Zero tolerance on knives in schools

I just read an article on the BBC today about a 6yr old kid getting in trouble for packing his own cutlery with his lunch.

So in the age where everyone's freaking out about germs, swine flu, and watching hand sanitizer sales skyrocket, is it any leap of logic that someone brings their own cutlery?

I guess we can't really complain about Germans acting like robots and being Kontrollsüchtig if shit like that goes down over the pond.

Is the world so full of mindless, rule-following automatons that thinking is really just for the elite? Is everybody so afraid to lose their job that they don't take a stand, or do people really just follow the rules without being able to see the big picture?

I'd be interested in Steven192's position on this one, given he thinks the lady who ate a meatball uninvited deserved to be fired after working there 34 years.

Yes, yes it is. Carrying your own cutlery around with you for the entire day is a by far greater risk than using the cutlery from a cafeteria. If you don’t think they are actually cleaning the dishes and spoons in a place, the solution is to make them do it, not bring your own. Furthermore, in terms of vectors for disease transmission… poorly washed knives ranks so far down at the bottom for 6 year olds so as to make it laughable.

No, it’s just that “thinking” often leads to the injection of personal bias and favoritism.

In the end: yawn. Six year old brings in “cool” thing they like which includes a knife, school has a no-knives policy, kid gets punished. No big deal, and certainly not something from which a larger national conjecture can be made.

I'll remember that next time I feel inclined to stab a person with a butter knife. Dangerous things, those butter knives.

Horseshoe. I guess you also read the part that the Mother fully supported the policy when it was introduced didn't you?

that's what i'm trying to point out

Zero tolerance... unless it affects me. "Me me me. I want to be safe. I don't care who, or why, it's a black-and-white issue. Lock him up, ship him off, whatever. but think? what's there to think about? He commited an offence; he broke the rules."

that was my comment. does it not disturb anyone that zero tolerance is a ridiculous hardline approach to help dumbfucks protect against other dumbfucks taking advantage of systems that would otherwise work if not for the odd bad apple?

The blade in question does not appear to be a "butter knife" Looks more like a standard utility blade. They can be quite sharp. "Yawn" indeed.

Zero Tolerance is silly, its like kids getting suspended for bringing aspirin to school. Especially stupid for 6 year olds, although it is a little better with older kids, at least it weeds out retards.

I read somewhere they let the kid back in school, though.

They already used their discretion. Instead of sending him to a school for trouble makers for 45 days (wrong move), they decided to suspend him for a few days. Big deal....he'll learn to be more careful and it's not a punishment that's necessarily excessive or going to mentally scar the kid or anything.

Yeah, those wacky americans and their wacky ways.

Just imagine the public outcry if authorities outside the US prevented adults from carrying pocket knives on airplanes under threat of confiscation!

Oh, wait a minute ...

Gouge their eyes out with a spoon, it hurts more.
(Alan Rickmann as the Sheriff in "Robin Hood - King of Thieves")

Even three days suspension is too much. Sit the whole class down and ask why having knives at school can be a bad idea. The kid isn't ostracized and the other kids understand the issue better. One oz. of prevention etc.

look if anything this thread exists to pass time at work where we are all at times sitting in standby mode.

i just think zero tolerance policies are ridiculous because every situation can't be foreseen and needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis. The hope is that there are people who are reasonable enough to handle such situations fairly.

it's not strictly an american thing, but i often hear of such stories coming out of america. hence the post. but i know people here like to brand me an ami-hater, so if that's your perogative, carry on. i just call 'em like i see 'em.

To be fair most administrators and school boards are also mouth breathing idiots who are hardly capable of critically analyizing every situation and administering an appropriate response.

fuel for the fire.

I happen to agree. It was handled badly. The teacher should have just taken it, had a talk with this kid and returned it to him at the end of the day. He had no idea he was doing anything wrong. The reason some brand you an Ami hater is because that is the persona you project in some of your posts.

A six year old child is not fully able to realise what he is doing is wrong so in this instance I would agree they went OTT but lets not forget that there have been some very young murderers.

"zero tolerance is a ridiculous hardline approach". That is of course an opinion but then again what are the alternatives?

Would you give everyone the benefit of the doubt? How often would they be able to break the rules/law before you actually punished them or do you think that people just need support and understanding and not punishment?

The problem with that sort of approach though is it can be very unfair even more unfair than making a rule and sticking to it.

Child A brings a knife to school and gets an encounter session with all the rest of the class. Child B then brings a knife to school - what do you do, have another class meeting and say how bad it was - again. Pointless and leads to requireing metal detectors and guards on the school doors.