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Texas Boy Suspended For "Threatening" Classmate With the One Ring
An anonymous reader writes Nine-year-old Aiden Steward has been suspended by officials at a Texas school after he allegedly threatened to use his magic ring to make another boy disappear. His father says the family had watched The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies last weekend. His son brought a ring to class and told another boy his magic ring could make the boy disappear. "I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend's existence," Aiden's father wrote in an email. "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back." Principal Roxanne Greer declined to comment on the school's zero tolerance policy on magic rings. It may seem easy to make fun of Principal Greer in this case, but it does make one wonder how many elves could have been saved if someone took a hard line with a young Sauron.
and, is this policy thing working out for you?
Frostbite and other injuries from cold are very serious. We can't have kids running around and freezing each other on the playground.
The reason why he got expelled was because he didn't bring a gun to class. And in turn he started spouting some non-christian magic mumbo jumbo.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
They would probably expel a kindergartner for having a gun shaped birth mark.
Thank goodness he didn't make himself invisible! Think of all the mischief he could create then!
To a 9 year old, the notion of what is 'credible threat' differs from that of an adult (or the bully). It's a threat, period, as with a plastic gun model. Next time someone will claim a bomb threat is allowed as long as the perp can prove he couldn't have actually done it. If the kid felt he was bullird then he probably was bullied, who cares about the weapon.
the school is teaching the kid that threats have consequences.
What's the consequence of threatening boys with suspension for imaginary witchcraft?
like, oh, discerning possessives from contractions. Or maybe you just got suspended a lot.
school is for learning and teaching.
Not this school
Two of the disciplinary actions this year were in-school suspensions for referring to a classmate as black and bringing his favorite book to school: "The Big Book of Knowledge."
“He loves that book. They were studying the solar system and he took it to school. He thought his teacher would be impressed,” Steward said.
But the teacher learned the popular children’s encyclopedia had a section on pregnancy, depicting a pregnant woman in an illustration, he explained.
Most kids who have younger siblings or friends who have younger siblings have seen a pregnant woman, so what is the big deal? Idiots teaching others how to be idiots by example.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Seeing that this is Texas he should have just said that "God will strike down the unbeliever" and left it at that.
I'd love to see this zero tolerance policy come up against religious freedom.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
That's weird, I thought Texas wanted MORE Jesus in school.
"It may seem easy to make fun of Principal Greer in this case, but it does make one wonder how many elves could have been saved if someone took a hard line with a young Sauron."
Ironically, his level of ignorance has triggered my zero tolerance for morons in powerful positions. Particularly those responsible for education.
Just once, just one damn time I'd like to see Common F. Sense kick the living shit out of Zero Tolerance.
Once again, we watch the fear of litigation create handcuffs and cause cranial-rectal inversion. Damn that shit gets old.
... Another case that proves the old saying - "Zero Tolerance Policy" means "Zero Intelligence Policy"
yeah I know that reading the TFA helps. But this little gem says it all - this kid is a huge trouble maker and has been suspended before. Look at the crap he has pulled:
Two of the disciplinary actions this year were in-school suspensions for referring to a classmate as black and bringing his favorite book to school: "The Big Book of Knowledge."
“He loves that book. They were studying the solar system and he took it to school. He thought his teacher would be impressed,” Steward said.
But the teacher learned the popular children’s encyclopedia had a section on pregnancy, depicting a pregnant woman in an illustration, he explained.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Perhaps there is a reason that Texas takes the threat of ring wraiths so seriously? I'm imagining that there is a lot more going on in the wilderness of Texas than most of us could rationally believe.
According to the article the same kid was also suspended for bringing "The Big Book Of Knowledge" - An encyclopedia for kid - to class.
Since Sauron is a Maia, he predates what we know as "creation".
So the answer to this is probably "no".
As always, Eru Illuvatar did not make himself available for comment.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
He's already been suspended twice before. Once for bringing an encyclopedia of knowledge to school while learning about the solar system that also happened to have a section on pregnancy. Dangerous knowledge.
He got suspended earlier for bringing a children's encyclopedia, "The Big Book of Knowledge," which had a section on pregnancy.
the school is teaching the kid that threats have consequences.
Credible threats have consequences. Threatening to magically make someone magically vanish lacks credibility.
and a pretty good lesson
"Good" lessons have a point to them. Teaching kids to fear imaginary threats does not.
If that is the case, he should be expelled.
The family name is Steward.
I think the boy was merely trying to show "show his quality"
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Some how they had the mind of
disappear = disappear as in rubbed out by the mob.
and not
disappear = as in a still there but can be seen.
There is always someone willing to defend indefensible behavior.
are you fucking stupid? wait this is slashdot, you don't know what fucking means, so you're just galactically stupid.
The only lesson learned here is that the faculty at the school are completely incompetent and lack even basic common sense.
My 6 year old has more common sense than the entire school faculty combined. The parents can sue the school and then enroll him in a private school paid for by the Texas idiocracy.
I'm all for teaching kids that threats (and other mean things said) have consequences. As a father, I have to do this more often than I'd like. (Mostly from my boys getting on each others' nerves.) However, your response needs to be proportionate to the actual threat. If a child brings a gun to school and threatens another child with it - even if the gun was unloaded - suspension could definitely be considered. If a child is threatening another child with a "magic ring", though, perhaps you should just talk with the child about how it's not nice to threaten people even with imaginary objects. At most, have the child write an essay or something to drive the point home. However, a suspension over "my magic ring will make you invisible" is really going over the line.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
TFA says that the school is called ''Kermit Elementary School'', I was expecting the name ''Hogwarts'' - silly me!
... of the types of behavior that led to sending our kids to private schools.
Never looked back.
... still try to emmigrate to the US?
school is for learning and teaching.
the school is teaching the kid that threats have consequences...
Yeah, we should probably advise our youth of the legal firms taking on cases of sorcery. I hear it's a growing threat these days.
Oh wait, I forgot. You're right. Sorcery is a form of terrorism according to our government. Yeah, we should probably cover the legal liability in class.
This isn't teaching kids to fear imaginary threats, it is teaching that threatening people, whether the threat is credible or not, is highly inappropriate, and won't be tolerated.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
And despite the bozos that constantly talk about kids not being "fully formed persons," nine-year-old kids know the difference between stories and reality. If they don't then it is a mental health issue, not a displinary one. Children are PERSONS at another stage of development, not un-persons with brains that don't work.
This is silly. If I go to my office mate and joke that I am going to hit him with a Super Mario Bros. fireball, should I be fired? If a really believe it maybe I should be sent to the farm...
If a moron at a local pizzeria causes you grief, you'll simply order from a different restaurant next time. But there is no such choice in the single most important sphere of all: the children education. And TFA is just one little example of it.
Since 1960-ies the per-pupil annual cost of public schools quadrupled (inflation-adjusted), while the quality of education remains the same (if it has not gotten worse). What other industry could get away with such a thing?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
The one ring is no joke. Theres an entire multipart documentary on how its a bane on society and threatening to use it against another classmate is atrocious. Parents should talk to their kids about Sauron and how to properly dispose of the ring. Clearly had this kid been mentored by wizards he would have known the appropriate quest to take to rid the land of the scourge.
Good people go to bed earlier.
There is something seriously wrong with this principle. I do not know if is something that needs counseling, or psych-drugs, or whether she is mentally challenged, or merely power mad, and enjoys exerting it over little children, but no, childplay should never be punished like that. I don't think she should be allowed to be around children.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
the school is teaching the kid that threats have consequences.
Credible threats have consequences. Threatening to magically make someone magically vanish lacks credibility.
and a pretty good lesson
"Good" lessons have a point to them. Teaching kids to fear imaginary threats does not.
There is one good lesson they're teaching this boy: those with authority are not to be trusted.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
It's part of the "teaching incompetence and government absurdity" in the classroom program. Best the kids learn early that rational thought and reason does not exist if the words threat, school, sex, gay, religion, race, and more are used in a sentence.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
It may seem easy to make fun of Principal Greer in this case, but it does make one wonder how many elves could have been saved if someone took a hard line with a young Sauron
Well, I don't know. Maybe that would have fed his hatred towards elves ('allway getting away with everything'). Maybe that's just what happened.
On the other hand: it's Texas. Is their any alternative to taking the hard line?
right, threats should be outlawed.
like the last few that my boss gave me.
oh right, those are NOT illegal and NOT 'against society'.
we should just let texas leave the US and be their own country. florida, too. in fact, take most of the Old South with them. good riddance, too.
this stuff would almost be funny if it wasn't actually being taken seriously by the zero-tol automatons.
its been said many times before: what WILL we end up with, in this coming generation, when this is what teachers are allowed to do to the minds of students? it looks like we are seeing the movie 'idiocracy' actually come to be! ;(
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
it's not imaginary witchcraft that is the problem. I hear belief in Jesus, his witchcraft, and that of his people is encouraged. Just not Lord of the Rings witchcraft.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Seriously, it's time for parents to quit letting these fucking brain-dead bureaucrats pull this shit. If you're thinking of voting for any politician who takes contributions from the the NEA, then FUCK YOU.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Mod this parent up, please. I can't understand why schools have gotten so trigger-happy nowadays. It's like they believe that suspension or expulsion are the only ways to deal with misbehavior, or even simple mistakes. It's going to leave these children ill-equipped for dealing with mistakes in the future, they'll either be too scared to admit them (for fear of unreasonably harsh punishment) or be unable to understand the difference between a corrective action and a punishment. What's that going to do for them in high school? College? The workforce? For their own families?
No... people get legitimately threatened all the time, whether directly or indirectly. You're threatened with a speeding ticket if you exceed the limit; you're threatened with fines and possible imprisonment for failing to pay taxes; your boss might threaten to fire you if you don't increase your output; parents threaten to take away kid's TV watching privileges if they don't do well in school; your wife might threaten to divorce you if you keep leaving the cap off the toothpaste... it's just part of life.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Credible threats have consequences. Threatening to magically make someone magically vanish lacks credibility.
hang on, this is TEXAS. bible thumpers live in (and control) that state. they make their whole world view on 'invisible sky wizards'. and they fully believe that gods and demons and angels and shit like that actually do exist!
again, we have to start with religion, if we are to blame anything, here. and, as usual, texas is 'full of it'...
remove religion and you won't have weak minds thinking about magic being actually real and fearing it.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Credible threats have consequences. Threatening to magically make someone magically vanish lacks credibility.
How can the rules distinguish between Humor/Fake/Play threats, and real Bullying?
I think any reasonable person would believe the threat to magically disappear someone would be imaginary and non-credible.
Just like you would probably laugh if your next door neighbor tried to threaten you with Thermonuclear destruction.
But what if the victim was gullible, and the kid kept coming up with new imaginary threats to intimidate him?
Such cases can't entirely be dismissed, if there is a legitimate pattern of bullying or intentional intimidation.
Kids aren't concerned about credible threatening statements. They're concerned with how those statements made them feel. If a kid threatened me with the One Ring, I might feel utterly terrified if I didn't know what it was. If I did, I wouldn't feel scared at all, I would probably feel humored and laugh. One kid's threat is another kid's joke.
The proper lesson to the kid would be how to recognize when we've hurt the feelings of others and learn how to apologize for our actions, and in the future try not to take actions that are going to hurt feelings.
Principal Greer, please take your zero-tolerance and hyper-PC bullshit back to California.
Let me see if I understand this. Previously, he was suspended for mentioning that another kid was "black", which apparently is a violation of some idiot's "tolerance for others" policy. You can't have the kid being "intolerant", by being aware of ethnic differences. Next, he's suspended based on Greer's zero-tolerance policy. Zero-tolerance for uhm - pretending, apparently.
What happens to the teachers at this school who get pregnant? Or are we back in the 19th century again?
You think the kid is going to learn anything of value from this? I suspect it's a net loss, since he's missing school. You are unfortunately misguided if you think that telling someone they will make them invisible deserves a suspension. There's a whole slew of actions that should be taken before a suspension, such as detention, verbal reprimand, loss of recess privileges. All you've taught this boy is that the punishment doesn't fit the crime, therefore, he should escalate so that the next time he's punished he gets the most out of being punished. Heck this kind of crap got me suspended in school because I was punched in the face on my first day of school in a new school for walking up the wrong set of steps. I didn't even hit back and still got suspended. The next time the kid started something I made sure that violence solved that problem, I was going to get suspended anyways.
It's almost like you think there's a magic world where schools aren't run by insane people. The whole point of schools is to train kids to submit to stupid and arbitrary rules.
Look at how popular extremist Christianity is down there. No one told Texas that the supernatural is imaginary.
it is teaching that threatening people, whether the threat is credible or not, is highly inappropriate, and won't be tolerated.
Mighty fine world you seem to live in... Can I borrow those cool pink shades?
"Do your homework or you'll fail the test" - Threat.
"Listen to your mother or no dessert" - Threat.
"Obey the speed limit or get a ticket" - Threat.
"Don't kill people or we'll execute you" - Threat.
"Don't threaten people or get suspended" - Threat.
We live in a world full of threats, both implied and explicit. "Don't make them" lacks utility as a lesson, because it presupposes the possibility of a world without consequences.
Learning the difference between credible and silly threats, however, counts as one of the more important life-lessons a kid should pick up - Because some day, they'll need to decide whether their employer really can make them work eighteen hour days, seven days a week; whether Officer Friendly really can search them for no reason; or perhaps most apropos, whether that chain letter really can curse anyone who breaks it.
Most kids who have younger siblings or friends who have younger siblings have seen a pregnant woman, so what is the big deal? Idiots teaching others how to be idiots by example.
Quite probably because that article also contained stuff on sex, which some parents don't want their children exposed to until later on in life (10+ of age) - once little Johnny gets lose with that book in the classroom, some kids might be going home with some awkward questions for their parents that evening, and the school doesn't want that backlash.
I remember once going on a school ski trip to Austria when I was 8 or 9, and my parents lent the group some of my collection of videos for us kids to watch in the evening (teacher approved of course). One of the films was Logans Run, which has a rather choice breast scene and the line "Lets go have sex" in it. Guess who got in trouble after that trip ;) And this was in the 1980s at a non-religious British school....
Oh, it's probably happened, the news industry is just to embarrassed to admit that "administrator not a complete idiot" actually qualifies as news. They have to make their audience feel good about themselves after all.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
like the last few that my boss gave me.
You are allowed to threaten the witholding or cessation of any gifts or benefits that you provide someone, which you are not duty-bound or legally obligated to continue to provide.
You are also allowed to threaten, promise, or warn that you will take any action that you have a legal right to take, or that you will stop doing something you are not legally required to do.
You have a legal right to eject someone from your property, so you can threaten that you will be removed with impunity. You don't have a legal right to cause bodily harm, kill, or dispel someone from existence, so the consequences will be dire if you attempt to intimidate someone to fear they will be violently deprived of fundamental rights.
Because your boss is the slavedriver, and the actions he or she can threaten are the modern whips and other tools that can be used, but generally the mere mention of the tools is sufficient and doesn't have as-severe morale-crushing effects.
...Thank god he didn't watch green lantern! He'd probably have been taken out by a sniper! (also, seriously, that film was TERRIBLE)
There have been schools that were run by people who care about educating children. There are some in the United States even now.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
It's important that children not learn anything about the mechanics of pregnancy too soon - *especially* not how it gets started. Such knowledge could interfere with establishing the next generation of properly compliant constituency.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Indeed,
What has happened to a little imagination and play?
What would happen if these children ever played Cowboys and Indians?
or dispel someone from existence
How about just casting "Imperius"? Unforgivable, or silly?
Does trying to cast "Dominate Monster" on a human count as racism?
If you tried to file a police report for someone threatening to "dispel [you] from existence", they'd laugh you out of the station - Right after they searched you for drugs.
You're putting words in my mouth.... I believe the correct term for what you have done above is called "strawman".
Specifically, I did not say that anything that might be inappropriate ought to mean that it should also be outlawed. There's no law against being rude to people either... but that's inappropriate as well, and not entirely unreasonable to prohibit such behavior in certain environments, such as school.
Also, the point is not to suggest that what the kid was threatening to do could ever actually be carried out, the point is that he still said it... and he did so to in anger, to be hurtful, and overall just trying to be a bully.
Of course, you might also argue that it's unreasonable for a school to ever try to deal with bullying using such extreme measures, and I don't want to get into the merits or problems that such tactics may bring, I am only suggesting that contrary to the above assertion, the school is *not* trying to teach kids to fear things that cannot actually harm them. Names don't actually hurt anyone either, but in some places, you can still get suspended for calling someone a sufficiently rude and offensive term.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Disclaimer: Texas resident, parent of child in Texas school, former Texas schools/university employee.
Texas is off the hook with this crap; it's shameful, really. I left the school districts because of the heavy-handedness towards employees of all stripes. Now, having said this, in the last several years I have seen and noticed this:
- If you're a homosexual student or teacher, it would take an act of God to have you disciplined or sacked from your job
- If you're black or latino, you can say or do almost anything short of physical violence and not much will happen to you
- If you're white and Christian, especially a male, student or teacher, you are being watched with renewed interest over what you may say or do to offend the homosexuals, women, and non-whites
I speak from authority on this having to attend the stupid "tolerance" classed for employees. We were told the most radical crap, that we should allow the homosexuals to be themselves, but yet Christians cannot wear a shirt that has any reference to Christianity or Jesus, but it's quite OK to wear a shirt that says "Queer and proud" or "Athiest or blatantly satantic shirts featuring mutilation and black/death metal. The political correctness has become a disease that needs to be cut from every workplace like the cancer it is.
It really is that bad. I'm abjectly politically incorrect, not a racist, and Christian, but I cannot stand idly by while the school boards wreck the schools and make my life hell just so we avoid offending some homosexuals and feminists.
Credible threats have consequences. Threatening to magically make someone magically vanish lacks credibility.
Tell that to the bible thumpers there.
The traditional punishment for such sorcery is after all death by stoning.
There was also not a police officer in the vicinity to "fear for his life".
All in all, he dodged some bullets there.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
On second thoughts, don't answer that, a link to it would be too depressing..
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
But based on the article, they also seem like bullshit.
Shitville Texas, wtf do you expect?
...just remember that everything you know about this story is based on a few paragraphs written by a journalist.
There just might be more to it than what's been distilled down to a few paragraphs with the express intent of drawing your eye.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
When my son was in the fourth grade here in Oklahoma, we received a call from his principal because he was, "Trying to sell imaginary tickets, to an imaginary fight, for imaginary money" on the playground at recess. If I was quicker on my feet, I would have told the principal he would receive imaginary punishment for his imaginary crime... Soooo stupid.
Casca
If common sense won out, it would not be news. Most people are more reasonable.
But what is biggest of all is the rampant stupidity.
I've met some idiots in my life, but none which compare to the
idiocy of the average person from Texas.
Oh, come on, mother nature put some safeguards. Even if 9 years olds were to try it it wouldn't result in pregnancy.
One child said something to another child. The child believed him and felt threatened by it. Just because a child believes in magic doesn't mean a bully shouldn't get punished for exploiting those fears. Nor does it mean that the adults at that school believe in magic. The only thing they are guilty of are believing that feelings are important, and are concerned when a child feels afraid.
Well, the previous suspension of the kid was for bringing an encyclopedia into school that illustrated pregnancy.
So obviously, the teachers and principal are strictly against teaching kids that sex has consequences.
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!
"Just like you would probably laugh if your next door neighbor tried to threaten you with Thermonuclear destruction."
I don't know, my neighbor has been buying A LOT of smoke detectors lately.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
As Maiar, he was created out of the mind of Eru Ilúvatar fully formed like the rest of the Ainur.
And the One Ring was forged some 1,600 years into the Second Age, so Sauron was already very old indeed. /Middle Earth Pedant
Mod this parent up, please. I can't understand why schools have gotten so trigger-happy nowadays. ...
Most likely because parents are sue happy when their little angel is "traumatized."
Some privacy policy Slashdot.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Zero-tolerance policies, in turn, require extraordinary stupidity.
They would actually probably arrest you for filing a false police report.
The problem here is that this is clearly not a threat even in the eyes of a 8 year old. Words can have multiple meanings depending on context. He was clearly making a joke as what he was "threatening" was fiction. Therefore it wasn't a threat at all. There is a second point. Even if it wasn't a joke it would be part of a game. When you kill someone in a game your not actually killing someone and nobody is going to arrest you for killing someone. It's the same thing here. Imagining to 8 year olds is a game.
the school is teaching the kid that threats have consequences.
What's the consequence of threatening boys with suspension for imaginary witchcraft?
Discussion about it on Slashdot, and nothing more. I bet that's got them shaking in their boots.
I think its the other child that needs a talking to.
Its not clear from the article that Aiden had any intent in the way of assault, "the putting in of fear". As far as I can tell he was playing make believe after seeing a movie.
The fact that another 9 year old feels 'threatened' by any action which might be taken using the "magic" ring other than perhaps it being thrown at him should be of greater concern.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
How do you know that? I see no mention of anger or bullying or trying to be hurtful.
Plus of course he'd seen the movie he knew that "disappear" means turn invisible in that context and not http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D... or destroy or kill or whatever a threat might actually be.
Now sure he might be a little shit trying to scare some other kid who doesn't know magic isn't real (and given we are talking small town Texas that's not unreasonable), but I don't actually see any such claim about motivations or emotional state. So where did you find those details?
Consequence of a litigious society. Here's a question for you: if this kid comes along later in life and beats the tar out of somebody, and in that lawsuit they point back to this incident and use the argument "Look! He's got a history of threatening other people. Doesn't matter that it wasn't a _credible_ threat. He threatened other kids and the school did nothing! Blame the school. Sue the principal and every teacher who ever saw the kid.", are _you_ going to spend all of the money and time to hire the lawyers to defend the school from this (and pay the "damages")? Since that is unlikely to happen, the school is forced to take action in order to defend itself from a future lawsuit.
I feel quite bad for the poor boy and the demented lessons he's learning, but...I have to say "Thank you, Principal Greer!" as my girlfriend and I started our day with laughter that brought us to tears! :)
It doesn't make you disappear, it makes you turn invisible. There's a big difference! Clearly the kid and the principal need to re-watch the movies.
"Good" lessons have a point to them. Teaching kids to fear imaginary threats does not.
Yeah, well this is the bible belt we're talking about here. They don't seem to understand that.
You all realize that this is just made up bullshit meant to be funny, right?!!
No, it is teaching the kid that you must respect their authority! Many people in positions of power, in the school system and elsewhere in society, want people to do what they tell them to without any thinking or delay. If you have an imagination and don't want to be the perfect little drone that society wants to make you into then you will run into a lot of trouble like this. This is the primary reason my wife and I have decided to homeschool.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
Again, this has nothing to do whether the threat is credible or not... this is first and finally about bullying, plain and simple. Name-calling is no more of a credible threat to a person's actual safety or security than a threat of invoking witchcraft may be, but when spoken in anger, or to be deliberately hurtful, there is no reason why the two should not be treated with equal severity. You can get suspended for calling a classmate by certain derogatory and highly racist terms, for example, It is treated with such severity because even though the act of speaking itself is not directly harmful, the fact is that the words themselves can still be psychologically hurtful to the person they are spoken to... not because the person necessarily believes them but because the individual is being treated as being somehow less of a person than they actually deserve. So what makes calling somebody by such a derogatory term any more "real" than threatening to use witchcraft against them? Of course, if you are advocating that we should allow children to "harmlessly" bully eachother around with such words so they might ultimately develop some callousness towards actually caring what anyone who might be a jerk thinks, then that's another matter.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I was told by sone-one from USA, who was American:
"Here in America, common sense is so rare that it should be seen as a super-power".
By the age of 9, one's parents should have explained that the "magic" in fantasy movies/series/books is not real. Also, the magic in "stage acts", etc. is not the same as "fantasy magic".
Every child should read "magic books" which show card tricks, disappearing acts, illusions... so that they know that "real magic", is not the same as "fantasy magic".
Nice try at the misdirection there, but this isn't about funding.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Take away the ring, and what dose "I'm going to make you disappear" mean? It could mean he was threatening to kill him.
Did he mean it that way? Not likely, but a school can't take that chance.
Well, in Saudi Arabia it is death by beheading.
the school is teaching the kid that threats have consequences.
Correction: the school is teaching the kid that adults can be uber stupid when swayed by liberal progressive policies. Even if they are from Texas.
Somehow, the school authorities took the claim of one boy that he could use an invisibility ring to make someone invisible as a threat that he would 'make the other boy vanish'. Combined with the boy's past history with the school, I have to wonder whether the authorities are really so incredibly delusional and incompetent or if this is a deliberate campaign against him.
When someone says, "Any fool can see
Best the kids learn early that rational thought and reason does not exist if the words threat, school, sex, gay, religion, race, and more are used in a sentence.
From TFA:
He's already been suspended three times this school year.
Two of the disciplinary actions this year were in-school suspensions for referring to a classmate as black and bringing his favorite book to school: "The Big Book of Knowledge."
"He loves that book. They were studying the solar system and he took it to school. He thought his teacher would be impressed," Steward said.
But the teacher learned the popular children's encyclopedia had a section on pregnancy, depicting a pregnant woman in an illustration, he explained.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I hope that the jackass principle is getting a lot of internet harassment. They really seem to want to make being a kid suck.
Is it draconian?
That's a common misconception.
Bilbo only uses the ring to fool the dragon, the ring was not made or previously owned by said dragon.
It was actually Sauron who forged the ring, as it was explained already in Lord of the Rings.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Having interacted with the Texas school system, there is nothing unbelievable about this story.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
It's all fun and games until it's your child that gets turned invisible.
Stories about zero tolerance are always quite amusing. Astonishing, even, when you consider that adults are behind these policies. But just because LotR is mentioned, seems a very tenuous reason to be discussing it here. Just saying'...
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
Isn't it the case that in the real world it is highly useful to be able to tell how to make an imaginary threat or imaginary anything seem real to your counterpart.
Being able to make something fraudulent seem genuine is the basis of barter, theatre, politics, etc. Being able to use our imagination and the imagination of our counterpart to our advantage is one of the most usefull skills to have.
Not knowing any details of this case, what was the mindset of the person being threatened? Did it seem credible to him or did he lack the faculty of discrimation to tell real from imaginary?
Is it even sensical to interfere instead of having both kids learn that there is no such thing as a magical ring that will make you invisible for good or bad?
Or did he know fully well that there is no such thing as a magic ring and he wanted to see the kid be punished because he felt he had enough of a reason to get the grown ups involved?
--
as far as I'm concerned this is all bullshit. kids have school politics just as grown ups have business politics. people like or dislike each other and groups or individuals have fights. knowing how to handle opposition is a valuable skill and they will need it when they're grown up.
By applying common sense and critical thinking, instead of blindly following rules?
You might want to consider doing a bit more research into those safeguards.
Maybe this kid wasn't mature enough to be watching a PG-13 movie at age 9. Doesn't sound like he is.
Odds are this kid is a PITA and the parents let him be and never hold him accountable.
Nothing i have to say is worth saying.
The reality of this situation is that public schools don't want kids to think and they want nice little sheeple that can easily be harassed for the rest of their lives by Big Bro.
People seem to be missing the point.
A threat is real and actionable if the individual threatened perceived it as real.
So, the question to ask: Did the threatened 9 year old really believe he could be made to disappear?
That seems like something a 9 year old would believe. And, if so, this was technically the correct action.
He was also just suspended, which is a day off of school and doesn't really matter. His parents are obviously not giving him a needed lesson, which is, you can't threaten people, even if it's not possible to follow through on it.
The district superintendent of this school is Mr. Bill Boyd
.
Home is behind, the world ahead. And there are many paths to tread...
Someone should alert the NRA* about this.
*National Ring Association
"Just like you would probably laugh if your next door neighbor tried to threaten you with Thermonuclear destruction."
I wouldn't be too worried. My moat has sharks with laser beams on their heads.
And once for saying another student was "Black".
So basically they've suspended him three times now for BS reasons.
The teacher, principal, and school are clearly bullying this child. Luckily the school district has a web site set up to report bullying...
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1uCkE8H44AdD7NJp_iMt7G_XaPz5V4pd79wFyOKsMVGg/viewform
Maybe if enough people report this, the district will do something about it.
County seat of Winkler county, one liquor store just outside the city limits ... middle of nowhere Baptist country.
The kid committed no crime. In the eyes of the principal, the kid violated a school policy that requires strict enforcement.
There is apparently no prosecutorial discretion on the part of the school's administration.
Greer says they have "zero tolerance for threats" (even imaginary ones) and "racial insensitivity". Tell me where that terminology came from. Maybe the other coast. Cali is a bit busy with ACTUAL gang bangers in their schools, aren't they.
If a child is threatening another child with a "magic ring", though, perhaps you should just talk with the child
The fact that anyone even thought about it any further than:
"Oh, so you've got a magic ring? Wow!!!! Who else are you going to make invisible??? Quick everyone run!!!" :)"
"....Good, situation diffused, time for a coffee
Shows a lack of brains, a lack of self-control, and a lack of child handling skills.
He made himself disappear!
We don't like liberals getting all sciency on us and insisting that we descended from monkeys. We don't like our children to have too much knowledge about history, neither - too much liberal stuff goin' on back then. And we dang sure don't want our kids playing with magic. That's the devil's work. If it were up to me, I'd make sure that kid never came back to school and endangered other kids with his science and devil worship.
Nobody suspends a preacher who tells little kids that they will spend eternity in some imaginary hot place if they don't do as he says.
Plenty of Christian denominations would suspend a teacher of hellfire doctrine. These denominations interpret scripture to mean that dead people enter an unconscious state called "the grave" (Heb. sheol; Gk. haides) until they are resurrected during the millennial reign for rehabilitation toward final judgment. After that time, incorrigible people die a second time and enter an unconscious state called everlasting destruction from which there is no resurrection. Their bodies are burned with the garbage in the fire pit (Jerusalem Gk. Gehenna).
Take away the ring, and what dose "I'm going to make you disappear" mean? It could mean he was threatening to kill him.
Did he mean it that way? Not likely, but a school can't take that chance.
It gets even scarier. Another kid said "Excuse me, may I go to the washroom please?" to his teacher.
He may have really wanted to go into the hallway to set off an atomic bomb he had stashed in his backpack, destroying the entire city. If only this bill had been passed the brave teacher would have been allowed to use deadly force to protect global freedom. Instead, all they could do was expel the terrorist in training.
You just can't take any chances at all.
Sorry, but we have a zero-tolerance policy for idiocy. Now everyone has to listen to this speech.
"Mr. Greer, what you've just said... Is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point, in your rambling, incoherent response, were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
You can make the story sound as ludicrous as you like but it's still bullying and psychological trauma - the kids needs his hand slapped. (Preferably the one that was wearing the ring.) Besides, it's Texas - I wouldn't put it past your typical 90-year old to believe in stuff like magic rings.
Don't forget getting suspended from bringing a book with this in it...
https://leonsmom.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/tbbk1.jpg
Of course I wouldn't be surprised if the library at the school had encyclopedias with the exact same information in it.
Doxxing is not the appropriate response.
Unless it's a school in your district or your child goes there, its frankly not your business.
The principle in question:
Ms. Roxane Greer, KES Principal
432-586-1020
rgreer@kisd.esc18.net
http://www.edlinesites.net/pages/Kermit_Elementary_School/School_Info/KES_Administration/Roxane_Greer__KES_Principal
Sauron was never young. He came into being at the beginning of time along with the rest of the Ainur.
walk into a Texas classroom and wield magical rings !
( or Pop-Tart firearms )
or exhibit any level of intelligence at the administration level . . . .
Apparently.
Seriously, it's time for parents to quit letting these fucking brain-dead bureaucrats pull this shit. If you're thinking of voting for any politician who takes contributions from the the NEA, then FUCK YOU.
You realize that the NEA doesn't set local school and/or school-board administrative policies - right? They focus on things related to actual education - something Texas ranks 50th (last) among the 50 states, according to this Texas Observer article:
The Texas Legislative Study Group released its 2013 “Texas on the Brink” report at the end of last week. The report is an annual study to determine Texas’ rankings among the 50 states and the District of Columbia on health care, education, and the environment.
How’s Texas doing? Not so great: The state ranks 50th in percentage of high school graduates among its populace, first in amount of carbon emissions, first in hazardous waste produced, last in voter turnout, first in percentage of people without health insurance, and second in percentage of uninsured kids.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
But is a non-credible threat suspension worthy? There were very few suspensions back when I was in school, and only for severe infractions. These seems incredibly over the top. I'd put this in the category punishment of detention, maybe a trip to the principal's office. Certainly not suspension.
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
I thought Texas thought they were a bunch of tough guys, but instead they suspend a kid for something that's make believe?
Fucking morons.
Off with their heads! Off with their heads!
Yes, it was dumb. Tell the kid off and get back to your day. Imaginary powers (much like angry trolls on a screen) are of no direct consequence - if they are, there's a few Unnatural Phenomena awards you can cash on.
I wanted to suggest that behind the he-said-she-said, the kid was probably showing off the book (the page*, even to some kids, like other generations did with dad's nudiemags or a Sear's catalog lying around. Which, again, tell the kid off and send parents a note to also tell the kid off.
*https://leonsmom.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/tbbk1.jpg, supposedly. And looking at it, you can tell their fascination was with something weird and exotic, kind of like telling Billy that one secret word that my dad muttered and it made uncle Joe gasp and I think it's a bad word and I don't actually know what "vagina" means but I'm gonna whisper it to Billy and we're gonna giggle cluelessly at something that we can at least tell is foreign and taboo and that makes it AWESOME nervous giggle goes here now keep your voice down Billy.
Maybe not.... but is plainly calling someone by a derogatory and racist term suspension worthy? In many jurisdictions it is.
Like witchcraft, words do not have any power themselves to do harm, but the notions can nonetheless be hurtful to those that it may be used against, even if the person who is being spoken does not believe that there is any credibility to it. It is that potential to do harm that the school is trying to address... not that they suggest they should take such threats as being remotely credible.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
This isn't teaching kids to fear imaginary threats, it is teaching that threatening people, whether the threat is credible or not, is highly inappropriate, and won't be tolerated.
I have interpreted your entire comment as an inappropriate threat against my life.
I demand you are imprisoned for life to prevent you from murdering me followed by mass-murdering trillions of other people, as that is the natural progression for this sort of thing.
So will you follow your own "morals" and turn yourself in to prison? Or are you just another hypocrite you wants zero tolerance applied to everyone BUT you?
I would agree with you if this shit wasn't par for the course. It is more believable that the administrator is an idiot then it is to believe that this has been blown out of proportion.
...crushing someone's head?
How can the rules distinguish between Humor/Fake/Play threats, and real Bullying?
In the general case this is a complex question. In this specific case magic doesn't exist therefore the threatening student doesn't have a magic ring, therefore he is incapable of carrying out the threat (which should be obvious to all involved) and it is not real bullying.
While I won't disagree that personal attacks cause issues and are ethically questionable, the counterargument (and the framework under which the anonymous doxxer is likely working under) is that awareness that the wider world might come crashing down on you will affect others' actions. So even if this isn't their district, it might well affect the actions of principals and other administrators in local districts, and in general humanity would be better off if there was a counterweight to the zero-tolerance bullshit, which was that admins would fear the general public's zero tolerance for the bullshit of zero-tolerance.
Now, to be clear, I don't actually think doxxing this principal will affect the actions of any other principals, since this kind of idiocy is already showing itself to be impervious to foresight, awareness, and sensibility.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
Wow... I think in this case the best solution is to change schools. Possibly to change cities/states. Whatever qualifies as "education" there is probably more harmful than good.
Do you have a source saying this kid spoke in anger or with malicious intent to be hurtful? Ahh so you are the one making up details now. On top of it do you have a source saying that the other kid actually complained or was this just overheard by someone?
This kid wasn't bullying he was playing a game. Just like this same kid wasn't bullying when he was suspended for having a children's encyclopedia, just like he wasn't bullying when he referred to the black kid as black. I think its more likely that the administration has it out for this kid for some reason, maybe there is too much independent thought coming from him or something.
Ridicule on Slashdot.
Those are the kinds of problems you have if you shelter your kids from sex and life in general. A 10 year old should know where babies come from and that requires at least a fundamental understanding of sex. Kids are going to grow up on their time table, not ours. And with limitless knowledge easily available it's best to be prepared. Regardless, suspending a student for https://leonsmom.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/tbbk1.jpg is beyond ridiculous. You just taught that kid that learning is bad.
We've got to drop the nanny bullshit. If the kid believe the threat to be credible he should be diagnosed as an idiot and treated as such. Gullible is not a protected group.
I hereby support suspension of all students found to be in possession of the necessary skeletal structure to form a "gun" shape with their hands.
Ban opposable thumbs, for the sake of the children! It's the only way to keep them safe.
Perfectly Normal Industries
Then there's no outrage to be had here. The suspension is justified. We've got a career criminal at work who routinely breaks the rules. You break the rules, you get the punishment. That's how the world works.
How many times do I have to tell you, "You AREN'T a wizard, 'arry!"
An when we had "judgment" and "common sense" the rich kids and the white kids got away with whatever they wanted and the poor & the minorities got the book thrown at them. This is a bed you old farts made for yourself!
I'll bet anything the only reason the poor kid threatened to make him disappear is because the other obnoxious kid was bullying him.
Let's call it what it really is - bullying and child abuse. If we don't stop these zero-tolerance, we'll lose a whole generation and maybe two. The country may never recover from it.
The government likes it because it trains the younger generation to accept tyranny. Get 'em used to following stupid laws and rules when they're young, and you've got 'em for life.
Just say NO to zero-tolerance policies.
Absolutely right.
Absolutely wrong.
"Zero Tolerance" is just the Liberal way of admitting they can't tell reality FROM fantasy. The "One Ring" is "threatening". By this logic, biting a pop-tart into "the shape of a gun" (something most accomplish with the first bite) means it should be treated "as if it were a gun". The UN is caught faking data for global warming, declares "no harm no foul" and then uses the fouled data to fuel it's next cataclysmic global warming report. They tell us the Republicans have a "War on Women", meanwhile most Islamic countries in the world are still cutting off little girl's clitorises to make them "faithful" (or selling them off as "brides" to be used and thrown away in one of Islam's greatest flights of male fantasizing, being a good Muslim by "marrying" your whore before tossing her out on her keister. Yeah, sure, that'll get you your 72 black-eyed virgins). COME BACK FROM LOONEY LAND AND DEAL WITH THE FRICKIN' REAL WORLD!
I inferred it from the use of the word "threaten". If it was not spoken in such a manner, why would the term have ever even been used?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
But the kid is learning bad lessons!
i.e. "Get threatened and someone else will take away the threat" has no reality to life once the school years are over.
How will this kid cope once they leave school?
Bosses, family, other commuters, work colleagues etc - who is going to protect against all these?
The state where corporal punishment is legal in schools suspends a kid for a make believe ring and, before that, having a book with a picture of a pregnant woman. What's next, witch trials? They have a school system that is promoting ignorance. Why let kids pretend, use their imaginations and learn? This is just sad and pathetic. Send the entire school's administration back to 1st grade somewhere outside 1400s (aka Texas)
Aides, not Haides.
The H in "Hades" is the Latin-alphabet transliteration of the "rough breathed initial vowel" mark in polytonic Greek. It's the same place the H in "Hellenic" comes from.
And Gehenna is a valley close to Jerusalem, not a fire pit
Gehenna is the Greek transliteration of a Hebrew phrase Ge Hinnom meaning "Valley of Hinnom". This valley is where Jerusalem's garbage was burned. But in any case, it remains true that the Bible describes two different states of nonexistence, "the grave" and "everlasting destruction". And neither is the same thing as the "eternal conscious torment" of hellfire doctrine.
This is fun! Can we get back to topic and pick nits on the spelling of the Black Speech engraved on the inside of Precious?
But what if the victim was gullible, and the kid kept coming up with new imaginary threats to intimidate him?
Such cases can't entirely be dismissed, if there is a legitimate pattern of bullying or intentional intimidation.
But given the priors of being suspended for calling someone black, and bringing to school and educational book (yeah I kid you not, look it up), I'm willing to give the suspended student here the benefit of the doubt.
Not every action needs to be defended. Sometimes stupidity of the schoolboard is the simple and most obvious answer. Heck based on recent trends it seems to be becoming the only answer.
If you have kids, and you care about them, GET THEM OUT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!!!!
These failing institutions are run by the dumbest slice of the American society: people who majored in "education", advised by the most evil slice of American society: lawyers. "Education" and "Journalism" were the big two completely subjective and easy majors that draft evaders chose in the 60's and 70's when GPA was more important to a young man than the actual major (service in Vietnam could be avoided by being a college student with a good GPA). The lawyers will take any side of a fight and make any argument for money.
"Zero-Tolerance" is the oft-cited excuse for this garbage (and it does, indeed, play a role) but NOTHING SAYS "zero-tolerance" needs to equate an opposition to actual firearms on a school campus with either a piece of toast chewed into the shape of a gun, or a tiny GI-Joe plastic doll's gun, or a pointed finger accompanied by a child saying "bang", or a toy ring with imaginary powers... THIS garbage is ALL on the backs of uber-obnoxiously-stupid teachers and administrators.
No school teacher in 1950 would have had anything to do with this insanity
Our public schools have become political playthings and indoctrination facilities; they are failing to teach kids the basics of "reading, writing, and arithmetic" plus basic science, geography, some art, some music, US and world history. When political correctness arrived in the schools in the 1990's and ushered-in its leprosy-ridden travelling companions of speech codes, hatred of truth, hatred of self-reliance, hatred of self-defense, and hatred of individuality (for anything other than sexual orientation), the decline of the schools became inevitable.
You can give your kids a far better foundation for life than the modern public schools will. YOU presumably CARE about your kids; the public schools never will. YOU will care about whether your kids are prepared for their chosen careers; the schools only care about getting them through the system. YOU have all the access to all the information in libraries, on the internet, etc and can use any of the resources you think are appropriate for YOUR kids. The schools will only use what's politically correct, to teach what's politically correct, to produce a public that will vote "properly" to support the system... it's become a self-supporting circle of stupidity.
The boy should really have used the ring power and made the other kid disappear. Nobody would have dared to expel him!
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
After all, the kid did turn the teacher into a newt. (And because of Zero Tolerance, the fact that she got better just doesn't excuse it.)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
For fuck's sake. This ring "can make you disappear". Read TFA or at least TFS.
And while we're at it... this tablecloth can make you disappear. This foolish incantation can make you disappear. This Radiohead song can make you disappear. I'm pretty sure a little thinking can make you disappear. PEEKABOO can make you disappear!
... if this weren't Texas, I'd wonder how stupid both the school AND the "threatened" pupil were ...
I'm assuming the principal is a she, not a he - "Roxanne Greer" -- women in education have to have an extra hard line in policy enforcement don'cha'kno', because they're often seen as being inferior/weak by their peers.
What pisses me off here isn't the action, it's the refusal to back up their action. If she truly believes she's doing something correct and proper, why refuse to comment. Should she be allowed to refuse to comment? As a publicly funded educator who has made a decision which impacts the child of a tax payer (I'm assuming) in such a ridiculous situation......can just 'refuse to comment'? Where's the accountability, she should back her decision up with reasoning and logic not silence.
That is what happens regularly in high-schools around the country. By the magic of puberty.
Another Slashdot poster gave a link to what he claims is the page from the book in question:
https://leonsmom.files.wordpre...
On the contrary, that's precisely when fun and games really start!
So much for freedom of speech. Now, if you don't tolerate my ridiculous threats I'll give you a Kame-Hame-Ha and see how you like that. Maybe follow that up with a dose from my sonic screwdriver, not so high and mighty now are you?
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
My schooling predates these absurd zero-tolerance policies, which is good seeing as how I told my art class that I was Jesus and sending them to hell. Unfortunately, this backfired on me and I had to give a second oral report.
Uh oh. Peter Jackson has a new movie in development.
Just think what would have happened if he had had a POP-Tart.
They would have mobilized the national; guard and declared martial law.
Remember those who can do, those who can''t teach.
Kermit Elementary School officials called it a threat when the 9-year-old boy, Aiden Steward, in a playful act of make-believe, told a classmate he could make him disappear with a ring forged in fictional Middle Earth’s Mount Doom.
“I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend’s existence,” the boy's father later wrote in an email. "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back."
It sounds more like he was offering his friend invisibility. It is the administrators that took it as a threat. The kids are friends and the wording was an offer, not a threat.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
We only have his father's word that this kid has no magic powers.
One ring to rule them all,
One ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all,
and by the swingset bind them.
People who make these decisions need to be publicly called out and forced onto reality TV. *
Indeed. I'm waiting for some local judge to grow a backbone and dismiss a case for stupidity.
I'm a native Texan and proud of it. But this bureaucrat is acting stupid. Kids are mean at times. Just having a 'don't be mean' no-tolerance policy is being mean in my book. Teaching that magic an magic rings just aren't real, things only SEEM magic if you don't have enough understanding of them and the process around it.
Fiction is also good, but so is reality. Learning that we need both in our lives is part of what real education can assist with.
This article was on reddit that did more research to find the kid involved has been in troubled ble for other issues. The kid had brought a kids pregnancy book with explicit photos contained and had referred to another child as a child of color. While it may appear to be as if the school officials are being tough, it's actually more about a problematic child who's parents want to catch some headlines. We as a society should start holding our children as well as the parents accountable for their actions. And really do we think in today's world that a school doesn't understand magic as imaginary? Please stop with challenging the only profession that has less new hires year over year due to many hurdles but more so now that parents want to be right rather than invest time in the children's life and learning
This article was on reddit that did more research to find the kid involved has been in troubled ble for other issues. The kid had brought a kids pregnancy book with explicit photos contained and had referred to another child as a child of color.
While it may appear to be as if the school officials are being tough, it's actually more about a problematic child who's parents want to catch some headlines. We as a society should start holding our children as well as the parents accountable for their actions.
And really do we think in today's world that a school doesn't understand magic as imaginary? Please stop with challenging the only profession that has less new hires year over year due to many hurdles but more so now that parents want to be right rather than invest time in the children's life and learning
Address: Texas 115, Kermit, TX 79745 Phone:(432) 586-1020
Yeah, I still can't found mine...
Then depending on the age of the kid, *they* get to have the fun and games.
if he had threatened him with a gun, it is Texas after all
no matter how good it is, it is human nature always wants to make things better
The case should be dismissed on the grounds that the school has no governing authority. This is clearly a case for the Department of Underage Magic.
"The wisdom of the Patriarchs was that they *knew* they were fools." --Master Foo
Zero tolerance does not allow the opportunity for anyone to be forgiven, nor will it ever be forgotten, no matter how small the infraction.
For those of you that believe in Jesus, if he supported this kind of ideal he would have never gone to the cross, nor would anyone ever be forgiven even for smallest infraction, thus no one would ever get into heaven.
I have to disagree on this one. He didn't threaten the other kid. Make you disappear? Come one. How about what I used to hear - kick your ass, beat you up, take all your money... and so on - now they're threats. Almost never carried out. Make you disappear is right out of a David Copperfield show. A trick.
I suppose it also goes to show that you don't have to have a brain to be a principal. I bet she used the one she has now.
It's not a threat if it's an action without warning. A threat is making a negative promise "I'm going to hit you". Actually hitting someone is assault, assault and battery, or battery, or such (depending on the jurisdiction), but hitting someone isn't a threat. Neither is suspending someone.
He wasn't suspended for imaginary witchcraft. He was suspended for a real threat made (not a credible one, but a real one).
Learn to love Alaska
How you interpret my comment as such may not be as relevant as how someone else interprets it who *could* imprison me for making such a comment.
The fact that there might not be anybody who is able to do that in this particular forum is wholly irrelevant.
If the school is correct in assuming that the child who said it ever genuinely believed that they could actually carry out such a threat, and not simply said while they were playing make believe (which has been alleged above, but is not definitively proven), then there is no reason that the consequences for saying such a thing should be treated with any less severity than if the consequences were more plausible. The issue at stake is not the feasibility of the threat, it is the making of the threat in the first place.
Of course, if the school is wrong about that assumption, then there's no doubt the school's reaction is out of line. The kid's father clearly believes it was just make-believe, but as I said, there is no obvious indication in the story that the child ever actually didn't intend to do what he was saying, despite the fact that he would have clearly lacked any ability to do.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I guess my point is... all rules that try to ban something have to be quite stringent to cover all cases. When they are, they are subject to being applied improperly.
Ultimately, all justice comes down to a human being making a decision.
I would rather the rules be more limited, and if discretion is to be used, then adverse decisions should be validated by a jury of the student's peers.
Preferably, students of the same grade from another school who would be unaware of the details of the incident.
Sauron was corrupted by Morgoth as a mature Vala.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Impose impunity on children that go around bullying other kids for lunch money or that deserve an ass kicking. Don't punish a kid for using imaginative banter. They should suspend this principal for adhering to stupidity