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This country is getting more ridiculous every day. For playing bang bang with his friends a 10 year old gets suspended from school:


http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/04/us/ohio-boy-suspended-finger-gun/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Zero tolerance is Zero Tolerance...why I no longer point with my finger. I point with my hand Much easier jack slapping if I have to instead poking a chest to make a point

The main part that I find stupid is that the suspension was for a "look alike firearm". If it would have been for something like "threatening behavior" it would have made more sense since you could argue something like "putting your fingers like a gun against someones head and 'pulling' the trigger could be playing but it could also be a thread. We don't know which one it is so all behaviors like that will be punished the same". That would make a lot more sense.

But from the story:

Price "has been warning the students for some weeks," said Warner. "We've had a problem at this school. The boys have gone around fake shooting and making paper guns at class. It's inappropriate. She has sent notes to parents for the past three weeks alerting them of the problem."

Entingh said he never received a notice, but was aware of school authorities telling students, including Nathan, that any gun-related behavior would have serious consequences

It might be a stupid rule but:

1) Nothing is gained by gun-behavior.
2) Nothing is lost by banning gun behavior.
3) If you have been told for 3 fething weeks to cut that crap out then you deserve to be suspended even if it is a stupid rule.

This sounds like some weird 'new age' school. You want your kid to go to some alternative thinking school, you play by their rules... Don't like it? Go to a normal school.

http://ccsweb.columbus.k12.oh.us/applications/schoolwebsites/SchoolProfile.nsf/(WebPublic2)/Devonshire_Alternative_Elementary_School?OpenDocument

Devonshire is a Project Adventure School. Our school themes include challenge, risk, trust, cooperation, and problem solving. Students in grades K-5 are involved in “hands-on” types of activities in the classroom, the gymnasium, as well as field trips throughout our community. Our unique school program includes climbing walls in the gym and participation in ground level initiatives and high ropes courses at Summit Vision's Outdoor Adventure Center. Our focus is to teach students “how” to think, not “what” to think. Our school has earned a state ranking of Continuous Improvement.

The most interesting part:
We integrate the subject areas and use cooperative and hands on activities to create an experiential learning experience for our students.

Sounds to me they have a non-classroom designed system which seems to work around and cater to kids who can't/wont learn traditional ways, and to keep control they are very focused on how kids 'playlearn'.

Seems if they have found it interfering with teaching, and they have had to fight 'gun play' as a real issue than so be it. Don't like it? Go to a normal school where your kid sits at a desk 6 hours a day and has some minimally supervised recess for 30 minutes where he can 'Fingerbang' his brains out.

This is silly. I thought Americans loved guns! The US is a crazy place indeed. It is not a 'look alike firearm', it is just a freaking hand! A hand!
Rules are rules, but this is a seriously stupid rule. What is next? Cutting kid's fingers off so they can't make threatening gestures anymore?
I'll have to agree with that CNN lady.

 d-usa wrote:

It might be a stupid rule but:

1) Nothing is gained by gun-behavior.
2) Nothing is lost by banning gun behavior.
3) If you have been told for 3 fething weeks to cut that crap out then you deserve to be suspended even if it is a stupid rule.

The lack of justice in depriving a student (who's just being a kid) from learning for that period of time comes to mind, but you have a solid point with with number three.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
This is silly. I thought Americans loved guns! The US is a crazy place indeed. It is not a 'look alike firearm', it is just a freaking hand! A hand!
Rules are rules, but this is a seriously stupid rule. What is next? Cutting kid's fingers off so they can't make threatening gestures anymore?
I'll have to agree with that CNN lady.

You missed the story where a kid got suspended for chewing his pop tart into a shape his teacher thought looked like a gun.

Relapse wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
This is silly. I thought Americans loved guns! The US is a crazy place indeed. It is not a 'look alike firearm', it is just a freaking hand! A hand!
Rules are rules, but this is a seriously stupid rule. What is next? Cutting kid's fingers off so they can't make threatening gestures anymore?
I'll have to agree with that CNN lady.

You missed the story where a kid got suspended for chewing his pop tart into a shape his teacher thought looked like a gun.

He was just lucky that the school didn't find his pop-tart nutritionally lacking and charged his family for some vegetables.

 d-usa wrote:

Relapse wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
This is silly. I thought Americans loved guns! The US is a crazy place indeed. It is not a 'look alike firearm', it is just a freaking hand! A hand!
Rules are rules, but this is a seriously stupid rule. What is next? Cutting kid's fingers off so they can't make threatening gestures anymore?
I'll have to agree with that CNN lady.

You missed the story where a kid got suspended for chewing his pop tart into a shape his teacher thought looked like a gun.

He was just lucky that the school didn't find his pop-tart nutritionally lacking and charged his family for some vegetables.

Kids being kids! shocking!

nkelsch wrote:
This sounds like some weird 'new age' school. You want your kid to go to some alternative thinking school, you play by their rules... Don't like it? Go to a normal school.

http://ccsweb.columbus.k12.oh.us/applications/schoolwebsites/SchoolProfile.nsf/(WebPublic2)/Devonshire_Alternative_Elementary_School?OpenDocument

Devonshire is a Project Adventure School. Our school themes include challenge, risk, trust, cooperation, and problem solving. Students in grades K-5 are involved in “hands-on” types of activities in the classroom, the gymnasium, as well as field trips throughout our community. Our unique school program includes climbing walls in the gym and participation in ground level initiatives and high ropes courses at Summit Vision's Outdoor Adventure Center. Our focus is to teach students “how” to think, not “what” to think. Our school has earned a state ranking of Continuous Improvement.

The most interesting part:
We integrate the subject areas and use cooperative and hands on activities to create an experiential learning experience for our students.

Sounds to me they have a non-classroom designed system which seems to work around and cater to kids who can't/wont learn traditional ways, and to keep control they are very focused on how kids 'playlearn'.

My guess is they have some severe issues covering a huge chunk of history with these rules in place

I read about a similar case but the circumstances were different. The kid was Deaf and was signing his name in Sign Language which was Gunner. From what I understand thats making the gun gesuture with your hand. The school was demanding the parents change the kid's name so he would not say his name by using the gun gesture.

IIRC they were asking him to change his sign. While not legally changing his name it would still be similarly major.

Finger guns are no joke!

http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/1nv6

A hand doesn't look anything like a gun.

If they wanted to give the kid a detention or something, then whatever. A suspension is too harsh of a punishment for something like this, and it shouldn't be the first punishment for something like this either.

Did he put both of his hands together to make a vertical grip or folding stock? Because if so, that's an assault finger gun and is serious business. I've heard 4,000 kids die a second to those.

Good thing he was a white kid or that hand would have been a tactical gun...

A: This is an Alternative School.
B: Alternative Schools are where you send kids who are struggling, I mean really struggling to make it in regular public school either because they are afflicted with a serious handicap, poor social skills, behavior or the like. These are the places where your kid improves or you start getting pamphlets about homeschooling or online charter schools.
C: Behavior expectations at Alternative Schools are much more stringent. You can't correct unsocial behavior if you allow it to continue.
D: Brainwashing.
E: What was A again?
F: .....yeah......
G: Really, are you still here?
H: ......snore.....

 d-usa wrote:
Good thing he was a white kid or that hand would have been a tactical gun...

I wonder if this is a Finger Your Ground state....

OOPS wrong thread. Pardon me

 agnosto wrote:
A: This is an Alternative School.
B: Alternative Schools are where you send kids who are struggling, I mean really struggling to make it in regular public school either because they are afflicted with a serious handicap, poor social skills, behavior or the like. These are the places where your kid improves or you start getting pamphlets about homeschooling or online charter schools.
C: Behavior expectations at Alternative Schools are much more stringent. You can't correct unsocial behavior if you allow it to continue.
D: Brainwashing.

Good point. Kinda makes you wonder what he was sent there for. Knowing how zero tolerance is working out so far, maybe pointing at people with his forefinger?

 Frazzled wrote:
Round One: Parents!
On their way to Flawless Victory. Now...FINISH HER!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-familyfeud-newjersey-20140304,0,6612381.story

Wrong thread?

So, lets get this straight: A boy is playing a game with his friends and makes a gun shape. Bloody hell, i whent to school when i did, because i would have been sent to a re-education place in these modern times. When i was little i used to love playing soldier games, and i had plastic guns that i played with outside of school. In school we used to imagine the guns and pretend to be holding them-and these werent some pussy arsed finger guns, no, they where tactical plyground RPG's-at my school we brought the artillery

So if he used two fingers would that be considered an automatic weapon?

His parents better stock up on tampons...at this rate the boy is going to need them in a few years.

 Frazzled wrote:
So if he used two fingers would that be considered an automatic weapon?

Nope, that'd be a repeater or double barrel, depending upon how big his fingers are (the gauge of the weapon).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 master of ordinance wrote:

So, lets get this straight: A boy is playing a game with his friends and makes a gun shape. Bloody hell, i whent to school when i did, because i would have been sent to a re-education place in these modern times. When i was little i used to love playing soldier games, and i had plastic guns that i played with outside of school. In school we used to imagine the guns and pretend to be holding them-and these werent some pussy arsed finger guns, no, they where tactical plyground RPG's-at my school we brought the artillery

This is not a normal school. These are schools where some of the kids have experienced trauma or are emotionally unstable or have other issues. If you saw your parents killed at gunpoint, would you appreciate kids playing soldier around you or pointing their fingers at you, saying "pew pew, you're dead, I shot you!"?

I'd be torn but I'm thinking
1) this is a "last straw" situation. There's more here.
2) I absolutely can't stand 10 year old boys as policy. Where's a coal mine when you need one?

Relapse wrote:
This country is getting more ridiculous every day. For playing bang bang with his friends a 10 year old gets suspended from school:


http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/04/us/ohio-boy-suspended-finger-gun/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

It's his fault for not getting a real gun. Then it would his right.

America sees guns as a freedom, but more and more they seem to become a prison, as there is such a fear of any behaviour related to firearms schools introduce policies like this. I've never heard of anything like this happening in the UK.

One of my colleagues told me that when he was in school (UK) one of his friends brought a deactivated hand grenade in to show him. The boy dropped it in the classroom when trying to pass it between desks and the teacher freaked when they saw it and everyone ran out the room. *That* resulted in a suspension.

I had a roommate that had one of those. He opened my bedroom door one time, rolled in into my room, and then shut the door without saying a word.

It was a strange three seconds.