There is such a sad, ridiculous story coming out of Florida this morning, and a little 10 year old girl is now sitting in a juvenile detention center because of it. This story made my blood boil.
It seems this little girl was eating her lunch at Sunrise Elementary School in Marion County, Florida. She took a steak knife out of her lunch bag and began to cut her food, a school worker noticed and reported her. Now mind you, this little girl was cutting her food, not threatening a fellow classmate. The authorities were called, and the little girl was arrested and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.......my guess is to spend hour upon hour trying to assess why the girl chooses to cut her food with a knife instead of ripping it to shreds with her bare hands.
There is so much wrong with this story, but let's start from the beginning. I personally don't think a steak knife should of been brought from home (perhaps cut the food before packing it), but we don't know if this little girl just packed her own lunch or not. I understand the school's position on not having a sharp knife in school, anything can happen around a group of children........BUT.....and this is a big BUT.....to have the child arrested is downright criminal in itself.
Here is an idea Sunrise Elementary School, take the knife away and explain to the child she needs to cut her food up at home because knives are not allowed, don't make a big deal out of it, just explain that is one of the rules. Then, make a call to the parents to explain the same rule. All done, now the little girl can go back to class.
But you have her arrested?? And she is sitting down in a center full of juvenile thieves, rapists, troublemakers, or perhaps, if this is the way of your county, it's a center full of habitual food cutters?
To her parents.....run. Get her out of the public school. Home-school, send her to a local private school, anyplace but there at good ol' Sunrise. I have news for you, there are no working brains in that building anywhere, and you are allowing them to teach your daughter?
Her first lesson plan? I would suggest another perfect example on getting out:
How Public Schools Dumb Down our Children
To read the original news story:
10-Year-Old Charged With Possession Of Weapon On School Property
Posted by: A Teacher on Monday, March 10, 2008
There are no-tolerance policies for a reason. If you give one child a free pass, every child should get one free pass. This would mean that when Johnny brngs Daddy's gun to school there would be no consequences because he just didn't understand that no guns meant no guns. You are ridiculous.
Posted by: Dana on Thursday, March 27, 2008
A teacher, if you do not see the difference between a child cutting her food with appropriate utensils and bringing a gun, I have to wonder. And taking her to the office certainly is not a "free pass." It is a consequence befitting the behavior.
Posted by: david on Wednesday, April 2, 2008
I found this story disturbing on many levels. One of the central issues of the times we live in is making a distinction between morality and ethics.This story is a perfect illustration of this polarity. Morality (law) is a blanket solution to spontaneous situations. Ethics (compassion) provides the possibility of having spontaneous solutions to spontaneous situations. Policies based on "NO- TOLERANCE", i.e., FEAR and INTIMIDATION undermine everything that I understand to be the basis of the betterment of society as a whole and the "education" of children in particular. When we randomize our actions, it confuses those who would manipulate, for they seek patterns that invite speculation. We must constantly strive to eliminate fear from any equation involving interpersonal relations-especially in connection with the rearing of children. Just a few "random" thoughts.
Posted by: Thomas on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
"Should have", not "should of". It's a contraction, for crying out loud.
Posted by: Capeman on Saturday, July 12, 2008
Hah, jail for cutting your food, and I thought it was just the prayer that they got all worked up about. But seriously, I think the knife should have been taken away and the situation handled in the school. Bringing in the government to handle your problems for you is not how you should run an educational facility. This needed to be dealt with, definitely, it needs to be known that weapons are not allowed in school. I just think it was a little extreme. Also, A Teacher, nice job with the slippery slope argument there. If you let them have staplers then they'll want staple guns and then BAM real guns and everyone dies from AIDS. A Teacher, more like F Teacher.