Weapons. When the word is uttered you normally think firearms. You may imagine a redneck with a deer rifle. You may imagine a Marine with a machine gun. If you are a history buff, you may think about a mace or a sword and picture a knight atop a horse fighting the heathen invaders. If you are a sci-fi fan, you may picture a Han Solo blaster, or a laser cannon from the Galactica.
I don't often picture a 10 year old with a steak knife.
When I worked for Homeland Security, one of my jobs was training and teaching TSA security officers about screening and weapons and terrorism and terrorist methodology. I was involved in managing thousands of these people over the years. In screening, you have to use some discretion about prohibiting someones personal property from being carried on an aircraft. There was always one guy, though, that saw everything as a weapon. It didn't matter what the item was or what it was for, it "could be" used to stab or cut or kill. A simple ball point pen, for example, could be used to stab a pilot in the jugular.
All true. Marines are trained that they are never truly unarmed. We may never have a rifle, but there is always something that can be used as a weapon.
In Florida, a 10 year old girl was arrested for having a steak knife at school. The horrific facts are that she was seen actually using a steak knife to --------- cut steak! She brought leftovers for lunch and brought a steak knife to eat her lunch. She was promptly arrested, and no doubt faces hard time and expulsion from school. More than likely this will end up on her permanent record as well.
A student with a gun? We should probably be concerned. A 10 year old with a steak knife in the hallway telling someone to "step back bitch!" might cause some concern. However, I think that this reaction was a bit overwhelming for someone who was using a perfectly legitimate object in the manner in which it was intended.
We have public school students who don't even know which century we fought the Japanese. We have public school students who know damn well what sexual preferences are but no idea how to properly format a research paper or that wikipedia is a junk source for anything. (And I teach college. I am constantly appalled and disgusted at the lack of writing skills that are exhibited by 95% of students).
We need MORE money for public schools? We need to give them MORE control over our children? I think that if they can't distinguish between a 10 year old with a steak knife cutting steak, and a 10 year old with a gun shooting other kids, then perhaps WE need to take control of the schools.
Or maybe we should just ban protein from bag lunches.
You Are Among The Elite!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Public Education Systems Are Full Of Morons
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 Posts From Readers:
OH NO THE LITTLE GIRL IS DANGEROUS AND THE WHOLE SCHOOL WILL BE SACRIFICED BY HER MANIACLE INTENTIONS......where to these morons come from!!!!!!!
This is liberal loonacy at its worst. The poor kid was given a healthy meal from her mom and the means to make sure she ate the food without choking.
Then the morons in the school don't have the sense enough to realize WHY the knife was ther and the poor kid is suspended and now has a criminal record that has ruined her for the rest of her life.
These people in the government schools are absolute idiots. Personally I think we need to trash the whole , "public school, " sysyem and let parents send their kids to schools of their choice or educate them at home.
When I was in school in the sixties and earlt seventies at least teachers and principles showed a little common sense now the liberal influence and the PC agenda has destroyed education and we are raising a henration of brain dead children who have been lined up for sacrifice to liberal indoctrination in our government schools!
Ya think the school system and government education ticks me off?!?!?!?
My biggest concern is how eager the educators are to allow children to be arrested and have their lives ruined. I thought the purpose of a "resource officer" was to nip things in the bud and work as a liason to avoid this kind of overkill. Instead we have this Nazi like patrol bent on turning perfectly normal children into hardened criminals. Crazy!
This is liberal loonacy [sic] at its worst.
This is not liberal lunacy, it is just plain lunacy. The liberal blogs are just as upset over this matter as the conservative blogs, and for the very same reasons. So lets be friends, agree on issues that concern all of us, and stop the name-calling.
Eco, you may be right and if that is the case then I applaud those on the left for joining us in ths war against idiocy.
Unfortunately, the left has co-opted the public school system and turned it into a very vanilla, CYA, don't hurt anyone's feelings place of rainbows and puppies----at least that is the goal. You can't blame my friends for presuming that this was another instance of the left in a hissy-fit.
my son got in trouble for "bringing" an exacto knife to school. i had to go to school and have a meeting with the principal and the duty officer and they were expelling my son.
only problem was - he didn't bring it to school. he simply took it from the art room by accident when he was picking up all his pencils.
if he hadn't dropped his pencil box (literally an old cigar box that he's decorated) in front of the duty officer no one would have known about it. i sat there listening to these guys go on and on about how dangerous this was and how irresponsible it was and how he had placed himself in a position where he was quite possibly ruining his life. stating over and over again that those things had a place and anywhere that a student could get to it and use it was NOT the place it should be.
finally, i turned to my son and asked "so what do you have to say for yourself" and he said it wasn't his, he'd picked it up in the art room by accident. after some prompting, he told the whole story and you could have heard a pin drop.
he wasn't expelled or suspended and they never did get rid of the exacto knives and sculpting tools from the art rooms - hmmm, i wonder what's in the shop class that could be dangerous.
sheer and utter idiocy.
heidianne, wouldn't it have been nice if the "duty officer" actually acted like a real police officer, which they are supposed to be and ASKED your son what he was doing with said exacto knife? Geez! This is my biggest compalint; they are kids, treat them like kids, not hardened criminals.
heidianne, I am so sorry you and your son were put through this. Idiocy in the extreme!
Robert, here are a few links to add to this comment thread (as you see, the first is a liberal website in full agreement on this issue, among others):
The First Thing We Do, We Kill All The Teachers POSTED BY OGGED ON 12.17.07 I hate school.
11th Grader knows more than the teacher, Gets punished for it.
A 10-year-old Ocala girl brought her lunch to school and a small kitchen knife to cut it. She now faces a felony charge after being arrested. Do you think arresting the girl was too extreme? Cast your vote.”
You can't blame my friends for presuming that this was another instance of the left in a hissy-fit.
I am not blaming anyone, just adding some balance. The problem with goopy curriculums is also a function of what is taught in "E" schools (i.e. schools of education), not necessarily what comes out of state legislatures. Do you remember your kids' kindergarten teacher? Did she talk to you the same way she talked to your 5-year olds? Mine did. After every parent-teacher conference, I had to suppress a scream by kicking the tires before driving home.
ROFL Eco! y kids kindergarten teachers weren't quite that bad, but you could tell that they spent the day with preschoolers.
I am fortunate that we live in the county in Alabama that has the best school system in the state, and we moved here by choice. However, what really pisses me off is the arrogance and condescension from teachers. I am educated (B.S., M.S.) and soon to start my Ph.D. I don't wear it on my shoulder like rank, but I do despise being talked to as if I am incapable of explaining vowels and consonants to my 1st grader.
If I hear some 25 year old bubbleheadd blonde tell me how important it is to read to my son one more time, I will scream!
Robert, great post! When I first read this I was thinking of doing a post, now I don't have too. I couldn't have said it any better myself. I think one of the key words is common sense. Obviously said person was a wee bit lacking in that department.
While writing this, my son got a call from a friend telling him that he had his pocketknife. The first words out of my mouth were, if he gives that to you at the bus stop, bring it home right away! LOL I swear these people make you paranoid.
Okay, back to having common sense. Where has it all gone? I understand the need for caution. Violence in school is a serious problem but do they really believe that this is helping. I mean, seriously people, if a person is hell bent on going to a school and shooting people, there is not a whole lot you can do to stop it. Do they really think that arresting a 10 year old girl for bringing a steak knife in is going to stop school violence? If they are worried about school violence so much they should concentrate on bullies who get their kicks from picking on others. One thing most of these school shooting killings all had in commom was that they were picked on. I'm not saying that is an excuse, but should give administrators a starting point in keeping our kids safer.
eco....I've read a lot of your other posts regarding a mutual respect for others, and a need to meet in the middle. (for a lack of a better word)
I couldn't agree more. Along with Robert, I'm not necessarily a Rebublican, it is just closer to my ideals and beliefs. I sometimes enjoy others challenging me on my blog. (although it can get annoying after a while) I find myself doing more investigating and am usually more educated and knowledgeble about the said subject when all is said and done. I think that is one of the reason's I enjoy Robert's blog so much. (no kissing up going on here...LOL) He expresses his opinions educatedly without the name calling.
I don't mind any kissing up, Jenn. But you don't need to. You do quite well, and are far ahead of where I was as a "rookie." Don't sell yourself short. You have a great blend of passion/emotion/common sense that transcends every day conversation.
conservative chic (Jenn, if I may -- in fact my daughter serving in Iraq is named Jenn): please accept my heartfelt thanks. I hope this signals the beginning of a new movement ... the closing of ranks among friends and fellow citizens of a great country yearning for unity.
And Robert, please accept my thanks. This means a lot to me.
Awww, Thanks Robert, that means a lot coming from you!
As a side note....For some unknown reason, I cannot comment on Ken's blog. I've tried doing a million things and it just won't let me comment. Hmmmm!!I'll keep trying!
Post a Comment