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147 Comments
- Fhwqhgads, on 10/14/2009, -2/+163Zero tolerance = zero intelligence
- norman619, on 10/14/2009, -1/+79
So this is where kids are learning poor judgement and overkill. - amabaie, on 10/14/2009, -0/+58The knife should simply have been removed and the child reminded of the policy. Camping cutlery - go figure!
- Spawn2105, on 10/14/2009, -0/+52I guess he was asked to fork over the knife
- WoundedCow, on 10/14/2009, -2/+53Another example of how the dictates of the rulers throw their weight around while common sense is thrown against the curb.
- melman101, on 10/14/2009, -1/+51They actually ruled last night, and did not send him to reform school for 45 days. They suspended him for 5 days, and it was retroactive, so he's back at school today. And they changed the policy for Kindergarten and 1st graders. Now they get 3 - 5 day suspension.
- Akairenn, on 10/14/2009, -0/+43I'm pretty sure that a sharpened #2 pencil, jammed into an eye, could cause an awful lot of damage.
Better enact a zero tolerance policy. Only when they're in solitary confinement will they be safe! WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?!?!?! - elijahyossie, on 10/14/2009, -0/+40With all the camping cutlery I've come across, you'd struggle to cut anything harder than butter!
- edstate, on 10/14/2009, -1/+31But that's still a "zero tolerance" policy, which is insane. Maybe he didn't deserve to be suspended at all?
- NeoPoe, on 10/14/2009, -0/+29Update: The decision was overturned and the boy will not be removed from regular classes.
- jackyb1234, on 10/14/2009, -0/+28Stuff like this is getting out of hand. The boy is 6 for pete sake
- fatboynpbr, on 10/14/2009, -3/+29These school boards are getting ridiculous. They have been pulling these things for forever. I was suspended for a week one time b/c the principal said a mother called in and said I was going to blow up the school. As bad as these places are getting It seems that the "book smart" people are becoming to common and "common sense" people are becoming more rare
- thejenigma, on 10/14/2009, -1/+26I wonder if things like this make kids so angry they'd like to bring a knife to school. . .
- joculator, on 10/14/2009, -0/+25It was a Swiss army knife, with a fork and spoon..not exactly weapon of choice for crips and bloods.
- gkiltz, on 10/14/2009, -1/+22Zero Tolerance is not, and never has been, about justice or fairness. It's about the politics of toughness, and showmanship.
- GhostOfKraken, on 10/14/2009, -0/+19Agreed. I was suspended for a week in 5th grade for bringing a replica Star Trek phaser to school. The school cited their zero tolerance policy
- scuba7183, on 10/14/2009, -0/+19Hell, he should have been told 'Hey don't do that again please' and been given it back at the end of the day
- zoomaKabu, on 10/14/2009, -1/+17Well we're virtually impotent in the face of drug cartels and street gangs may be killing each other in the streets, but at least we can sleep well knowing that there aren't any six year old's running amok with sporks.
- WoollyMittens, on 10/14/2009, -0/+16This will teach the boy to hate mindless bureaucrats. Perhaps a useful lesson for when the revolution comes.
- sanchezke70, on 10/14/2009, -0/+15A mate of mine got suspended for 2 weeks at the end of final year in high school. A fairly important time of year really. What for you ask? he walked passed a class room where some kids were smoking weed. He didn't even know they were there smoking. He just walked passed to get to another class. Turns out you don't actually have to have a brain to work in a High School.
- BoneheadFarker, on 10/14/2009, -0/+15@scuba7183
What??? Show the kid some tolerance? That's absurd! - edstate, on 10/14/2009, -0/+15When I was in 2nd grade I fell in love with the pencil sharpener, and sharpened all my pencils to a razor fine point. One day I accidentally dropped a pencil and it landed IN a girls hand. She was amazingly calm about it, with this pencil sticking straight up, out of her hand. The teacher went friggin nutz. But I didn't get suspended. And the graphite stayed in that girl's hand. Probably still there.
- reeds1999, on 10/14/2009, -1/+15These folk are in charge of educating our children. Scary!
- scuba7183, on 10/14/2009, -0/+14Plus he was ***** 6
- norman619, on 10/14/2009, -0/+13You could have imaginarily blown out the wall of the building! They got to you just in time.
- wigren, on 10/14/2009, -0/+13The problem now is how to deal with violent children who actually threaten their classmates. I'm glad this boy wont be punished any harder then he has been. But the school board vote still lumps violent kids in with junior campers. If a kid brings a knife and tries to stab another kid, he only gets 5 days suspension?
- orion2ktc, on 10/14/2009, -1/+13This zero tolerance ***** is way out of hand. It's obvious the kid wasn't going to use this to do any harm to others, just eat his lunch.
- JinxCrow, on 10/14/2009, -1/+13It was a camping multi-utensil tool, not a samurai sword or dagger. An honest mistake I'm sure, because the kid uses it to eat with not hurt people with.
- JinxCrow, on 10/14/2009, -0/+10Wondered if the kid was an SCA kid at first, since when camping at events all kids know safety when it comes to knives or other blades (since there are sword fighting tourneys and such, and knives being the most handy and popular tool there).
But anyway, yeah wtf? Seriously people? Besides a camping tool a knife to cut a cake too? Good job, let's create safety hysteria, because being afraid and panicking over one of the most basic tools we humans created is far better than knowing how to handle it properly and safely. - GhostOfKraken, on 10/14/2009, -0/+10I know! I could have been a real threat! In all seriousness I can laugh about it now but it wasn't funny when i was 10 yrs old. Zero tolerance is *****
- beachtrader, on 10/14/2009, -1/+10Swiss army knives are red, therefore it was a gang-related incident too...
- UselessTrivia, on 10/14/2009, -0/+9I remember right after Columbine happened all of the administrators in my high school were freaking out about everything. My brother, who hung out with the "rebel" crowd, but was a good student and didn't get in trouble really, got pulled aside by our douchebag vice principal.
He says: "I don't want to see you or your friends wearing your trenchcoats to school anymore, or I'll have you all suspended."
I'm not sure that even one of those guys actually OWNED a trenchcoat. My brother certainly didn't. My dad was so pissed when he heard about this that he was all set to drive my brother down to the mall and buy him a trenchcoat that very night so he could wear it to school the next day.
My mom talked him down, but he did chew that VP's ass pretty good over the phone. My brother got a hand-written letter of apology. So sweet. - Cepster, on 10/14/2009, -0/+9In highschool, I got sent to a behavior official's office for "gang paraphenalia"
The incident in question: I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up. A sweatshirt from my CHOIR class. Unless this woman was thinking I was in one of the West Side Story gangs, she was completely retarded.
I don't know too many bloods who can sing a solid baritone line.
I know it's not an example of the zero tolerance policy, but it is an example of the absolutes in schools, and the lack of common sense. - brandonb90, on 10/14/2009, -2/+10So he gets to spend 3-5 days hagning out at home playing Mario. Don't see the big deal here.
- rbempah, on 10/14/2009, -0/+8AGREED!
- DreKor, on 10/14/2009, -0/+8Kids have been guilty since Columbine, but 9/11 didn't help matters.
- Solkre, on 10/14/2009, -1/+9Stop this zero tolerance *****. Only the Sith deal in absolutes
- vans, on 10/14/2009, -0/+8It can't get weirder, right? Or wait, maybe it can: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/10/10/Prepared ...
Zero tolerance seems to have become a substitute for common sense and the ability to apply discretion on a case by case base. Schools are turning into airports at an alarming rate it seems. Security checks, plastic utensils, crap food... - norman619, on 10/14/2009, -0/+8scuba:
That's common sense. That's they did with me when I was little and would bring something to school they felt was inappropriate. Acknowledging I was a CHILD and obviously didn't know better they calmly explained to me why I shouldn't bring it to school then held it till the end of the day. This seems to be viewed as far too extreme today I guess. It's fare more sensible to treat the child as a criminal mastermind. - acknotSW, on 10/14/2009, -0/+7@scuba7183
You are of course right, but that doesn't play as well on TV as "we have a zero tolerance weapons policy" and therefore can't advance someone’s administrative or political career. - momcatjo, on 10/14/2009, -1/+8Doesn't this still end up on his permanent record, though?
- JinxCrow, on 10/14/2009, -1/+8Paranoia doesn't breed peace.
- Nishnabotna, on 10/14/2009, -1/+8It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.
- Nishnabotna, on 10/14/2009, -0/+7My swiss army knife is green. I would be fired if they knew I had it.
- stompk291, on 10/14/2009, -0/+6or it will cow him and teach him to be a conformist.
- elmuerte17, on 10/14/2009, -0/+6totally bogus. once i got called into the principal's office, he showed me a drawing of an airplane dropping a nuke on my school and told me someone saw me drawing it. i replied that i was insulted at the poor quality of the drawing and would have made it look much more realistic if i were so inclined. he let me go and i didn't hear another thing about it. now if that happened today... i dunno, police intervention? obviously i'd be some sort of guilty-until-proven-innocent-and-then-still-probably-guilty terrorist capable of stealing a military aircraft armed with nuclear weapons, piloting it to a desired location, and releasing said payload with the intent of causing as much damage as possible, and in spite of being smart enough to accomplish all this, still stupid enough to leave a drawing detailing my plans lying around the target area.
- knightcrusader, on 10/14/2009, -0/+6This ***** pisses me off.
When I was in high school (98 - 02), we were stuck in that post-Columbine mentality where school administrators thought every kid had an agenda to blow up the school. We had to start carrying see-thru or mesh backpacks. among other stupid *****.
My best friend (who graduated as salutatorian, mind you) said one day in freshman English that he played with fireworks in his garage, as a smartass comment to another student. The teacher overheard that, and immediately reported him to the vice principal, who drug him out of class, did a search of his locker (and found absolutely nothing to show he was insane or had intention to do anything stupid) and then gave him a 3 day suspension during final exams week. Everyone was in an uproar about it. Luckily his other teachers had an ounce of common sense because they let him take his exams anyway when he got back, even though with a suspension you are supposed to take a 0 on everything missed.
I also was almost suspended because we were talking about our families in class one day and I said that my uncle was a "gunsmith". That is all I said. The other vice principal pulled me out and talked to me about it, and I got the phonebook out and proved to her that he was in fact one and he had his own business. Luckily I was spared because this VP had more common sense than the other one did... but it was still retarded. Zero tolerance gives administrators an excuse for their lack of common sense and go all ape ***** on the students.
Also, recently, I found out that teacher who suspended my friend is now my brother's vice principal, and I really feel sorry for him... - dougle, on 10/14/2009, -1/+7Spoon crime IS on the rise
- therealkdog, on 10/14/2009, -0/+6I made the following comment in another digg submission of this story.
Digg submission
http://digg.com/world_news/It_s_a_Fork_It_s_a_Spoo ...
Picture of kid with the "weapon"
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/10/12/us/ ...
That is not a standard camping utensil set. That is a pocket knife with eating utensils, You can clearly see the sharp blade in the picture there. I'm simply pointing out that this is a knife.
Yes i think this is a huge overreaction to what comes down to a mistake.
Here is a picture of a typical set like what is in the picture he is holding.
http://backpackingshop.co.uk/images/P/78_305big.jp ... - Enkairi, on 10/14/2009, -1/+7Ah zero tolerance, more like zero intelligence from the people who made these policies.
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