Zero Tolerance, Zero Intelligence: School Bans Eight-Year-Old’s Patriotic Hat Due to Use of Tiny Soldiers

David Morales, 8, thought that he had put together a cool hat to honor American troops when his class was asked to make special hats for a meeting with another second-grade class from another school. Officials at Tiogue School in Coventry, Rhode Island, however, quickly banned the hat. The reason? He placed a few small plastic soldiers on the rim and the tiny soldiers had tiny guns . . . and the school has a zero tolerance for guns.

David had to wear a plain baseball cap instead on the visit with the other school.

Superintendent Kenneth R. Di Pietro insists that “the issue for us was, can it be done in a way that didn’t violate the zero-tolerance for weapons? Nothing was being done to limit patriotism, creativity, other than find an alternative to a weapon.” However, the question for most of us is what can be done to have a modicum of common sense and judgment applied in such circumstances.

We have been following the steady stream of ridiculous cases of school officials punishing children for everything from drawing stick figures to finger guns, here.

I have written prior columns on the boys and guns as well as the zero tolerance policies at schools. I am more concerned about teaching our children to accept arbitrary and capricious authority.

For the full story, click here and here.