Say Anything Blog

The story failed to mention that it was an assault butter knife, capable of spreading peanut butter AND jelly!

A troll is someone who only wants to stir up trouble, not have an honest debate.  Some signs that a poster is a troll:
* Dodges questions from other posters * Refuses to give sources
* When one of its arguments is shown to be false, either ignores the proof or moves the goalposts.  Heh. (From the LGF faq)

Ridiculous.

Ignorance is run amok in our schools and government. ‘Nuff said.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

I need to lock up the family butter knives so that they don’t fall into the wrong hands.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

Hopefully she’s a minority. When I was in school, a black kid was found with a loaded police-issued handgun with the serial number scratched off in his locker. He was expelled, but it was later overturned because the family threatened to sue for racial discrimination.

All she had to do was claim the knife was for jimmying open her birth control pill dispenser, and she’d have been on her way.

She’s probably on the no-fly list.

School vouchers won’t help her.

While watching cspan a few years ago a man was escorted from the balcony for hanging a banner over the edge of the balcony. I was a simple message only 6 words long and spoke volumes. The banner simply read. Common sense has fled this place. Gee, it looks like it is running and screaming from the seats of education too.

Common sense has fled this place.

A prophet is without honor in his own country!

A troll is someone who only wants to stir up trouble, not have an honest debate.  Some signs that a poster is a troll:
* Dodges questions from other posters * Refuses to give sources
* When one of its arguments is shown to be false, either ignores the proof or moves the goalposts.  Heh. (From the LGF faq)

It is very easy to criticize when you don’t find yourself in the position of being the one to make the call on what action should be taken.  If you want school officials to make rational decisions, then immunize them from fear of lawsuits from those decisions.  99.9% of the rules that people feel are stupid, such as zero-tolerance rules, are designed to protect administrators.  Let’s assume that the prinicipal had done what everyone consiers the “right thing” and let the girl slide.  What happens when the next kid brings a knife a little sharper?  Does it only count if they actually stab someone or is possession the determining factor?  How many warnings do you give before you take action?

The problem is that each of those questions is subjective.  That’s where the problem lies.  If the principal is in a good mood, he might make one decision about a given knife.  If he is in a bad mood, he might make a different decision.  As soon as that happens, the district and the principal end up in court, sued by a disguruntled parent.  Their dissatisfaction may be justified or it may not.  Either way, it costs the taxpayer money to resolve the complaint.

This is at the core of the problems that kids have today.  Parents are no longer parents.  They are their kids’ friends.  As a result, they rush to the defense of their children regardless of the facts.  ids are learning that they can behave however they want, and Mommy will come defend them.

Zero-tolerance rules do, at times, produce outrageous results.  However, those results are consistent and defensible in court.

"Although I can accept talking scarecrows, lions and great wizards in emerald cities, I find it hard to believe there is no paperwork involved when your house lands on a witch.”
- Dave James

Steve L., EXACTLY! Also excellently explained and thank you for that. I agree. Even though it becomes ridiculously insane at times ... what can we do when, for every move we make, there is a threat of a negative reaction?

"When she realized she had the knife, she put it in her bookbag..then put it in her locker at Goose creek High school. She forgot it was there...until a few weeks later ..when the knife fell out of her overstuffed locker.”

Umm...not to sympathize with the evil bureaucrats or anything, but the knife was in her bookbag, and weeks later it fell out of her locker?

As Ricky Ricardo was wont to say, ”Lucy...”

So, protecting administrators from the negative reactions produced by their stupid decisions is the driving imperative?

Sorry, far too many times actual dangerous students do “slide”. Look at every single school shooting of the last 30 years and you will find that. Teachers and students had all seen danger signals, and they were not allowed to act on them. Or they were ignored. In some instances people who tried to do something about such students were harassed and punished.

Show me that this girl had a history of discipline problems and mental instability and I will wholeheartedly embrace kicking her out. Otherwise I call bullshit.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

You’re right 2H9, but just because she doesn’t have documented (or what we don’t know,etc) discipline trouble, doesn’t mean a rule still shouldn’t stand. She could have easily given the knife to an authority when she realized her mistake.
Of course I don’t believe she meant any harm to others but having the knife on school grounds opened the opportunity for danger, whether from her or someone else getting a hold of the knife.
People need to realize that the school authorities are stuck between a rock and a hard place ... it’s not easy these days

Regrettably, vouchers would NOT solve this problem, as the ‘no common sense’ (no tolerance) policy is a federal regulation that applies to the government schools, charter schools, and private/parochial schools as well.  I’ve known a school security person who would take a student aside and say “kid, I didn’t see that, but get it out of here before I do,” but that’s about the most “common sense” that is possible unless the child is home-schooled.

I think it’s easier to bully the good kid that makes a mistake then do something about the bad kid.

Of course that doesn’t do a darned thing for making schools safer (except perhaps for school administrators.)

I seem to recall where a student found a dangerous item and turned it in to the school.  Right thing to do, right?

Wrong he was also punished under the no-common sense rule.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

As they say .. a few bad people can ruin it for a lot of good people. It’s not easy these days for anyone, especially the good guys.

No it’s not, however I think I find myself as a strong supporter of doing what’s right (expelling troublemakers) and a critic of doing what’s wrong (expelling a student for bringing a butter knife.)

It takes a bunch of stupid twits (not all in the school system by any means) not to see what is right and what is wrong.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

That’s just it. If the system goes by those standards then you have the civil rights crazies out there saying (and bring lawsuits against) unfair ... you’re doing one thing for some students and not the same for others.

This is just absolute stupidity.

More stupid is the rationalization for idiotic things like this. What’s really frightening is that these protectors of our children don’t realize the damage that they have done to this child’s life by being stupid and they don’t care.

Because the salaries haven’t kept up, the school systems haven’t attracted the most intelligent or ambitious for decades. As a result, our schools are now run by people less intelligent than the pupils they’re supposed to be teaching. As a student, I sure wouldn’t trust one of them with a butter knife.

“Zero Tolerance” is never evenly enforced.

Morons.

EWS: 

Teachers on a whole make more money per hour worked then nearly any other white color profession.

I don’t have the patients to teach a bunch of kids, but I sure wouldn’t mind all the time off.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

We can point out the poor mean SAT scores and high pay per hour actually taught all day, but again, the fact of the matter is that all too often, it’s the government that commands “zero tolerance” policies, and what teacher can work around that?

Good point bike bubba.  These are policies set by well paid administrators.

In GF they’re currently making almost 200Ks.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

I meant the top guy.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

I don’t have the patients to teach a bunch of kids, but I sure wouldn’t mind all the time off.

That’s just it. I can promise you that if teachers didn’t get a break… a true break, from the darling, lil’ sweetheart children, not many teachers could make it.
Think about your own children and admit it’s tough sometimes. It’s amazing how children of all ages can reach nerves you didn’t even know you had until it’s your last one, it’s fraying and a child is gnawing on it.

Ooops, I don’t have the patients to be a doctor.  I don’t have the patience to teach.

I can promise you that if teachers didn’t get a break… a true break, from the darling, lil’ sweetheart children, not many teachers could make it.

That very well may be true, but having so much time off is a lifestyle benefit too.  People are paid for the time they are productive, not the times they are not.

Besides I’m sure there are plenty of things about my job that teachers wouldn’t like and I have to deal with them all the time; even on vacation.

Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but your job is not harder than mine, only different.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

(excuse me while I go check to see if your ip matches robert108)
LOL

I could cause as much damage with a friggin pen or pencil as I could with a butter knife.

Do they wanna ban those too? While theyre at it why don’t the buy us all tablet PC’s and with stylus’s so even our writing utencils don’t have points.

Unbelievably stupid.

There really is no justification for stupidity.

The Supreme Court is a bunch of black robed tyrants

Amber says that stupid decision was taking a butter knife to school. She ran out of the house to meet the bus while making a sandwich, when she realized she had the knife. She put it in her bookbag, then she put it in her locker at Goose Creek High school. She forgot it was there until a few weeks later when the knife fell out of her overstuffed locker.