Welcome To Hysteriaville: Fifth-Grader Suspended For Bringing Swiss Army Knife To Overnight Nature Camp
At The Daily Caller, Eric Owens writes:
A fifth-grader in Cupertino, California was suspended and threatened with expulsion for bringing a small Swiss Army knife on a school-sponsored, science-oriented camping trip.In early April, Braden Bandermann's class set off on Garden Gate Elementary School's annual, week-long pilgrimage for fifth-graders to the Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco.
Before leaving, Braden did what any Silicon Valley 10-year-old faced with the perils of nature might do: He packed his trusty Swiss Army knife. As any camper knows, the multi-tool device is nothing if not versatile. Braden's particular model contains a can opener, tweezers, a toothpick, a nail file, a tiny pair of scissors and a small blade.
The little blade landed the boy in big trouble.
"They called me," explained Tony Bandermann, Braden's father. "They said, 'You have to come and get him. He has a weapon. He needs to be suspended or possibly expelled.'"
How many kajillions of kids have had Swiss Army knives and never hurt or murdered anyone with them? I like this kid for packing his. He's the kid I want in my tent, because he's got the tool.
Once again, it's "zero sense" policies taking over.
A confession: I have a hot-pink, deluxe Swiss Army knife I bought at Duty Free way back when. Amazingly, I have never used to to knife anyone or anything but a dry Italian sausage.
via KateC
And people wonder why I say it'll be a cold day before my kids go to school....
Granted, I went to a school in a farming area.
Almost every guy had a pocketknife. Not a swiss army (there might have been a few of those), but knife.
I was sought out a few times by teachers because it was well-known that my pocketknife was arm-hair-shaving sharp at all times, and they needed a really sharp knife.
My dad brought my deer rifle to football practice after buying it, and the other fathers there all looked at it, worked the action, and opined.
Unix-Jedi at April 27, 2013 10:58 PM
In high school I carried a Buck knife in a leather sheath and had a boot knife I carried in various places as well.
No one thought anything of it.
These jokers need a reality check.
Jim P. at April 27, 2013 11:44 PM
This is nothing. In high school we had approved math sets for geometry, because otherwise we would poke our eyes out with ones that had more than 2 cm point. I could use power tools including the portable jig saw but not less than a quarter inch point because it was a weapon. This was 13 years ago...
Nicky at April 28, 2013 1:27 AM
When I was in grade school, those who had Cub Scouts after school would come to school in uniforms and have Swiss Army knives, and we thought nothing of it, other than that Swiss Army knives were cool with all those neat gadgets on them.
Even if non-Scouts had brought a Swiss Army knife to school, we would have thought nothing of it.
Patrick at April 28, 2013 5:01 AM
Well, a Swiss Army knife in hot pink is dangerous. You could overwhelm a person's sense of style!
Patrick at April 28, 2013 5:28 AM
i'm guessing my official Girl Scout pocket knife with Girl Scout logo is no longer standard issue...
rosalind at April 28, 2013 6:15 AM
Perhaps the real truth is that he was suspended because he brought the WRONG kind of Swiss Army knife - he didn't have the one with the corkscrew to open the teacher's bottle of wine - and that pissed off the teacher!
Seriously though, any smart-thinking adult would have taken the knife from him if it was a problem and return it to his parents at the end of the trip. Or, if it wasn't a problem a smart-thinking adult would simply more closely supervise the kid to make sure that he knew how to use it properly. (sorry, I'm stating the obvious - something that doesn't seem to happen too much these days)
Charles at April 28, 2013 6:26 AM
>> He's the kid I want in my tent, because he's got the tool.
Um...
Eric at April 28, 2013 7:09 AM
I just got back from weekend girl scout camp with the older 2. I remember when I was at their age a swiss army knife was on the required packing list for GS camp. Now, not only is it no knives, you aren't even allowed to have a campfire unless you've been through overnight girl scout campfire training. You can't ride horses. Pathetic. We won't be doing GS again.
momof4 at April 28, 2013 3:49 PM
> Um...
This guy...
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at April 29, 2013 7:22 AM
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