Parents of boy, 10, suspended for pretending to fire pretend bow and arrow want record cleared

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dshix said:
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Nice! Very loving Christian sentiment toward those who sacrifice much to teach our children.

And It’s not a teacher but the administration of the school that suspends a child.
 
This action is an overreaction on the part of the school. I’d honestly go into the principal’s office and point my fingers at him and see what he does. If the school is worried about firearms, install metal detectors and require clear backpacks like many of the high schools do.

When I was in college I would sub to supplement income. While walking down the hall at a high school, a black student walked up to me, made a shotgun-cocking noise, and got into my face and shouted “BOOM!” I told him he missed. Are we all a bunch of chickens now, scared of each other and our children? Take additional security measures and punish actual crimes.

The story also mentions that another boy rolled up a piece of paper and pretended to use THAT as a firearm (a musket, probably, given the time of year and talk of pilgrims and such in classrooms). Why wasn’t that boy punished too? Use that disparate treatment as grounds to dismiss the entire thing.

From the policy, paraphrased by the boy’s mother:
“Parents need to know if their kid makes a sign with their fingers, then they’re going to have a suspension for threatening with a firearm”

Okay, son, you’re not allowed to motion to anyone. No, don’t even raise your hand, someone might think you’re throwing a hand grenade. I’ll let your teacher know that you’ll simply shout out questions rather than raising your hand. I’ll tell her it’s the best way we can think of to comply with the administrator’s decision.

So I remember being in 4th grade when Metal Gear came out on NES. I often stayed late before walking home (I’d wait for the bullies that waited outside to leave - I was small for my age and often a target) and I’d walk down the halls pretending to plant bombs like Solid Snake did. What do you think they’d do to me today - call the CIA?
 
Yes, mince words (adminstrators are educators, by the way). rather than look at the issue at hand. These types of suspensions and punishments are patently absurd.
 
Book_Worm said:
Nice! Very loving Christian sentiment toward those who sacrifice much to teach our children.

And It’s not a teacher but the administration of the school that suspends a child.
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Who “sacrifice much”, indeed.

I’m sorry, but the dumbing down of American education these days has made me less than appreciative of these teachers (and, by extension, the administrators, principals, and unions behind it all).

It is just so sad to see the kids that come out of these schools. They seem to come out less educated than when they went in.

This is why I am such an advocate of homeschooling.
 
DeniseNY said:
Yes, mince words (adminstrators are educators, by the way). rather than look at the issue at hand. These types of suspensions and punishments are patently absurd.
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I did not disagree with the fact that the ADMINISTRATION was wrong in its actions (or so it seems from the information in that article; I do not discount the possibility that there was more to the story).

My point was that I find name-calling juvenile and repugnant and I expect more from people who proudly profess to be followers of Jesus.

Administrators may be educators, but they do not teach, and the poster said “teaching our children.”

And, for the record, most TEACHERS would use far stronger terms to describe ADMINISTRATORS.
 
They most certainly do teach: by the example they set.

I find the insinuation in your comment that - because of a word used on a message board - that ANYONES profession of Christianity is deceiftful - to be repugnant.
 
DeniseNY said:
They most certainly do teach: by the example they set.

I find the insinuation in your comment that - because of a word used on a message board - that ANYONES profession of Christianity is deceiftful - to be repugnant.
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Please do not twist my words; in no way did I imply deceit. What I said was that I think that I think egregious behavior, like name-calling, is especially unbecoming to those who say they are Followers of the One who preached kindness and love.

But if you want to expand “teaching” to include “teaching by example,” I would have to agree that some children are being taught idiotic things.
 
Book_Worm said:
Please do not twist my words; in no way did I imply deceit. What I said was that I think that I think egregious behavior, like name-calling, is especially unbecoming to those who say they are Followers of the One who preached kindness and love.

But if you want to expand “teaching” to include “teaching by example,” I would have to agree that some children are being taught idiotic things.
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Hey, when someone does something idiotic, they are, by definition, idiots. Logical, reasoned people don’t do idiotic things.

If the boy’s teacher reported this “incident”, then she is an idiot. That’s all there is too it.
 
Book_Worm said:
Nice! Very loving Christian sentiment toward those who sacrifice much to teach our children.

And It’s not a teacher but the administration of the school that suspends a child.
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My wife’s a teacher and she’d agree with most everything said about this.
 
Lochias said:
Hey, when someone does something idiotic, they are, by definition, idiots. Logical, reasoned people don’t do idiotic things.

If the boy’s teacher reported this “incident”, then she is an idiot. That’s all there is too it.
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Not true, unfortunately.

This is one of the reason that so many young teachers leave the profession so quickly. They end up disenchanted by all of the bureaucracy that keeps them from doing what they gave up so much to do…teach!

My BIL (devout conservative Catholic, if it makes any difference) is a teacher and had to report a girl for having a “weapon” in his class last year. The “weapon” was a nail clipper. Of course he didn’t want to do this, of course he thought it was stupid, and of course he saw this as only hurting one of his students who needed to be in school the most. But, had he not reported it and someone found out that this girl had nail clippers, he could have lost his job, or worse. “Mandatory reporters” don’t just have to report child abuse, they have to report “weapons” and “violence”, among other things. Now fortunately, the school let her off with a warning after having a nice long meeting with her parents.

I would have loved to be a teacher, and I think I would have been very good at it, but things like this scared me away. (And the job insecurity, low pay, and general thanklessness of such a hard job).

Things like this are so crazy to me. I grew up in a rural area. I and everyone else I knew grew up with real guns and real bows and arrows, and we knew how to use them. I even missed a few days of school every year for deer hunting, and I wasn’t the only one, many kids did! And during school, we loved to chase each other around and pretend that sticks we found on the ground were guns. I’m not sure I would have made it out of elementary school if we had had all of these kinds of policies. 😦
 
BlueEyedLady said:
My BIL (devout conservative Catholic, if it makes any difference) is a teacher and had to report a girl for having a “weapon” in his class last year. The “weapon” was a nail clipper. Of course he didn’t want to do this, of course he thought it was stupid, and of course he saw this as only hurting one of his students who needed to be in school the most. But, had he not reported it and someone found out that this girl had nail clippers, he could have lost his job, or worse. “Mandatory reporters” don’t just have to report child abuse, they have to report “weapons” and “violence”, among other things. Now fortunately, the school let her off with a warning after having a nice long meeting with her parents.
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If I were your brother-in-law I would have spoken to the girl directly and told her that I was forced to report X, Y, and Z, and she must not bring her nail clippers to class or else I would have to report her. That’s the Catholic thing to do.

Then, if she brought it again, I’d report her as my obligation required.
 
Name calling is not the right path to choose. However, frustration at a broken system leads to not the best behavior.

I home school my children. I have for 2 years as I saw the decline in education in my particular school. I put my older son back in this year to a Charter school because he begged me too. I checked it out and decided to let him go. Wasn’t too long before I was hearing " My teacher said physical education was more important than academics". He disagreed with her and she lectured him about the importance of obedience. (I will supplement this by saying he was not disrespectful in anyway, as reported to me by the school). :confused: Not too long after that I received a note home saying that this teacher noticed he (my son) was bringing candy and soda to school everyday. :eek: Ummm…not from my house. I made an appointment to discuss and I assured her any candy and soda he was getting was not coming from home but from the school. She said she did not believe me. My son even told her he was purchasing it from the vending machines. She replied, that she had been worried about his welfare, I turned to the principal and de-enrolled my son that very day.

Point is, many of the schools have changed. They are not teaching what I find is important or good. My son went backwards in math and science when I put him in the Charter school. They are more concerned with fitting our kids into a perscribed box than in educating. Most of this is NOT the individual teachers fault, in general. They are employees and must do what the district requires of them. The curriculum is less than stellar, IMO.

I am secure in my decision to home school as I have been involved in the public school system. I don’t like it for my kids. There is a broader problem in this nation and the dept of education seems to be at the root.
 
dshix said:
If I were your brother-in-law I would have spoken to the girl directly and told her that I was forced to report X, Y, and Z, and she must not bring her nail clippers to class or else I would have to report her. That’s the Catholic thing to do.

Then, if she brought it again, I’d report her as my obligation required.
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He spoke with her after class and apologized profusely for having to report her. He explained that she was a good kid and he would do whatever he could to advocate for her. He followed through with that promise and submitted letters to the administration on her behalf and worked with her parents prior to the meeting.

But not reporting it could have ruined his life. If she told her friends what had happened it could have gotten out that Mr. Smith let something like that go. If another student was “busted” with a nail clipper or other “weapon” of nonsense, that student would have been able to say “But when Suzie had a nail clipper in class, Mr. Smith just told her not to bring it again!”

It sucks, for sure. But it’s one of those things where you have to follow through with your employment contract and just do the best you can for your students within the rules that an overly zealous administration comes up with.

I don’t like it when people blame teachers for things like this. It’s kind of like blaming police when they arrest or ticket you for breaking a stupid law. They didn’t pass the laws, and teachers don’t make the rules, but most of them still try to do the best they can for the people they serve within the stupid rules that people with far more money and power than they have have decided on.
 
DeniseNY said:
We have idiots teaching our children
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I beg your pardon. I teach children in public school, and I would not have even reported it.
The idiots seem to be the ones who vote for a guy like your current governor, legislators such as found in Albany, and mayors such as the exiting and entering ones in NYC.
Maybe if NY voted for better leaders, they would get better school administrators.
Jon
 
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