Posted on 10/12/2009 12:17:31 PM PDT by JoeProBono
1st Grader Brings Camping Utensil to School for Lunch, But Zero Tolerance Weapons Policy Leads to 45-Day Suspension -
A 6-year-old boy's excitement over joining the Cub Scouts may just land him in reform school for 45 days.
Zachary Christie was suspended from his 1st grade class in Delaware's Christina School District after bringing a camping utensil - a combination knife/fork/spoon - to use at lunch, prompting calls to reexamine schools' zero-tolerance policy for bringing weapons to school, according to a New York Times report Monday.
Zero tolerance policies were instituted in many school districts across the country, at least in part due to violence at Columbine and Virginia Tech, the report notes. Their rigid enforcement is designed to eliminate the appearance of bias or discrimination on the part of school officials.
But residents, and some lawmakers, are now wondering why schools can't apply a more common-sense discretion to such instances.
"It just seems unfair," said Zachary, who is being home-schooled while his mother, Debbie Christie, tries to fight the suspension. That involved Zachary appearing before a district disciplinary committee with his karate instructor and mother's fiancé vouching for him as character witnesses.
Once again, common sense is nowhere to be found by busybody school officials.
I've carried a pocket knife daily since I was 8, never thought of it as a weapon. A pocket knife is just a tool. This, I suppose, is a cultural thing, but some cultures obviously see anything as a weapon.
I deeply resent being lumped in with those who abuse liberty, and I deeply resent losing my liberty because of their abuses of liberty.
I know this statement is going to trigger name calling from the liberals, but I no longer care what they call me.
When anyone abuses their freedom they threaten everyone's freedom, and society should not accommodate them.
Too bady, they wont even allow Boy Scouts by the time this guy gets old enough ...
Anything is a weapon if you use it as one. The real idiocy is in allowing “officials” to deflect blame on, and ban the use of, inanimate objects. When I was a kid, we used knives, forks and spoons to eat with. I’m pretty sure we didn’t have to call the swat team over utensils, and we knew how to cut our own food all by ourselves by the time we went to school.
We’ve done the same. Our perfectly normal kids all have multiple pocketknives (more than I can count), hunting knives, bows, arrows, toy swords, toy guns, BB guns and a 20 guage shotgun that fires real shells.
A line from the hero The Blue Raja:
“An effete British superhero, to be precise. I am pilfering your tableware because I hurl it. I hurl it with a deadly accuracy. The Blue Raja is my name. And yes, I know I don't wear much blue and I speak in a British accent, but if you know your history it really does make perfect sense.”
Honestly we have become wimps of the highest order! My father made me carry my scout knife with me at all times since I was 6 years old. He would often inspect it to make sure I kept it clean and sharp as a razor. God knows how many times I cut myself with it but I still have it. Its has been replaced in my pocket by numerous Victorinox knives but I don't go anywhere without one. I have to remember to put in my checked baggage when I travel.
When I was a Cub Master I insisted on knife training to get the wolf badge and the parents howled bloody murder! I asked them at what point they would learn to use sharp tools, when they turn 30?
These days, for all too many, the spirt of the law is the letter of the law, if you get my meaning.
Can you believe this crap?!! When I was 6, I used to use my Creepy Crawler set and make black spider to scare the boys who would either hide under their desks or on jump to the top ... I was a nuisance ... between me and my brothers, the teachers would have WELCOMED with open arms a young man, proud to be a scout, who dressed in a suit and tie periodically, whose infraction was bringing his big-boy fork and spoon to school.
So, I wonder if kids and bring in rubber spiders to school and what the punishment would be for some kid to crack open his skull running from the thing?
No common sense in school administration. Looks like a sign of things to come. Get ‘em while they are young and make sure that they don’t have an original thought in their head!
Geez!
I'm sorry, but I have to side with the school on this one. I think there is a good chance that the boy turns out to be a cereal killer!
When my son was in middle school kids were stabbed with pencils in the hallway. These rules leave no room for the application of common sense. But considering that many school administrators don’t have any common sense the kids suffer from a forced reliance on one-size-fits all zero tolerance. Public education is not about the kids, and certainly not about education in many cases. They just love the power of enforcement!!
Poor little guy. What a screwed world we live in.
Back when I was in highschool 1999-2003 we couldn’t eat with plastic knives, we had to cut everything with the edge of a fork or spoon.
Another dangerous toy banned from schools.
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