11 thoughts on “The Lesson For Schoolchildren”

  1. I agree with several commenters on the purpose of “zero tolerance”. As “Mike” says:

    Exactly. Zero tolerance means that there is no executive decision to make, and no responsibility, either. It’s what happens when administrators spend all of their time being terrified of being sued or fired. Whether there is a risk or not, the idea of it casts a very long shadow.

    The rules become a blind machine which no one is responsible for or can change, at least till someone with important parents is caught. Somehow the administrators will be able to make an exception for those people.

  2. I see ZT as training for future US government 2.0. The next ratchet up in authoritarianism. As Heinlein pointed out, there’s a comforting lack of having to make decisions and take responsibility when someone else sets sharp edged boundaries. “Educating” kids at that age like this is getting them used and quite possibly dependent upon such boundaries when they grow up.

  3. …suggests the toy looks like a real gun

    Since it fires foam ping pong balls the gun it looks like is probably a blunderbuss… in a neon color no doubt.

    When I was a kid we all carried pocket knives. That could put a 3rd grader on death row these days.

  4. Don’t forget about quotas. Need more white kids charged with “crimes” to get the statistics closer to balance. (Although no word on this particular boy’s nationality.) And no matter what his nationality, he’s being described as a decent kid with good habits, so here’s another chance to mark a kid, and create yet another possible client for the juvenile justice system in a few years. Gotta keep all those bureacrats employed, you know!

  5. If it wasn’t for the clothing styles of the fairer sex, it would totally suck to be a young boy these days.

  6. Zero Tolerance is heaven for bureaucrats in that they get authority without responsibility, power without accountability, and the big paycheck without having to make decisions that can be held against them.

  7. One day a class went paper airplane nuts. It started out as a regular class day when the first one flew by the teacher. It grew from there and the lesson for the day ended. The teacher sat quietly at her desk while airplanes were hitting the walls and sticking to the ceiling. Five minutes before the end of class the teacher asked us to clean everything up which involved standing on desks to remove those that were in the ceiling.

    She was a great teacher. Nobody got in trouble. The next day was just another day for this eighth grade class of the mentally gifted. We all just went slightly nuts that day.

    I also found that aerodynamically the weight of a few staples from the teachers stapler, added near the front of the plane makes them fly better.

  8. “Educating” kids at that age like this is getting them used and quite possibly dependent upon such boundaries when they grow up.

    Future death panels would prefer to have fewer appeals…

  9. I worked a summer school stint, one on one with a student who was extremely bright but seemed to only get along with the adults around him, not his peers. During that summer session I learned more than the student did. I learned that his father, a Phoenix police detective, kept a closet that was full of legal and illegal firearms. I asked “locked?” Reply, “Oh certainly, but anytime I want to hold, handle or fire the weapons I am allowed to, I just have to ask.” I asked him if he planned to allow any children he might have in the future, the same latitude. He stated he was taught and has the same belief that if you allow children the opportunity to handle and learn about weapons, they will be less likely to mishandle them. It occurred to me that what he learned was power and opportunity made his father and he above the law. I was ever thankful when his family decided to move to a different district where he could take his arsenal with him.

    Is it any wonder that I drive like I am from Nebraska on the Phoenix streets? I actually drive the “posted” speed limit. I may get shot by another motorist, but most likely it won’t be while being stopped for a traffic infraction.

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