Where is balance? -- Re: Academic priorities
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From: Marco S Hyman on 3 May 2005 19:17 Sander Vesik <sander(a)haldjas.folklore.ee> writes: > > It wasn't that long ago when it was not uncommon for children from about > > 10 years old and up to bring weapons to school, rifles shotguns that were > > stored in the school gun rack or cloak room during school hours. The > > I'm really glad I never have lived and am never going to live anywhere > where such could happen, never mind be considered the norm. It was a different time with a different zeitgeist. The gentleman who told me of bringing his over/under .22/.410 shotgun to school grew up in the orchards of what is now silicon valley. The time would have been the 1930s. No, that's not going to happen in the same place, today. However, I'm sure there are places today where the pick-up trucks in the high-school parking lot have gun racks that, prior to this zero tolerance nonsense, were not always empty. // marc
From: Larry Elmore on 3 May 2005 21:22 Del Cecchi wrote: > "rpl" <plinnane3REMOVE(a)NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote in message > news:l4-dnSlZ2LV7MOvfRVn-3g(a)rogers.com... > >>Kevin G. Rhoads wrote: >> >>>>BTW, the original justification for schools was to have a sufficiently >>>>educated electorate to vote intelligently on the issues. In this they >>>>have failed miserably. >>> >>> >>>I think it is much worse than that. Public schools these days are not >>>just failing to help solve the problem, they are active contributing to >>>it. (One example: "zero tolerance") >> >>zero tolerance of what? bringing fully automatic weapons onto school >>grounds ? >> >>rpl > > > Zero Tolerance of anything "resembling" a weapon. Search on it. Children > have been suspended for small (inches) plastic toy GI Joe guns, knives > suitable for peeling a peach, drawing pictures of guns, having bb guns in > their cars, having any kind of pocket knives. > > Perhaps you should learn something before speaking. Most recently a large burrito was the grave danger. http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2005-04-29-burrito_x.htm
From: Larry Elmore on 3 May 2005 21:27 Marco S Hyman wrote: > rpl <plinnane3REMOVE(a)NOSPAMyahoo.com> writes: > > >>>just failing to help solve the problem, they are active contributing to >>>it. (One example: "zero tolerance") >> >>zero tolerance of what? bringing fully automatic weapons onto school >>grounds? > > > It wasn't that long ago when it was not uncommon for children from about > 10 years old and up to bring weapons to school, rifles shotguns that were > stored in the school gun rack or cloak room during school hours. The > weapons were used for hunting after school -- often an assigned chore, not > something done purely for pleasure. That was certainly common when I was that age. Most boys I know had pocket knives, and some had sheath blades (of legal length). What fights there were were settled with fists, except among many (but not all of) the girls, where it was mostly slapping, hair-pulling and blouse-ripping. > As for zero tolerance... it teaches kids the wrong thing. Or do you > think there is a valid lesson in getting kicked out of school because > you carry a pocket knife? Zero tolerance == zero brains + zero judgement
From: Larry Elmore on 3 May 2005 21:31 Casper H.S. Dik wrote: > "Kevin G. Rhoads" <kgrhoads(a)alum.mit.edu> writes: > > >>>? I'm not familiar with what you mean by "zero tolerance", but given a >>>"check-in" procedure, I see no problems. > > >>"Zero tolerance" means "zero thinking" -- the administration claims NOT to have any >>responsibility, becuase all judgement has been taken out of the process. So when >>a butter knife is found in the open back of apick-up truck, the Honors Senior >>who drove (his Mother's truck) to school is suspended, and put into a diversion >>program for juvenile delinquents with violence problems. Justification: "Zero >>Tolerance" > > > And a butter knife isn't even a knife; it has "knife" in its name but that > doesn't make it a knife in the sense of "dangerous object with sharp edge > or point". A high court in rapidly self-emasculating England has ruled that a butter-knife is indeed a dangerous offensive weapon... --Larry
From: rpl on 3 May 2005 22:34
Larry Elmore wrote: > > A high court in rapidly self-emasculating England has ruled that a > butter-knife is indeed a dangerous offensive weapon... Well, given rising cholesterol awareness, I'm not surprised. > > --Larry |