Posted on 04/29/2013 6:19:09 AM PDT by marktwain
A fifth-grader in Cupertino, California was suspended and threatened with expulsion for bringing a small Swiss Army knife on a school-sponsored, science-oriented camping trip.
In early April, Braden Bandermann’s class set off on Garden Gate Elementary School’s annual, week-long pilgrimage for fifth-graders to Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco.
Before leaving, Braden did what any Silicon Valley 10-year-old faced with the perils of nature might do: He packed his trusty Swiss Army knife. As any camper knows, the multi-tool device is nothing if not versatile. Braden’s particular model contains a can opener, tweezers, a toothpick, a nail file, a tiny pair of scissors and a small blade.
The little blade landed the boy in big trouble.
“They called me,” explained Tony Bandermann, Braden’s father. “They said, ‘You have to come and get him. He has a weapon. He needs to be suspended or possibly expelled.’”
At the time, the elder Bandermann was on a business trip in Sacramento, roughly 100 miles away. His wife, Braden’s stepmother, was at the camp with Braden, but they had arrived by bus and had no private transportation. (Braden’s mother was also unable to go to the camp so that he could serve a suspension.)
The school principal, Brandi Hucko, allegedly wanted Bandermann to rush to the site of the science camp, pick Braden up for a one-day suspension and then deliver him back to camp.
Bandermann told The Daily Caller that he was frustrated over Hucko’s insistence “that I risk my job and go get him out of the program for a one-day suspension all over a Swiss Army knife.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
-— The whole Bismarkian model of schooling is obsolete. With the Internet, we do not need the old model of brick and mortar schools for basic education. They are an expensive anachronism that is being used to destroy our culture and Western civilization.-—
Worth repeating.
It happened after Columbine and all the schools jumped on the zero tolerance/zero brains bandwagon.
Nothing was ever said about bringing a knife to school or leaving it home in the future. Just to cut away from yourself.
I’m a Scout leader and encourage my scouts to carry a knife. I also spent last week at the FIRST Robotics World Championships. I suspect a large percentage of the 20,000 competitors had knives because they are indispensable tools. We also had unfettered use of reciprocating saws, band saws, drills, grinders and countless other tools. If you want to see some young people performing at their best, youtube 2013 FRC Championship.
SAK: Useful tool.
The principal: Useless tool.
The reformed church the school is affiliated with has a CCC (Calvinist Cadet Corp) chapter that my boy belongs to. It's run by one of the teachers at the school (all-around great guy, and role-model for my oldest boy who is studying to be a teacher). At their camp outs, the boys are allowed to bring pocket knives, and can whittle away during supervised activities. However, the school rules remain separate.
A world run by silly women and queers
Nobody. That’s the point.
I would happily make that drive even if it did cost me my job just so I could administer a world class beat down to the idiot who called me.
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