http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html?_r=2&hp

I'm divided on this issue. One one hand, I think the school administrators could have used a little more common sense. On the other hand, I do know of a few 1st and 2nd graders who would grab this tool and try to stab someone with it.

I think they should have confiscated this camping tool and given this child a stern lecture about handling certain things like that appropriately. Suspending him for 45 days was out of line, unless he had behavioral problems before this.

I agree the 45 day suspension was out of line for a first grader.

I have mixed feelings on this too. Obviously a 45 day suspension for a well-behaved first grade student is out of line. But I too have seen first graders who would stab someone with whatever they could get their hands on. By bringing the boyscout tool to school, this child did put others at risk even if he wouldn't have used it that way himself. Who is to say another child wouldn't have grabbed it and used it? I think the problem here is the state law that will not allow administrators to determine consequences on a case by case basis. It's really a sad situation.

What a mess.

45 days? He was just seeking revenge on that bastard that took his lunch on Friday;)

It is a harsh sentence, but why have punishments if they're not going to be enforced? They should change the rules if people don't like them.

It's not so much the rules as it is having a little common sense and dealing with issues on a case-by-case basis. If this child has no history of behavioral problems, then the suspension and sending him to reform school is beyond ridiculous. If he had a history of behavioral problems, then this would be appropriate, but it sounds to me that this isn't the case. What should have happened was that whoever was in charge should have confiscated the tool and had the principal notify the boy's parents that it was not allowed in school and that if he brought it in again, he would face punishment.

Schools do have a moral obligation to keep students and staff safe; however, zero tolerance policies have taken it way too far. We need to bring back some common sense instead of treating kids like criminals when they aren't.

Public schools: Keeping the world safe from Cub Scouts.:rolleyes:

Ridiculous. And another kid could just as well take a pencil and stab someone with it.
Ooh, I better not give them any ideas. They might ban wooden pencils and make everyone buy those bendy ones.

It's not so much the rules as it is having a little common sense and dealing with issues on a case-by-case basis. If this child has no history of behavioral problems, then the suspension and sending him to reform school is beyond ridiculous. If he had a history of behavioral problems, then this would be appropriate, but it sounds to me that this isn't the case. What should have happened was that whoever was in charge should have confiscated the tool and had the principal notify the boy's parents that it was not allowed in school and that if he brought it in again, he would face punishment.

Schools do have a moral obligation to keep students and staff safe; however, zero tolerance policies have taken it way too far. We need to bring back some common sense instead of treating kids like criminals when they aren't.
I think they should incorporate these exclusions into the rules. That's the thing about rules. People take issue when they're enforced. I think flexibility should have been included when the rules were written. This reminds me of the 42-year old woman who was carded when buying liquor, and refused service. The store policy was that anyone who looked 25 got carded. The woman clearly didn't look 17 or 25. Still, many members here thought what happened was justified. She had to leave her groceries behind. That's when common sense took a leave of absence.

In this case, there's an actual rule that's being followed. The lack of common sense was in the writing of the rule, not in the following of the rule, in my opinion. It's a crazy harsh rule that never should have been on the books in the first place.

While I agree punishment is necessary, I think 45 days for a first grader is excessive.

Whatever happened to if someone disses you, jump the offending kid after school and beat the crap out of him? That's how it was when I was in grammar school.

This is yet another case of overreaction on the part of an order-obsessed school board. When will it all stop? (this is yet another reason why I don't believe in rules.)

A 17 year-old Eagle Scout was just suspended for having a 2-inch pocket knife locked away in a Boy Scouts survival kit in his car. :rolleyes: How did they even know it was in his car in the first place?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,565520,00.html

No wonder why our education system is a mess today. The people in charge have no common sense. Why don't they go after the real bullies and troublemakers in schools?

It's stories like this that make me glad I'm not in school anymore!! :eek: