Thursday, November 16, 2006

Squirt Gun Policy

“Following zero-tolerance policies against weapons in schools, officials at a Kansas City, Mo., elementary school suspended a 6-year-old first-grader for 10 days for bringing an orange plastic squirt gun to school. According to the school district, the two-inch hollow bright-orange toy with no trigger was a simulated weapon.”

Okay, I get the weapon policy. We hear about it almost every day – some dumb kid brings a gun to school and kills people. So the policy is understandable.

However, isn’t the punishment a bit harsh? This guy’s six years old and the squirt gun was orange and triggerless! So maybe the gun would scare some people, or he may think it was okay to bring guns to school and the next day bring a real gun. But a ten days suspension? Back when I was in elementary, if you had something that you shouldn’t, the teacher would glare at you for a while and then take the item away, only to give it back at the end of the day or, for more extreme cases, the end of the school year. Surely it is more important to tell the kid that he violated the policy and take away the toy (which for the average six-year-old is unbearable) than to “reward” him with a ten day break?

DDL is a staff writer for Pushing Back the Frontiers of Ignorance

Article source: World Magazine, “Quick Takes”, Oct. 7 issue

4 comments:

Matthew Celestine said...

Sounds a little silly.

RobertDWood said...

Yeah.
Ridiculous.

~*Joyzey*~ said...

You know, kids today could use those policies to their advantage. Getting out of the hell that is the public schools for a time.

Although I don't think that is what that 6y/o was trying to do.

But if you think about it, with everything that the school councils have put together with their policies, you do this and that, and your out of there. And if you don't mind getting labled a 'bad kid' then it may look like a good way out for some kids.

Thank You God for letting us homeschool!

Anonymous said...

Watch out cuz the next suspension may be that of a kid drawing a gun on a piece of paper in art class. That's a 5 day suspension. Wait, what are they gonna use for utensils in the cafeteria? No plastic knives allowed as they are dangerous. Then they will start giving suspensions for kids using the word "gun" and prob do the same for kids using their fingers to point and shoot at a playmate.