No-tolerance asininity:
Student Nearly Suspended Over LEGO-Sized Gun
It’s not just Lego-sized, it’s an actual Lego:
A Staten Island fourth-grader was reprimanded and almost suspended yesterday when the principal spotted him playing with a LEGO policeman and a two-inch-long toy gun during lunch, the Advance reports.
Under the city’s no-tolerance policy regarding guns in schools, PS 52 Principal Evelyn Matroianni brought 9-year-old Patrick Timoney to her office and called his mother to say the boy might be suspended for carrying the miniature toy gun to school, pending the approval of the Department of Education’s security administrator. When contacted, the administrator reportedly said the toy should be confiscated and returned to the boy’s parents, however no other punishment would be necessary.
Confiscate that Lego before that administrator shoots his eye out!
The article also points out that
In 2007, a New Jersey 7-year-old was suspended when he drew a picture of gun.
From which one may jump to the conclusion that it takes a new variety of moron to enforce those no-tolerance rules in such creative ways.
UPDATE
Brace yourself for “Global studies” bs: Schools: U.S. History Out, Environment In. As Betsy says,
What this translates into is the students doing projects which often involve a lot of class discussion as students give their opinions about material they don’t know all that much about. And they do a lot of artwork. But the students remain amazingly free of any knowledge of whatever the content is supposed to be. I’ve encountered schools that pride themselves on teaching skills, not content. They’re quite proud that their students don’t learn the standard curriculum but that they do lots and lots of projects. Now prepare for states across the nation to follow that pattern.
And some wonder why people homeschool?
I gotta link to this. The nanny state has never been more ridiculous than when this kind of thing can happen. It’s like the principal left her common sense at home; if she ever had any common sense.
Mother of God… Since when does Zero Tolerance extend this far? The prohibitions are supposed to be on firearms. Positing that a Lego toy is worthy of confiscation is proving that there are educators out there with no sense at all.
To be blunt, the freakin’ toy shouldn’t even be confiscated. The whole point of banning guns in a school is to keep out a tool that can cause injury or death. Someone explain to me how a damn Lego can cause injury or death, short of swallowing it.
This is stupid. Just plain, out-and-out stupid. If I ever have children, they’re going to a private school with sensible administrators and teachers.
Any “zero tolerance” policy will always lead to idiocy because it leaves no room for judgment. We hire people to teach and guide our children, but we don’t trust them enough to make good judgments about weapons.
The only issues worth a “zero tolerance” policy are “zero tolerance” policies.
Bottom line is, as always, this problem is caused by too many lawyers. Dipsh!t administrators are instructed to error on the side of being careful…for fear of a lawsuit. In this case, their decisions are more than doubly idiotic. It’s a shame what ambulance chasers have done to this country.