Boys have been drawn to impliments of war since those impliments were nothing but clubs and spears and rocks. You can't change that.

What can be done is to channel that into a productive endevor, let them have those outlets, but use them to teach them about honour, duty, sacrifice, and the vital virtues without which no nation can hope to long endure.

"Boys have been drawn to impliments of war since those impliments were nothing but clubs and spears and rocks. You can't change that."

That ain't gonna stop 'em trying.

"... teach them about honour, duty, sacrifice, and the vital virtues ..."

Are those virtues vital to whomever would punish a kid for waving a piece of pizza around?

That, RPM, is where parents come in. It falls to parents to pull back the reins of beaurocratic idiocy.

Charleton Heston had a speech that touched on that briefly. Read: Winning the Cultural War

Even if you don't agree with all of it, it certainly is thought provoking.

I'm so relieved that my children are almost out of school. I had to deal with the same kind of overreactions - once over my young son (3rd grade) making a statement that he wished he had a gun to shoot himself (this resulted in all kinds of school intervention, analysis, counseling, etc to assure he wasn't suicidal) and another on a high school essay, which they took as threatening, though it was, in fact, sarcastic parody.

But at least these had some basis in sanity. Yet, I could see the edges of reason withering away with these school administrators. Now, it's just plain absurd. Any parent at any time has to fear the phone call that their child may be considered a "threat". It's a scary time to be a parent, especially of boys.

This in a country that worships the gun. Strange.

The people who choose careers as public school administrators must represent a small subset of personality types. These are largely people who fear risk and who value security above all else, who also value conformity and wish to impose conformity on others, who place a low value on autonomy and accomplishment and are happy in an environment where their every move is dictated by procedures manuals.

Very true, David. I just wish it was a small subset. Your description applies to bureaucrats and government employees as well. In fact, our whole academic and political system encourages these traits.

A sad situation indeed! Ths parents and other members of this child's circle need to make sure he knows how ridiculous the school's response has been.

The only good thing about it is that it encourages a widespread loathing for and disrespect for authoritarian persons and parties.

"The only good thing about it is that it encourages a widespread loathing for and disrespect for authoritarian persons and parties."

If the loathing and disrespect would stop there, fine. What I fear is that rules like these generate widespread loathing and disrespect for all authority, even when it's legitimate. Thus, without intending to, school leaders in Smyrna, Tennessee (and elsewhere), by enforcing ridiculous and degrading rules, wind up undermining not only their own authority, but that of parents and others. Nice going, knuckleheads.

This country is known for overindulgence. These days we are overindulging in fear and weirdness.

I hope the kid writes it all down. It will make a good Jean Shepherd type of essay someday.

During one meeting with a Junior High Vice Principal about an incident where my daughter wasn't involved, but punished because she was in the vicinity, I asked the vice principal if the students would run wild if it wasn't for his heavy hand and that of "trackers" (professional busy bodies). He said quite seriously that he was the only thing between order and complete chaos. I asked if only a minority of teenagers were a problem. He said no, it was a majority--they were all rotten.

I wondered why this man chose to be a vice principal. Then it occurred to me; he was a bully who didn't get his way when he was in high school and is going to get it now.

(BTW, a few years later, the man became a vice principal at my daughter's high school. The high school principal ran a very lax environment, without any issues. The vice principal avoided my daughter like the plague.

Second note: the junior high had two vice principals and a spineless principal. The other vice principal was marvelous. She was excellent with the kids and enjoyed dealing with them. She earned their respect and they responded with respect. She was soon made principal of a nearby high school.)

So called "zero tolerance" or more aptly called "zero judgment" policies are almost invariably linked with some politically correct cause. Since it allows the bureaucrat no discretion, it makes it easy for functionaries to enforce whatever politically correct thought control they desire, while providing them cover.

My daughter's high school has a dress policy, which for some reason outlaws spaghetti straps, even though we are in south FL, where it's really hot most of the year.

A few weeks back, the dress natzi - this cranky old busybody administrator - stopped my daughter for having spaghetti straps on, even though she was wearing a light sweater over the straps so they didn't show at all.

I was called to bring her some different clothes, although my daughter, a senior, had a T-shirt and jeans in her car, which was parked at school. The lady told me that she couldn't allow my daughter to walk a few yards to her car to get a change of clothes because "then everybody would do that"...keep a change of clothes in their car. I said, "Well, that would be a good idea, wouldn't it?" But she persisted, so, I had to drive down and deliver her a different outfit.

It's getting completely stupid at schools today. I'm counting down the months!

My youngest child got 1 week after school suspension for asking other kids is they wanted to join the P E N 1 5 club. If they said yes she wrote it on their hand with a marker. Her 5s always did look like Ss. 200 hand tattoos later and we were in deep dodo.

...asking other kids is they wanted to join the P E N 1 5 club.

Members only?

Pizzas don't kill people; people aiming pizzas kill people...right

Well, there are the carbs . . .

Side note: Parents might want to consider letting a boy have toy guns - if HE pays for them. (Of course, that would not include realistic-looking toys.) At any rate, it would make him think twice before spending - sometimes.

School leaders say the 10-year-old threatened other students at his lunch table with a piece of pizza with bites out of it so it looked like a gun and when asked about it was initially not truthful.

Threatened? Threatened to do what to these other students with a half-eaten pizza slice?

These "school leaders" do realize the in the entire history of humanity, very few deaths have been directly or indirectly attributable to a half-eaten pizza slice (at least not attributable to someone else's half-eaten pizza slice). I think the other students were safe.

Was it really a threat? To be credible, a threat must be backed by the apparent ability to carry it out. Unless there have been great strides in the invention of projectile-spewing pizza dough, I think the "threat" of being shot by a half-eaten pizza slice could not, in any real sense, be considered a threat.

When did Pizza Hut become the world's largest arms dealer?

As we were leaving our IB charter school the last day before break, my daughter saw her principal and ran up to her and hugged her and gave her a kiss. My daughter being the height she is, and the principal being a well endowed heavier lady with gravity having taken it's toll, the kiss landed about on her nipple. She simply hugged my daughter back and sent us on our Merry Christmas was. I had a flash of wondering if the reaction would have been the same if it were my son. I think it would have-that's a big reason we're at this school. The principal is very no-nonsense and doesn't allow people to make issues out of little things. But I know there are places a boy would get in trouble for an innocent gesture like that. Never mind pizza. The world has some serious pockets of puss we need to drain for the health of the whole, badly.

My daughter's high school has a dress policy, which for some reason outlaws spaghetti straps, even though we are in south FL, where it's really hot most of the year.

A few weeks back, the dress nazi - this cranky old busybody administrator - stopped my daughter for having spaghetti straps on, even though she was wearing a light sweater over the straps so they didn't show at all.

I was called to bring her some different clothes, although my daughter, a senior, had a T-shirt and jeans in her car, which was parked at school. The lady told me that she couldn't allow my daughter to walk a few yards to her car to get a change of clothes because "then everybody would do that"...keep a change of clothes in their car. I said, "Well, that would be a good idea, wouldn't it?" But she persisted, so, I had to drive down and deliver her a different outfit.

It's getting completely stupid at schools today. I'm counting down the months!

Side note: Parents might want to consider letting a boy have toy guns - if HE pays for them. (Of course, that would not include realistic-looking toys.) At any rate, it would make him think twice before spending - sometimes.

Posted by: lenona at December 27, 2011 10:35 AM

Bah, no. Any kids I might have will be learning how to shoot Grandad's old pump action .22 before they're 10 (age will depend on each kid's attitude) and they'll hate me because dear ol dad will bore them until they can recite the safety rules in their sleep.

At least the kid was eating his vegetables.

"The people who choose careers as public school administrators must represent a small subset of personality types. "

I can tell you exactly what kind. They're the kind of civil servant whose first act, the first day on the job, is to set up a clock that tells the exact number of years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds to go until retirement.

"This in a country that worships the gun. Strange."

Judging from our obesity problem, it's more likely we worship the pizza.

It's not just boys. My daughter, age 7, wants her own gun.

We are having talks about "responsibility" and "demonstrating maturity" and "willingness to make the effort to learn safe handling" before doing so.