a way that isn't accusatory or threatening, and then place trust in him to keep special things like a pocketknife away from school.

The real irony of this is that a children's organization like the Cub Scouts trusts the boy to handle the knife, but that the school doesn't. How much sense does that make?

But maybe this goes to the broader sense of what an education means. The Cub Scouts teach the boy how to handle the knife, how to use it safely, and that it is wrong ever to harm anyone else with it. In giving the boy the knife, the Cub Scouts show that they respect the boy and trust him to do the right thing with it. The school, on the other hand, isn't interested in teaching life lessons about trust and responsibility. They'd rather just ban anything potentially threatening and not trust anybody ever. As a result, none of the students respect the school in return either. Go figure.

 

[DirtySecret]

Nothing new, seen something like this happen in my state. A kid at lunch had a pocket knife and pull it out to peel the tough skin off an orange. When he started to put the knife back in his pocket the cafeteria monitor cought it and he was suspended the rest of the school year.

 

[jason_h537]

Yeahthis has been going on since i was in grade school. They really stress that zero tolerance crap, regardless of circumstances

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Better tell my wife to take the "Spork" out of my lunch pail. I'll just eat with my toes.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

Toes may contain gangreneous things.