[Gil]

I can understand this kind of devotion to a knife/fork/spoon. Just glad that cooler heads prevailed.

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"Not an easy way down" -- sign above sheer drop on Table Mountain
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaeger2/

[Mtn Dog]

Wait, it was just a spoon, fork, and (table) knife that unfolded like a pocket knife?  Are you kidding me?  Wow.  That's just nuts.

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Footprints on the sands of time will never be made sitting down.

[treeswarper]

I hate the phrase Zero Tolerance.  It sucks.  I'd hand out sporks to all the kids before they went into the school. Psst, hey kid, want a spork?

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"Keep air in your tires."--Rod

[Malachai Constant]

I posted this in the saloon already and was indignant also. But hen I saw the too and it has about a 3-4" blade same as a swiss army knife. I detest Zero tolerance also but if pocket knives are banned this should be considered a knife.

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We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard
-JFK

[Dave Workman]

When I was a kid, I invariably carried a pocket knife, through at least 6th grade to my senior year in high school.

I got a better knife to carry at college.

In shop, the teacher always knew he could count on me to have a pocket knife for cutting things.  He never said a word, other than to ask me to borrow it from time to time.

We had a rifle team in junior high and senior high.

Nobody around me ever got cut or shot.

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"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer." - D.H. Lawrence

[Malachai Constant]

We used to play mumbley peg and strech at recess in elementary school also but now I have to go through the car with a fine tooth comb now. A girl got an "emergency expulsion" because a security officer saw an empty beer can in the back of her car and it took a major letter writing campign to get her reinstated.

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We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard
-JFK

[jenjen]

Things really have changed since I was in school.    Carrying a pocket knife wasn't unusual at all.  The kid's utensil set would have been a really cool show-and-tell exhibit.

I just find the whole thing kinda sad.

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"nothing ever came of a life that was a simple one" Flogging Molly, from Devil's Dance Floor

[gray matter]

[Rant]

This stuff is complete crap.  It's high time that school administrators grow a spine and start evaluating these types of scenarios intelligently so they can decide what action is appropriate.  Based on the information in this story, simply confiscating the 'tool' and a verbal explanation of why it is inappropriate would have been sufficient to turn this into a good learning experience for the child.  It is absolutely shameful that the leadership in this school district didn't have the intelligence or the fortitude to do the right thing here.  Are these the type of people that I would want educating my (future) kids?  Hell no.  This is an example of the blind leading the blind, but one of those parties (the administrators) should have known better.

[/Rant]

This story does present some quite compelling ethical issues in terms of how we should be educating our youth.  I don't claim to have any excellent answers other than to make the profession of teaching a desirable profession to pursue by weeding out incompetent teachers and paying teachers a competitive salary.  Also, provide amnesty from litigation to administrators who have the responsibility to make difficult judgment calls relating to discipline and the academic progress of the students.  Essentially, I am an advocate of common sense.  It seems to be lacking in a lot of areas these days.

-Gray Matter

[Dayhike Mike]

I find the lack of discretion, judgement, and sanity on the part of the adults involved completely disturbing. I read their rationale, but, Jesus, there's got to be some measure of logic applied to disciplinary decisions.

Policy established in a vacuum just makes the administration look brain dead and foolish.

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"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short

[Chief Joseph]

IMHO opinion it is just another example of our country rapidly becoming "a police state". Zero tolerance, mandatory vaccinations, ect. I strongly agree that common sense is sorely lacking. One said the administrators should use common sense and make informed decisions in each individual situation.

The problem with that is their hands are tied by "the zero tolerance rule", among other things.

Now IF this child had been EDUCATED about this rule this would have likely been avoided. One statement that makes me angry is "ignorance of the law is no excuse".

Then EDUCATE people! With the myriad of laws and rules and new ones passed all the time, is that not a good idea?................Just my .02

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"`Rock' is the music of slaves. Of adolescents pursuing the illusion of freedom and protest while the steel chains of technology bind them ever
tighter."    ~Edward Abbey~

[Sore Feet]

Logic, reasoning and common sense are fast dying concepts in this world. 

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Bryan Swan
Pictures - http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanswan
Waterfalls - www.waterfallsnorthwest.com

[Toonces]

So the overriding sentiment here is its ok for a kid to bring a knife to school ... as long as it has a fork and spoon, too? 

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If you show fear, a monkey will bully you.

[Layback]

Wow.  I had something like that as a kid.  Looks like poor Zach got to learn first had that rigid dumb-asses with little common sense ruin the world.

[jenjen]

[Chief Joseph]

It is like many things in this world, when people make bad choices it makes life more difficult for those who make good choices.

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"`Rock' is the music of slaves. Of adolescents pursuing the illusion of freedom and protest while the steel chains of technology bind them ever
tighter."    ~Edward Abbey~