I get this call yesterday, it's about 2PM. The caller id is from my son's school.
I get a polite conversation from the school councelor, seems one of my son's teachers took offense to something he had written on his homework folder.
Now, like any father, I'm thinking the worst.
I get to school at 3:30, head to the office, and there is my son. He has this look on his face, and I can tell he's pissed, and worried. I am greeted, introduced and handed the folder to look at...and I start laughing...
I turn to my son, and the only thing I can think to say is "you spelled goblin wrong".
Let me partially quote what is written...
"Globlins chew and goblins bite.
Goblins cut and goblins fight.
Stab the dog and cut the horse...."
Needless to say they felt it was too violent and were partiually concerned I wasn't aware he was playing such games. The conversation about me being Dungeon Master, probably didn't help any.
Wow.Those are some concerned and involved (if somewhat uptight and reactionary) teachers. It's annoying you had to go in there and worry. But at least it sounds like your kid goes to a good school. Most schools where I live, the faculty is too worried about kids stabbing each other to bother with what they write on the back of their notebooks.
Your kid FTW!
-The Gneech
I am greeted, introduced and handed the folder to look at...and I start laughing...
I turn to my son, and the only thing I can think to say is "you spelled goblin wrong".
...Wait! so how did he spell it? Goblyn? there's a famous Ravenloft module called feast of Goblyns, classic, 2nd ed. Or are we talking Gobbl-ins?
not pointing fingers at all, but intensely curious!
I turn to my son, and the only thing I can think to say is "you spelled goblin wrong".
That's about as funny as Dennis Leary getting called called into his school because his kid was singing the a**h**e song! "Do you know this song?" "Know it? I f****n' wrote it!"
I can see the concern, but that's funny!
Fantastic story. Can you see the moral? Role playing provides an constructive outlet for pent up, teenage angst.
Not saying your son is all violent. Just saying if people realized it is more of an outlet than an instigator...
I get this call yesterday, it's about 2PM. The caller id is from my son's school.
How old is your son?
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Needless to say they felt it was too violent and were partiually concerned I wasn't aware he was playing such games. The conversation about me being Dungeon Master, probably didn't help any.
Yeah, it's all fun and games until some busy-body at your son's school calls DHS because their "concerned about the environment of violence you're fostering at home."
-Skeld
My oldest son (and all three of my kids play) is 10. His brother 9, and their sister is 7.
He spelled Goblin as Globlin in the very first sentence, then correctly elsewhere. I'm guessing he just wasn't paying attention, probably because he was likely suppose to be taking notes in class! :)
We had a good laugh at home, mom was not so impressed, but we joked about it at the dinner table.
But, I look at it this way. We have a solid 2 nights a week we gather as a family and play. We talk, and we joke. Even mom sits in on most occasions, or is at least in the room to share.
Now that is family values.
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Needless to say they felt it was too violent and were partiually concerned I wasn't aware he was playing such games. The conversation about me being Dungeon Master, probably didn't help any.Yeah, it's all fun and games until some busy-body at your son's school calls DHS because their "concerned about the environment of violence you're fostering at home."
-Skeld
DHS: Mr. Turner? We're concerned with the culture of violence in which you allow your children to participate. We're not convinced you are providing them with a safe home environment.
Me: Come again?
DHS: Yes...this, what's the word?..."Globlin? Goblin?" This 'poem,' if you can call it such, your children sing during recess...stabbing dogs and cutting horses, uhh..how's it go, now? "Chase the baby, catch the pup. / Bonk the head to shut it up." Sir, are you aware of 'Shaken Baby Syndrome?' Surely, you must see how 'cracking bones and stewing flesh...'
Me: "Bones be cracked, flesh be stewed, / we be Goblins, you be food!"
DHS: Yes--oh, dear. Well... certainly, you can see our position. You are epitomizing the basest violent tendencies and fostering such in your sweet, dear children."
Me: Professional Soldier...?
DHS: I'm sorry?
Me: Well, I suppose, in a sense, I might epitomize violence, in that my occupational creed is to "fight and win the nation's wars. To kill the enemy..."
DHS: Yes, that's very well and good, and your service in this time of need is deeply appreciated, but this game you allow your children to play--
Me: Singing during recess, you said?
DHS: Yes--
Me: Disrupting the 'Ring-Around-the-Rosie' song? The delightful nursery rhyme--do you know it?
DHS: Oh, of course.
Me: You smile. Not-so-delightful, the Black Plague, which killed over twenty-five million people in the fourteenth century. The "ring around a rosie" refers to the round, red rash that is the first symptom of the disease. The practice of carrying flowers and placing them around the infected person for protection is described in the phrase, "a pocket full of posies." "Ashes" is a corruption or imitation of the sneezing sounds made by the infected person. Finally, "we all fall down" describes the many dead resulting from the disease.
DHS: Oh, dear...
Contributor
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I occasionally have this little fantasy wherein my daughter gets suspended from school for hitting someone with a stick. It starts with some boy waving a stick around yelling 'en garde,' and her saying 'you're doing that wrong, it's like this..." But I've neglected her swordplay lessons of late. And I teach her NOT to hit kids at school with sticks, regardless of my foolish notion.
I have had many concerned looks from parents and teachers when my daughter has yelled "Yay! I get to play Dungeons and Dragons tonight!" But no one has said anything yet. My son's preschool teacher is a gamer, so sometimes I get delayed talking to him at pick up and drop off time.
*grins* You know, I caused plenty of calls from school when I was little. You see, my Dad's an amateur historian for World War II, and he didn't see anything wrong with teaching my brother and I all about it. You can imagine my teacher's horror when I got up for show and tell and started talking about the bombing of London and the retaliation on Berlin.
Needless to say, I was an honor student all the way through college. I'd say your son's on the right track!
Yay, RPing with family.
Also, yay to dark imagery and lyrics in classic poems and stories, such as Grimm's fairy tales.
I must admit, I'm partially to blame, as I openly admit I use many D&D references to help them all with many tasks.
I taught a quick lesson last year to my son's peewee football team (offensive line) on the value of phalanx formation in keeping the defense out of the back field.
I regretted it this year when he changed teams and went on defense.
Ok, maybe fully to blame, but I'm a guy so I never take full responsibiltiy. :)
He is a good kid, and knows not to act out the game or hit anyone, but you'll be darn lucky to get a "fake sword" body strike in on him at 6AM while were geting ready for school.
I'm pouring someone's cereal, he's walking past and suddenly I cry out, heaving my imaginary sword and lung. He steps back, turns (he was flat-footed of course) and raises his sword in defence, often than not deflecting mine.
My daughter on the other hand always plays a Wizard, and she only needs one spell. I hear her yell out from across the table, "you're both dead, I just fireballed the lot of you."
Of course then the argument breaks out on saving throws...
So, when I was 17 it was a very good year,
for getting called into the principal's office and having a very long, painful conversation with the principal, my teacher and a magnate school admin about how I was actually *not* a satanist, even though a certain LARP/white wolf product
was discovered in my locker.
No, I don't LARP any more. It was only something a bunch of students in this magnate program for drama and creative writers did for a couple of months during our junior year of high school (a bunch of wanna-be 16 and 17 year old creative writers/actors LARP'ing? The horror!)
I eventually realized the mechanical fallacy that was the White Wolf game systems and traded in my dark clothes and d6's for a series of Necromunda squads.
I had a similar Matt Groening moment a few months ago. My daughter's teacher called me to set-up a conference about her classroom behavior. There, the lady complained that my daughter, instead of paying attention in class, was doodling and writing stories in her notebooks. "My classroom is not the place for daydreaming and frivolity," she says. Looking at the notebooks, it turns out my daughter was writing and illustrating stories about her D&D characters...
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I had a similar Matt Groening moment a few months ago. My daughter's teacher called me to set-up a conference about her classroom behavior. There, the lady complained that my daughter, instead of paying attention in class, was doodling and writing stories in her notebooks. "My classroom is not the place for daydreaming and frivolity," she says. Looking at the notebooks, it turns out my daughter was writing and illustrating stories about her D&D characters...
Iyya doont it yarr mitt, ya cat hae anny pewding! Hoo ca ye hae pewding iyya doont it yarr mitt!!!
Makes me look forward to good times with my son. My parents were always positive I was going to turn into a Satanist and be stabbed by some other nerd with a real sword in the woods somewhere. Their idea of character building instead revolved around taking firearms into the forest and gutting beautiful animals. I still conceal my D&D playing pretty much everywhere I go, having grown up with it as a "stigma."
I distinctly remember being pulled aside by a teacher because my stories were too "dark." In this age of scared populaces and outsider profiling, I shudder to think how bad it will be for my kids.
I actually had a good experience in school once; it was with my SCA costuming. I used to bring my embroidery to school, and sit in the back of the room couching gold buillion on trim.
My history/english teacher (double class) demanded to know what I was doing; when I showed him, I ended up giving the whole class a ten minute demo and explaining why I was making a 12th century tunic. I worked on it for most of that semester... and everyone in class who came to the demo we had that spring got extra credit in class.
Heh, thats a great story, hope the school understood after you explained. In my experience it takes a bit of explaining even at higher levels. In college in the Upper Midwest- VERY close to where Erik Mona went to school!- years back we convinced the college to let me teach a D&D "Skills Warehouse" class (that being a class where an "expert" in something teaches others how to do a useful skill) for a full semester, for which I was paid the grand sum back then of $20 per hour! The school administration was surprisingly open to the idea once we showed the books and explained it. The course sold out immediately.
Then the local campus religious group found out about us and went crazy, and tried to stage a "pray-in" to stop us. Turmoil. I went to my parish priest, and then the local bishop to ask about the game (hoping for a counterpoint to the campus religious group). Both said it looked like a very fun game, no problems, it was just a game!
Of course the campus group wasn't dissuaded. They wouldn't look at the books or talk to us, though they left us alone. But after the semester their protests dissuaded the school from renewing the class, though it was a big success. It just wasn't worth the hassle to them. Won the battle, lost the war.
I got a "D" in Conduct in 8th grade Social(ist) Studies because of gaming. I talked to the teacher ahead of time, pointed out the kids that would be playing, enforced strictly her rule that all work must be complete before we had any "free time", even coached/mentored a couple of the kids to help them get over issues they had with learning the material....and she still wrote us all up for "playing THAT game". My Mom actually had to calm ME down & didn't punish me at all.
Ahh...the beauty of Home Schooling is looking ever more promising.
We do homeschool, so if the "teacher" calls me out on something I really am in trouble! On the other hand, the "parent-teacher conferences" can be a lot more fun! ;^)
My kids are 8 and 9 and have started clamoring to come to the game I play with a bunch of guys in our 40's. Three of the five other players have kids too. If everyone brought their kids we'd have 14 people in the room. Total Chaos.
I started playing in 6th Grade when I was 11 or 12. Our sixth grade home room teacher was getting close to retirement and didn't really do much. We used to play D&D during class in the back corner of the room. The teacher didn't mind because we were quieter than the rest of the kids.
I went all the way through middle school, high school and college playing D&D and never had any run-ins with any authority figures over it. But I didn't bother to haul my books and character sheets around at school. I just left all that stuff at home because my regular school books were heavy enough.
It seemed all of my teachers played AD&D, so many conversations about D&D comes out of that. Two of my teachers currently played the game, too.
Ugh- I'm just getting tired of this PC nanny state bollox.
It's like they want a new breed of compliant, incurious, inoffensive, comsuming cabbages- well aware of American Idol but incapable of holding a rational thought.
Uuugh- it just burns me.
Ken Burns was on the Telly last night, saying the impeteus to create his new WW2 documentry Series The War was due to the fact that he discovered that a lot of kids think the US fought with the Nazis against Russia.
Here's a few more fun facts (my source is dated 2004, but I dunno if things will have changed that much):
Average number of words in the written vocabulary of a 6-14 year old American child in 1945: 25,000.
Today:
% of Fourth Graders who are unaware of why the Pilgrims and Puritans set sail for the new world:
% of American Teens who think the Revolutionary War was against France:
% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 who can find the USA on a blank world Map:
48% of American Adults understand that the earth orbits the Sun yearly.
My Favorite- % of Americans who believe they have had actually spoken with Satan?
If that doesn't scare the bejeesus out of you, parents and educators alike, yer made of sterner stuff then I. This at least gives me hope.
BTW, Globlins ROCK!!!!
Firbolg, that such a sad state of affairs is here is truly sad. Makes me miss the teachers from my upbringing, who were generally inclined to make very clear that if you had no grasp of the basic facts (geography, a semi-decent written and spoken vocabularly, history), you were pretty much doomed to be a grubastic amphibian chowing whale poo on the bottom of the ocean.
I shudder to think of what that same age range has in terms of ability to do basic arithmatic in thier heads (as opposed to using a spreadsheet to do thier math for them)...
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I must admit, I'm partially to blame, as I openly admit I use many D&D references to help them all with many tasks.
I taught a quick lesson last year to my son's peewee football team (offensive line) on the value of phalanx formation in keeping the defense out of the back field.
I regretted it this year when he changed teams and went on defense.
Ok, maybe fully to blame, but I'm a guy so I never take full responsibiltiy. :)
He is a good kid, and knows not to act out the game or hit anyone, but you'll be darn lucky to get a "fake sword" body strike in on him at 6AM while were geting ready for school.
I'm pouring someone's cereal, he's walking past and suddenly I cry out, heaving my imaginary sword and lung. He steps back, turns (he was flat-footed of course) and raises his sword in defence, often than not deflecting mine.
My daughter on the other hand always plays a Wizard, and she only needs one spell. I hear her yell out from across the table, "you're both dead, I just fireballed the lot of you."
Of course then the argument breaks out on saving throws...
You are a terrible Parent...and a bad DM...I am thoroughly disgusted at the fact you cant teach this kid a Goblin Marching Song with any accuracy...
Ugh- I'm just getting tired of this PC nanny state bollox.
It's like they want a new breed of compliant, incurious, inoffensive, comsuming cabbages-
Speaking as one of the werecabbages I'd just like to point out that cabbages are among the most active of all the vegetables :)
Not at all like those apathetic rutabagas...
It's hard to believe that people still get worked up about kids using their imagination.
I turn to my son, and the only thing I can think to say is "you spelled goblin wrong".That's about as funny as Dennis Leary getting called called into his school because his kid was singing the a**h**e song! "Do you know this song?" "Know it? I f****n' wrote it!"
I can see the concern, but that's funny!
Ironically enough, I just got the CD detailing that story on the same day I read this. What are the odds?
Ugh- I'm just getting tired of this PC nanny state bollox.
It's like they want a new breed of compliant, incurious, inoffensive, comsuming cabbages-
Schools are self-perpetuating, self-important bureaucracies. The most important thing is protecting their budgets, making themselves look good by getting good scores on state mandated proficiency exams (hence my 14 year old has an entire school period devoted to preparing for the state-mandated exam).
Students who are curious, active and question the establishment are instinctively pushed down by this bureaucracy. Even individual teachers who shine are discouraged from rocking the boat. It's the nature of the beast.
BTW--I learned to play D&D in my junior high cafeteria where at least 4-5 games would be played every lunch period from 1979 to 1981. We had one teacher who would spend his own money to buy poor students some dice and a miniature so they wouldn't be left out.
Ya know, I went to a Jesuit school in Ireland, and can honestly say that intellectually it was just great. Jesuits can't get ordained until 30, so are kept busy getting educated and doing missionary work- what you end up with is a teacher who is worldly and has a keen mind- an actual scholar. Catholic Priests get a hard time, but these guys cut would expect you to be able to defend any position with wit and insight, even one they held. There was none of this "because I said so", mindset- debate and open-minedness. We kept in line because they could lacerate with a simple dry comment.
Indeed, once I explained what RPGs were, they were delighted to offer the resources for us to set up the first games society in the school.
Yeah, I was talking about public schools in regards to the self-perpetuating bureaucracy thing. Bureaucrats never take a long term vision about their goal and what's actually good for the kids...the only thing on their mind is the next fiscal year.
I attended Catholic Kindergarten in Germany when I was five. Got whacked with a ruler by a nun a few times. Nothing's scarier than a German nun with a ruler.
This kind of knee jerk reaction is so typical. Farewell to Kings, I definitely agree with your estimation of our public school system.
I had a lot of trouble with things like this myself, to the point that I came up with my famous rule: What goes on in Greyhawk stays in Greyhawk. My school experience definitely made me hide my longing to play RPGs for years.
My mother was constantly having to explain that our family wasn't breaking up, or that I wasn't a seriously troubled child who needed to see a shrink, just because I would doodle demon lords from the 1st edition monster manual, or talk about the chaos gods from Warhammer, and emulate my favorite authors (H.P. Lovecraft imitations always go over well with 7th grade english teachers, right?)
People, its up to us to proliferate culture with fantastical goodness, so that one day everyone will be able to correctly identify a displacer beast. Until then, tell your kids to keep enjoying songs composed by goblins, and all the other things that make life fun.
Here's a few more fun facts (my source is dated 2004, but I dunno if things will have changed that much):
Average number of words in the written vocabulary of a 6-14 year old American child in 1945: 25,000.
Today: ** spoiler omitted **
% of Fourth Graders who are unaware of why the Pilgrims and Puritans set sail for the new world:
** spoiler omitted **
% of American Teens who think the Revolutionary War was against France: ** spoiler omitted **
% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 who can find the USA on a blank world Map:
** spoiler omitted **
48% of American Adults understand that the earth orbits the Sun yearly.** spoiler omitted **% of Americans who believe they are in the top 1% of richest people in the population:** spoiler omitted **My Favorite- % of Americans who believe they have had actually spoken with Satan?
** spoiler omitted **If that doesn't scare the bejeesus out of you, parents and educators alike, yer made of sterner stuff then I.
-I'd like to think my vocabulary is fairly higher than 10,000 words.
-The Pilgrims and Puritans sailed to the New World to practice their religious beliefs.-The Revolutionary War was against Britain, and anyone who thinks otherwise should be smacked.
-America is on North America, right beneath Canada and above Mexico. It's pretty damn big too.
-Earth orbits the sun yearly, which is why we have seasons. In fact, a year is the amount of time it takes for the Earth to revolve almost. We have leap years to account for slight deviation in the 365 day revolution.
-Since my best friend has an enormous house, a basement studio, a laptop of his own, and two electric guitars, I kinda assume I'm not in the top 1% of richest Americans.
-I've never talked to Satan...but if he ever wants to chat...
-Max Miller, just a 15-year old who would like to think that he's above the percentages.
-I'd like to think my vocabulary is fairly higher than 10,000 words.
-The Pilgrims and Puritans sailed to the New World to practice their religious beliefs.
-The Revolutionary War was against Britain, and anyone who thinks otherwise should be smacked.
-America is on North America, right beneath Canada and above Mexico. It's pretty damn big too.
-Earth orbits the sun yearly, which is why we have seasons. In fact, a year is the amount of time it takes for the Earth to revolve almost. We have leap years to account for slight deviation in the 365 day revolution.
-Since my best friend has an enormous house, a basement studio, a laptop of his own, and two electric guitars, I kinda assume I'm not in the top 1% of richest Americans.
-I've never talked to Satan...but if he ever wants to chat...-Max Miller, just a 15-year old who would like to think that he's above the percentages.
My vocabulary starts alphabetically with Aarakocra, then Aardvark.
I went to high school at a school of the arts where I was an art major. A group of us from art class played D&D all the time (2ed) during spare, or after school, until someone found out and told the principal. We were informed we no longer allowed to play D&D in school _unless_ we had a teacher who would be our "patron" and be "around" when we were playing.
Even though there were more than a few cool teachers there, it was hard to find one who would do it on a regular basis. Suffice to say we found a way to sneak into the mostly unused "lecture room" (an overflow auditorium for the main auditorium that has a sliding wall to separate it) and played there whenever we wanted.
As a result of this particular principal (and another teacher) we started an underground paper called "The Rag". Since we were all art students we filled it with cartoons (some political, some just funny or gross), editorials, and fake "letters to the editor".
We didn't get caught until we published about 5 or 6 issues. We were threatened with suspension, but my mom (an educator her self, and VP at the time at another school) came to our defense. Sigh... we had to stop, but it was fun while it lasted.
My post was eaten. So sad.
As I was saying, D&D never provoked an authoritarian reaction when I lived in Massachusetts or New York. In MA, our after school D&D club played weekly and without an adult supervisor, but these were the math geeks, what were they going to do, Johnny Depp a TV out the window?
However, my 4th grade English teacher, Mrs. Fields (who had an afro you could smuggle toilets in), wrote on my report card that I showed more interest in Star Wars, Godzilla and King Kong than I did in English. My mother was friends with my teacher and the note made her rageful. Move forward to age 18 and 19 when I'm selling sci-fi/horror/contemporary fantasy as quickly as I can write it for the pulps and the littles. Huh, so I wound up combining English with fantasy and became published? Guess I taught you something, eh Mrs. Fields? Now go bake me a cookie, b!$@#!"
Oh, can I also bash schools?
Frankly, whenever something like this comes up, I always have to wonder if all of these people who complain about the "authority figures" not looking at the big picture, are themselves looking at the big picture.
Yes, your particular individual child may be perfectly fine with what they are doing, but there may be another child acting in a fashion similiar that does have "issues". How many times do we here about some school shooting or something and here people say, "Why didn't anyone see the signs?"
I'm sorry if your child got put on the spot, but when people see a child writing about killing dogs and horses and participating in canabalism and don't know what it is in relation to, it is not so unreasonable for them to make an issue out of it. You should probably have explained it to them, made it clear to your kid that in school wasn't the place for that, and then moved on. What was the wife's reaction?
I always look at the big picture, myself. I've a talent for it.
In the moments between lessons, and the during lessons that bore us, school is where we doodle on our books and teach our friends provocative things we've heard. And though schools are often garrison structured, the irrepressible spirit of children will not be silenced.
Many teachers have been conditioned to officially fear their student's inborn appreciation of violence. Before Columbine we had Ozzy and kids in tunnels and a slew of other excuses to call out the fear brigade. These campaigns against violence are filled with hyperbole and false connections. For every five kids who wear black and go shooting there is a million misunderstood kids in black who listen to their loud music peacefully, trying to get through teendom intact. Alienate them further with extra trips to the guidance counsellor and tell yourself you're helping. Then prove your results. I knew a kid in Spanish class that killed himself. He wore bright colors and listened to Wham. Seriously. (Please don't go for the easy joke here, people)
Grimm's Fairy Tales are very violent, and yet they spark a child's interest and imagination. When asked if there a way to make a child a genius, Albert Einstein replied, "Read them fairy tales." When asked if there was another way, he replied, "Read them more fairy tales."
Schools and authority figures that step on our toes are not so sacred that we here won't fire back. That's free thought for ya.
Right, so we just end up blaming the schools either way. On the one hand if they say anything, make an issue out of anything out of the ordinary they are being "oppressive dicators"! On the other hand if they take a more laid back, "Oh they are just kids" approach and something happens they get blamed for not "doing anything". Schools are placed in a very difficult position, trying to balance between the two, attacking them isn't going to make the problem any better. Dehumanizing others for just trying to find a way to do their job isn't "open-minded".
I'm sure your first post was referring to some overarching theme you felt your were seeing in the posts of others, but let me just say that for me, I have exhibited no disrespect toward the noble profession of teacher. So I can't really connect personally with the thrust of your contentions, but I do love to blather on until someone shuts the lights on me.
Categorizing people in an authority role as authority figures is simply categorization, not dehumanization. Not by a long shot. When talking about a teacher who raises an alarm because a kid drew a headless body (oh god!) on a napkin, I don't feel the need to preface my commentary with the excusing of all other teachers who aren't him, nor do I feel the need to offer up his middle name and shoe size to more fully round out your comprehension of his humanity, because his humanity is not even remotely the issue. So I call him teacher, and when referring to other napkin doodle haters I'll call them "those sorts of teachers" and continue to abstain from middle names and shoe sizes. We all assume that when we say, "Hey, I can't stand when teachers do this particular thing" that they mean teachers who do that particular thing, and not the teachers who don't.
The last time I was close minded was when I held my breath and wore ear muffs. Free thought is basing belief on logic and reason without compromise to tradition and authority. I'll have you know I've done that five times in the last decade. Maybe six.
Schools are sometimes to blame for things, and so are teachers, and so are parents, and so are you, and so am I. Institutional apologies are valid enough to mention, because all systems have flaws, and after all, aren't we just people? Thing is, no... some of us aren't just people, we're pushy know-it-alls. Many are resistant to authoritarian personalities because authoritarian personalities came after them first with a big attitude and underfunded logic. Those who gripe about the actions of the teacher are reacting not only to that situation, but also recalling times in their lives when they suffered similar or far worse experiences. Reaction, not initiation.
I don't blame schools for "not seeing the signs" that they should have. I'm not even sure there is anyone is to blame in some cases, except perhaps the fact that we will always live in a world where a small percentage of people turn out to be killers. Does this knowledge mean that we have to suspect everyone of being a killer? I don't think we should.
The way that this is handled reminds me of the current regulations concerning how much liquid that you can carry on a flight, due to fears that terrorists will use liquids on planes to make bombs.
Liquids.
Do you seriously expect me to believe that if I really wanted to bring some liquids onto a plane that I wouldn't be able to do it? Are we developing liquid sensing technology to stop people from sewing into their clothes? Are we going to start profiling people who look like they might be carrying liquids?
No. The reason we have these regulations really has more to do with airlines trying to cover their asses in case something actually happens. And that's how I regard schools who harass kids for having harmless hobbies. Its an over reaction that's doing more harm than good.
Let's not treat all of kids as potential murderers, okay? For all we know, maybe doing so encourages this kind of behaviour.
'tis true.
They're so liquid crazy at the airports they once told me my own bladder was too full. I don't know why they got so angry when I fixed the problem... all over their faces and equipment.
Okay, kidding... but one time when I thought a pat down was going too far I pulled my pants down to my ankles in spite. Yeah, I'm that guy.
I don't blame schools for "not seeing the signs" that they should have.
Unfortunately you seem to be the exception than the rule. Just look at what happened at Virginia Tech and how all of these families are now trying to sue the school for a)not dealing with the student when there were "signs" (besides the fact that there are probably federal privacy laws and such that hindered them) and b)didn't lock down the school when the first shooting took place. I don't think it is unreasonable for schools to fear being blamed even if "enlightened" people like yourself wouldn't.
No. The reason we have these regulations really has more to do with airlines trying to cover their asses in case something actually happens. And that's how I regard schools who harass kids for having harmless hobbies. Its an over reaction that's doing more harm than good.
And yet can you really blame them? When people will sue for anything, why wouldn't they feel the need to "cover their asses", as you so elegantly put it?
well, I wouldn't ask them if they wanna see your goblin cleaver. I am really interested as to how this turns out as I can envision myself in the office about the same thing in a few years.