Totally agree with you. I just don't see how it's PC to expect a student to obey authority. I'm surprised to read so many comments of that sort on this board of all places. It's about taking personal responsibility. The child was punished for disobeying authority as well as risking the safety of others (whose parents would've no doubt been more than happy to sue if their kids got hit by a flying limb). Eleven years old is old enough to control oneself. So instead of dealing with their child's discipline problem the parents take offense and run whining to the news media. How on earth was this deemed worthy of CNN coverage? How long before the little girl gets her spot on David Letterman or The Tonight Show to talk about her experience?
When I was in school doing gymnastics outside of gym would've been unheard of, not to mention seen as showing off by her peers. If she's been doing gymnastics for 5 years, she obviously has a time and place to practice this and doesn't need to be doing it during lunch. But more to the point it's nonsense to whine about the validity of a rule just because you're now facing the consequences of breaking it. If the parents thought the rule was silly, they should've tried lobbying for change rather than letting their daughter just break it.
I always wonder what'll happen to kids who are raised by parents with this attitude. When they grow up and defy their bosses, will they avoid getting fired with "Oh, come on. It was a ridiculous order anyway. What's the harm?"
Raising kids to obey their ridiculous rules without question will only raise a generation of socialists.