Toy Soldiers Run Afoul of School's Weapons Ban

[OEF5]

WTF do they think we don't carry weapons as soldier? Are our kids not allowed to be taught what war is about? I remember way back when I was learning history all the pictures of the civil war and such with the weapons, cannons at the dead bodies on the ground.

Seriously WTF over.

 

[Eddie]

Common sense is gone entirely from education. It has been replaced by ideas like zero tolerance and no child left behind; ideas that teach us not to think for ourselves, that the government will take care of us.

My wife, a teacher, used to have a poster in her room. It showed a school of fish being led by a big fish. Behind them, an enourmous shark was opening its mouth. One of the little fish was asking the big fish. "Can't we swim a little faster?" And the big fish replied "No, we can't move any faster than the slowest one."

We are dumbing down our educational system to the point of it being a joke in the interest of not making anyone else feel bad. Politically Correct America needs to wake up and realize that the real world has winners and losers in it and right now we sure aren't looking like a bunch of winners when you view the policies of our educational system.

So what if a plastic soldier hurts somebody's feelings or makes them uncomfortable? Maybe the school should be saying "Harden up! The world is a tough ole place and if you're getting all butthurt over a little piece of plastic then you've got a lot to learn about living."

 

[TheLoneRaider]

The Indy Star showed a picture of the boys camo hat with a US flag with army men glued on. They made him tear the army men off the hat because the army men had little guns.

 

[ghitch75]

 

[Archbishop]

I love the part of the story:

"The district does not allow images of weapons or drugs on clothing. For example, a student would not be permitted to wear a shirt with a picture of a marijuana leaf on it, the superintendent said."

Because a toy solider representing a patriotic theme and a mary jay leaf representing a drug theme are the same.........

Superintendent, you fail

You beat me to it. Exactly, you can't compare something that is legal to something that is illegal and say, "See this is why we have to ban it."
What, they're not even related.
Oh well, what are you gonna do? You can't argue or reason with stupid people.

 

[Dr Falken]

I don't get it either. I guess it doesn't really matter that the "weapons" were unloaded, huh? It is a cultural battle to advance a political agenda couched in a "safety" argument.

 

[HICKMAN]

Liberals: The death of a Nation...

 

[furbymac]

i am surprised they didn't arrest him for possessing a gun under the age of 18 and for having one on school property

 

[dooleydclown]

Liberals aren't interested in truth, just being politically correct. You can't fix stupid!

 

[U.S. Patriot]

To think the ones teaching our children are such liberals. That's why being a parent is such a tough job. Teaching kids to not be afraid to express their opinions. No matter is some libtard finds it offensive. It really saddens me. What happend to thew days of prayer, if you chose to in schools. Or saying the pledge of allegence. Now there are flag burnings, kids getting sent home for having t-shirts with American flags on them, and a kid being sent home for having plastic Army guys on his hat. What is this country coming too. Damn liberal socialist commy ********!

 

[Roadie]

RI school to alter policy that banned soldier hat
(AP) – 25 minutes ago
COVENTRY, R.I. — The superintendent of a Rhode Island school district that banned a second-grader's homemade hat because it displayed toy soldiers with tiny guns said Saturday he will work to change the policy to allow such apparel.
Ken Di Pietro said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that the no-weapons policy shouldn't limit student expression, especially when students are depicting "tools of a profession or service," such as the military or police.
"The event exposed how a policy meant to ensure safe environments for students can become restrictive and can present an image counter to the work of our schools to promote patriotism and democracy," Di Pietro said.
David Morales, an 8-year-old student at Tiogue School, made the hat after choosing a patriotic theme for a school project last week. He glued plastic Army figures to a camouflage baseball cap. But school officials banned the hat, saying the guns carried by the Army figures violated school policy.
The decision prompted criticism of the school and support for Morales. On Friday, the boy received a medal from Lt. Gen. Reginald Centracchio, the retired head of the Rhode Island National Guard. Centracchio said Morales should be thanked for recognizing veterans and soldiers.
"You did nothing wrong, and you did an outstanding job," Centracchio told the boy.
Di Pietro said Centrachio met with school officials and asked them to change the policy, and has agreed to work with the school committee on a revision. Di Pietro said the incident obscured the district's strong support for the military.
He noted that Coventry schools sponsor one of only two Air Force Junior ROTC programs in the state.
"Coventry Public Schools has a long history of support for the military and for instilling patriotism in students," he said.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Associated Press: RI school to alter policy that banned soldier hat

It shouldn't have happened in the first place, but at least progress was made after the fact.

 

[Fixer]

This is just ridiculous. These are the people teaching our kids. They can't even make simple distinctions between what is and isn't appropriate for school attire. Let alone the fact that he is 8 years old. I didn't know they made army men without guns, wouldn't they be called miniature Barbie's if they didn't have guns? My nephew was told he could not wear a necklace with a cross on it to school because it could be a gang sign. I guess Christians are now classified as a gang with just really nice clubhouses.

Someone needs to pull their head out of their A@@!!!!

 

[Eddie]

This is just ridiculous. These are the people teaching our kids. They can't even make simple distinctions between what is and isn't appropriate for school attire. Let alone the fact that he is 8 years old. I didn't know they made army men without guns, wouldn't they be called miniature Barbie's if they didn't have guns? My nephew was told he could not wear a necklace with a cross on it to school because it could be a gang sign. I guess Christians are now classified as a gang with just really nice clubhouses.

Someone needs to pull their head out of their A@@!!!![/quote]

Or shove the rest of them in so that they disappear with a little popping sound.

 

[littletommy]

When I was in the 5th grade, way way back in the mid 70's, we went on a field trip, and I saw a pocket knife that I really wanted, but I was maybe a dollar short of being able to get it. I remember my teacher handing me the money to get it, and telling me to pay him back whenever I could. My dad was pissed that I borrowed money, but I still have that knife, and I can re-live that day everytime I get that knife out. What kind of bull **** memories are our kids gonna have? This is really all of our faults for allowing things to get this way to begin with! I believe it's time to take things back, but sadly, I think I'm in the extreme minority anymore.

 

[Bushido Devil Dog]

The Associated Press: RI school to alter policy that banned soldier hat

It shouldn't have happened in the first place, but at least progress was made after the fact.

Perhaps this is a small sign that maybe...just maybe an inkling of common sense will start to become fashionable again...

I am guessing that the power of the Interwebs caused this school/board of indoctrination to be flooded with calls, e-mails and letters telling them that they must have for brains for punishing this kid, and for a change they actually listened to the voices of reason and have admitted to and tried to correct their *foul*-up.

 

[96firephoenix]

reminds me of a rather scary quote in teh company cafeteria from Abe Lincoln: "the philosophy of the classroom in one generation is the philosophy of the government in the next."

 

[mpholic]

ONE of the MANY reasons we chose to home school our children. Now that we have grandchildren we are hoping we can do the same for them.

 

[slars1327]

I have several so called "teachers" in my family ( cousins kids) that are just as pig headed and stupid. They constantly site how the NEA ( very strange org) is quite vocal on this and that any move towards changing the rules in a zero tolerence infraction should be fought to the death!!!!

The yougest one feels that teachers ARE the future of this country since it is they who will really mold a childs mind for adulthood.

Beware of teachers and school boards!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[finity]

Ok to all of you mindlessly bashing liberals on the "zero tolerance" policies supposedly imposed & supported by them:

I hate to bring you the bad news (OK, no i don't) but the concept of "zero-tolerance" was originally concieved by that bastion of conservatism, Ronald Reagan in his "war on drugs" (or should that be "war on SOME drugs"?). I will grant you that the zero tolerance approach was enabled to be expanded by the 1994 Gun Free Schools act passed by Clinton but even then there was allowance for administrators to use discretion in punishments on a case by case basis.

Almost no typically liberal group supports "zero tolerance" in its current form (& I say 'almost' because I'm sure there is SOME liberal group out there that I haven't found that does support it). Not the psychiatric associations, teachers, NEA, ABA, etc.

Not even that stalwart liberal organization, the ACLU supports it.

Here are a few links to get you started on the road to enlightenment:

http://www.leeirving.com/gem/ZeroTolerance.htm

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Zero+Tolerance

http://www.wcwonline.org/?option=com_content&task=view&id=934&Itemid=54

http://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/humanrights/dignitydenied_november2008.pdf

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLG_enUS337US337&q=zero+tolerance+aclu

http://www.aclu-il.org/legal/highschool/students/zerotolerance.shtml

http://eric.uoregon.edu/publications/digests/digest146.html

http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/zerotolreport.html

http://www.nasponline.org/educators/zero_alternative.pdf


Also, it's not only those so-called liberal school districts that have the ZT policies in place. According to one report (linked above) around 90% of schools have some form of zero-tolerance policy.

Are you really trying to say that 90% of all school districts are run by a "liberal" school board hell-bent on imposing these ZT policies in opposition to the people who elected them to the board? Puhleeze.

I'll tell you what, try going to your next school board meeting & try to get them to do away with their ZT policies. It should be pretty easy since IN is typically a fairly conservative state, right? Let me know how that goes. As a liberal I would be more than happy to have those stupid, destructive policies rescinded.

I'd say (since we're throwing around unfounded accusations already) that ZT is right up the conservative's alley. I mean, isn't conservatism all about unthinking subservience to authority, maintaining the status quo & growing up to be a productive member of a well-ordered society (or better known as being "a cog in the well-oiled machine")?

ZT is not a liberal policy. It is used by school administrators who are too lazy & spineless to actually make a decision. In that respect I do agree with one of the posts above, it's easier to say "sorry, those are the rules" than to actually have to justify their actions to an angry parent of a kid they just shafted.

I'm not dirty, filthy or a wacko, thankyouverymuch, & I honestly can't say that any of the other liberals I know meet those descriptions, either.

We REALLY need the (special blue feathered finger):fawk: smiley back again for just times like these.

Until then (SBFF):fawk:.

You can use your imagination to figure out what I'm saying, can't you? Unless your liberal education doesn't allow you to use your higher reasoning faculties properly. If not then :fawk:SBFF anyway.

 

[Hotdoger]

ZT is not a liberal policy. It is used by school administrators who are too lazy & spineless to actually make a decision.

Problem with your whole post is right there. Most all school administrators are former NEA member teachers. They liberalized ZT.

Teachers Union Facts