A 10-year-old Hilton Head Island boy has been suspended from school for having something most students carry in their supply boxes: a pencil sharpener.
The problem was his sharpener had broken, but he decided to use it anyway.
A teacher at Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School noticed the boy had what appeared to be a small razor blade during class on Tuesday, according to a Beaufort County sheriff's report.
It was obvious that the blade was the metal insert commonly found in a child's small, plastic pencil sharpener, the deputy noted...
District spokesman Randy Wall said school administrators are stuck in the precarious position between the district's zero tolerance policy against having weapons at school and common sense.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Another Zero Tolerance Idiocy
Reader MikeAT sent me this link--well, I don't want to summarize it. I don't even need to comment on it. I trust your reaction will be as visceral as mine.
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10 comments:
Darren,
This just depresses me, and I often wish I didn't hear about these stories. The administrators in this case are in the precarious position of having common sense and actually using it. Policy is an after-thought.
Please stop sharing these stories - I just can't take it anymore. :-)
Common sense is sadly lacking in most politically correct organizations (including schools).
So Mr. Wall is going to be reasonable? Is it reasonable to suspend a 10 year old student two days for having a broken pencil sharpener? And he calls that common sense? Sorry, but it appears that common sense is in extremely short supply in that school district.
The schools should ban pencils. Pencils are way more dangerous than the small razor blade in a pencil sharpener. You could stick a pencil in someone's eye. Same goes for pens, Ban 'em! Should also ban paper, 'cause it the right hands you can use a sheet of paper to inflict a dangerous paper cut.
They should also ban chairs at school, because a student could pick up a chair and bash someone over the head with it. Should also ban clothing, as many articles of clothing can be used to strangle folks!
Or, they should do what should really be done--ban stupid administrators!
-- chicopanther
Everybody here, from the teacher through whatever levels of administration, have demonstrated an incredible failure of judgment, and have put on display their unfitness to ever be in charge of students.
It's time to take back the schools from these incompetent drones and replace them with individuals who have the ability to actually think.
The thing that worries me the most about this story is that I am not at all surprised by it.
What a terrible thing to do to a child. Surely, common sense was thrown out the window on this one. Whatever happened to compassion and understanding?
As much as I hate to admit it, the litigious situation districts find themselves in lead to such cockamamie actions. I have to give my art students special slips to sign to bring paint to class. It's high school! It's an art class! Get over it. I can't imagine what the administration would do if they found out we actually use box cutters, Exacto knives, hot kilns and chemically laden sealants in the production of art. Shhhhhhh-don't tell!
"the precarious position between the district's zero tolerance policy...and common sense"--well, that explains it. Where there is no common sense, there's only zero tolerance.
As a noted grammarian, I'm shocked that you didn't recognize "zero tolerance idiocy" as a redundancy.
Dan
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