Should I be surprised?

farmerjohn

Well-known Member
Today was my kindergarten sons Halloween parade in school. My wife made him a costume with a black hat and cape, mustache, and a belt with a two foot long soft-foam sword and-you guessed it-the school staff confiscated the sword as it is a weapon. I feel that was a bit extreme.
 
What , no arrest for being a terrorist !! Might have been better to have sent him with some aspirin in small baggies as a drug dealer , LOL.
 
Wait a minute gentlemen...you got it all wrong. Don't look at those in the school but rather the people they have to answer to: the community. There are all those parents that hound the district to the point where the administration puts the rules in place. Now I agree with this situation, however, if the schools don;t deal with absolutes, then they get sued.

In Michigan there is a school safety law which anyone caught with a weapon, such as a gun or knife is expelled (student) or fired (employee). That goes for a paint ball gun under the seat, or a key chain knife; even a knife as part of a nail clippers.

A couple years ago, a drama coach was carrying in a wooden rifle for a play. A parent saw them and called the police.

Needless to say, the public who complains are the problem.
 
Don't be surprised, there are no courses in common sense in any college that I have seen. If there were they'd have a hard time finding some one to teach it.
 
You got it! Some "mommy" gets upset and the the "defecation hits the ventilation". Then we have "zero tolerance" policies and Johnny gets suspended for bringing a butter knife in his lunch pail.

In this case, if the "sword" was simply set aside for the day and sent home, I would say common sense won the day (despite how dumb that really is). Any action, punishment, etc. beyond that really would be ridiculous.

Unless, of course, the OP has some strong religious convictions that require "swords" as part of a Halloween costume, then watch out......
 
The real agenda is they don't want him to act like a little boy. Little boys throw rocks, fight, holler, cuss and make play guns and swords out of sticks and they figure all of this out on their own, the abundant establishment does not approve.
 
Oh, how times have changed! When I was in school back in the dark ages BC, (Before Computers), a good old country boy wasn't dressed iffin he didn't carry a pocket knife. I don't know of a boy in my class that didn't. I don't remember anyone actually bringing a gun to school, (carrying one on the school bus would have been frowned upon, even then), but when we were old enough to drive and someone brought a gun I seriously doubt if anyone would have said anything. And now they confiscate a toy made from FOAM? But it's OK for these same kids to sit all Saturday morning and watch the outlandish cartoons that are thrust upon them now.
 
...and according to some TV commercials I can save moron car insurance....atleast I think that is what I heard... I just had to throw that in lol....
 
Farmerjohn, You should write the school board a letter pointing out how utterly absurd confiscating a soft foam sword was. Better yet take the foam sword to a school board meeting and pass it around. Tell any board member that sticks up for the policy or staff for confiscating the foam sword they are what's wrong with this country.

A friend from Seattle had a son that was going to be Poseidon in a school play. My buddy made his son a trident out of aluminum. The teacher in charge of the play went ballistic because the trident was made out of metal. My buddy asked her what she thought it should be made of. She said cardboard. He looked her in the eye and said "only wussy Poseidons use a cardboard trident". She didn't know how to respond to that. The kid used his aluminum trident in the play. Everyone survived just fine.
 
Not all that long ago, 1984 or so. I did a demonstration speech for English class on how to clean a gun. I carried that .410 bolt action in it's case on the bus to school, put it in my locker and brought it to English class where I got one of the few A's of my schooling career and that afternoon carried it home on the same bus.
My how times have changed! Of course to me that gun was no different than a shovel,pitchfork or a wrench, although it needed to be treated with more respect.
 
Same era, I did my demonstration speech on how properly light, adjust, and cut steel with the oxyacetylene torch, which I did in front of the whole class in the shop.

We've raised a generation or two that willingly trades freedom for safety, and the country is going to suffer for it.
 
I agree with the extreme.They did the same thing here at a school halloween party last night.Youngest son couldn't bring in a plastic shotgun to go with his Si Robertson,Duck Dynasty, costume.

Vito
 
Stupid rules made by idiots. Read that one school. Took away one kids plastic soldiers because they had plastic guns.
 
I can equal that.
I went to high school in the late-70s and graduated in 1980 in a town of about 800. Every year, we had an FFA game hunt. This was where all the kids in FFA were put into one of about five teams, and during the hunting season, went out on a Saturday to hunt pheasant, quail, and rabbits. The team with the most pheasant, quail or rabbits shot by the end of the day would win. Mind you, this was a SCHOOL SPONSORED sport with real shotguns, promoted the the FFA instructor and blessed by the school board.
Fast forward 30 years in the same school, and my son (unknown to us) put a rubber band gun in his book bag and took it to school. It was a rubber band gun that my son had bought on a garage sale and was very crudely made on on a band saw, used an old board for the stock, two dowel rods for the barrels and two clothes pins for the "triggers". Two teachers went ballistic when they saw it and tried to have him expelled. Not because it could shoot an eye out (that was never mentioned), but because it was a dangerous "GUN".
 
Yes, this is unfortunate. What we are teaching our children, by example, is to ignore common sense. These kids will go on to become politicians and perpetuate the problem by leading a country into believing that common sense is a detriment rather than an asset.
 
Yep, I have noticed it in subtle ways. I work in a store that has a parts/sales counter where items are often brought in to compare with the new stuff we have. Many times we have to use a tool of some sort like a knife to open or pry something apart. The customers who are over 50 years old or so always have the knife out in a heartbeat. Younger ones never have one, and, if questioned, will say it wasn't allowed when growing up. Now they aren't comfortable carrying a weapon like that.

Tool.....weapon....depends on the perspective I guess.
 
I heard on the radio that a grade school had canceled it's Halloween party because Halloween was too religious. Apparently a few in the community complained that they were offended by the religious Halloween celebration. The school board noted that they needed to be mindful of offending people. What about all those that were offended by canceling the party? I guess the school board is only mindful of offending a minority of the people in the community.


On the other hand my BIL from Michigan talked about he and others taking their guns to school so they could go hunting after school when he was in junior high in the late 60's.
 
If I was in charge of a room full of kindergarten kids I would not be happy if one of the kids was poking and hitting the other kids with a toy sword. It makes sense for the teacher to take the sword away before any fights get started.

I'm sure you wife put a lot of work into the costume and it looked great. But sending a kindergartner to school or a party with a toy sword is just asking for trouble and creating more work for the teacher. Think ahead and leave the sticks, clubs and swords at home next time.

That aside, would you post a picture of your son in his costume? Most of us would enjoy it.
 
That sure is the truth. I always have a 3-1/2" knife on my belt. Keep it sharp as a razor and is used for EVERYTHING from cleanin my fingernails to cutting hay bale strings to a prybar, etc, etc.! I can't tell ya how many folks at the supermarket or a gas station comment about me and my "tool"! I don't know iof I could get by without it.
 
They went OVERBOARD! In Omaha, they expelled 3-14 year olds, for a year, for shooting air soft guns at each other AFTER school, but on school property!
 
When my son was in 9th grade he got held after school for having an air chuck. School official said it was a toke pipe. I raked him over the coals for being stupid.

A few years later same guy took sons cell phone away, not allowed in school. It wasn't even on. I told him my son WILL carry a phone in school, if it isn't on, so he can call home if a Columbine was to happen. His carried the phone until graduation.

Common sense is not taught in school. You have to have it to teach it.

It was a different time but I carried a pocket knife all thru school. No one knew I had it except my shop teachers.
 
So, you are saying your car should be taken away before you get drunk and drive it? I understand where you are coming from but can't entirely agree with the reasoning. If he was waving it around and being reckless, then yes. If we give people the chance to do the right thing MOST people will.
I had a pocket knife taken away in 5th grade. I had carried it for a year and carried one most every day after, never carved up tables or kids the entire time. The bad thing is I was NOT an angel by any means.
 
I've had a knife in my pocket since 2nd grade, but I leave it at home if I'm flying so the security people don't make a big deal out of it.

I had a gun in the vehicle almost all the time at high school (never took it inside the school) and nobody ever said a word about it.
 
Doesn't anybody remember those cool high top boots with the pocket in the side for a pen knife? You were really somebody if you wore a pair of those.
 
We had a refinishing section in High school shop class. Many students would take a rifle,shotgun or muzzle loader on the bus to shop class and refinish the gun. We must have looked like a small army walking down the halls with all the guns. In the metal craft section, a lot of "letter openers" were made because we weren"t allowed to make knives.
In FFA, we brought corn knives,machetes and axes to school to trim FFAs Christmas trees.. We were transported in a pickup bed and joked about taking over the town.
 
Maybe if he would have streatched a condom over the sword it would have been acceptable to the school.

This is a good example of "Ignorance gone to seed"

Gene
 
That's what happens when the liberals are in charge. that being said, I know of a few little "johnnies and janies" that would be whacking the other kids all day long non stop at our school because their parents never taught them right from wrong or swatted them when they needed it! so I guess it goes both ways.
 
the whole "zero tolerance"thing is bull s#!t that just means that those "in charge" do not have to do their job,or even think because the rule says "zero tolerance" that means no thought required . the school board and administrators have abdicated their responcibility,and eliminated any application of common sense
 
A good way to start would be to address the school board, write a letter to the editor of the local paper, etc... The only way this country will improve is for the sane people to become louder than the fools.
 
EXTREME?????? What are you talking about John? Do you know how many people have died because of foam swords????? Thousands I bet.

Do you realize the tragedy that was averted by the fast acting school officials????????????? Tens or hundreds of kids were spared their lives today.

Sorry, I think it is just as extreme and ridiculous as you. My youngest is in 6th grade. The antics by the school officials get worse every year.

In the schools defense, you get one parent with a camera phone and Facebook. That parent starts complaining and some little thing, and it just escalates from there. I taught HS for one year in the city of Flint, MI. That was enough for me to go a different direction.

BTW, in 7th grade I took a gun to school for show and tell, and it WAS ACCEPTABLE to do that at the time. I am only 44 years old. Things have really changed.

Rick
 
Hey Rick I had hunters safety in 9th grade PE. One day we went out and shot several rounds with both rifle and pistol. Many of the kids brought their own rifle to school. Had to drop it off with the PE teacher before school and pick up after school. Class of '80 St Johns, Mi
 

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