The teachers and administrators at McLauchlin Elementary School in North Carolina have prevented a major security breach with the apprehension of the notorious Caitlin Miller, 5. Miller shocked her teachers by using a piece of wood like a gun in a fantasy game with her friends. A teacher whisked her off to the principal for summary suspension. It is another towering victory for the moronic use of “zero tolerance” policies.
We have previously followed the suspensions and discipline of students under zero tolerance policies that are used by teachers to justify zero judgment or responsibility. I have long criticized zero tolerance policies that have led to suspensions and arrests of children (here and here and here and here). Here is a prior column on the subject (and here).Children have been suspended or expelled for drawing stick figures or wearing military hats or bringing Legos shaped like guns or even having Danish in the shape of a gun or using menacing Level 2 finger guns. Despite the public outcry over the completely irrational and abusive application of zero tolerance rules, administrators and teachers continue to apply them blindly. If you do not have to exercise judgment, you can never be blamed for any failure. Conversely, even when the public outcry results in a reversals, teachers and administrators never seem punished with the same vigor for showing no judgment or logic in punishing a child.
In the latest case, Miller was playing make-believe in the playground with her friend who were pretending to be queens and princesses. Miller was their protecter and grabbed a piece of wood resembling a gun. That is when she was carted off for the protection of the children.
I fail to understand why states like North Carolina tolerate this policy and fail to take actions against school officials who punished children for such innocent play. Caitlin’s mother is quoted as saying “The assistant principal told me Caitlin had a stick and she was using it to shoot and kill other students.”
I doubt seriously that there were any true casualties from the piece of wood absent the danger of splinters. What is clear is that children are bearing the cost of these moronic decisions. This will continue until administrators are held accountable for showing zero judgment under the guise of zero tolerance.
So on the one hand states make conceal and carry more liberal by allowing guns in places like bars. What could possibly go wrong with that? Then they criminalize a kid with a fake gun. Anybody confused?
That was stupid.
“How about abolishing tenure and teacher’s unions.” Former weekend blogger, Elaine, just got the vapors.
How about abolishing tenure and teacher’s unions, then reprimanding them for every possible mistake. After all, zero-tolerance is important to them.
The smart money says this is the resultant of three vectors: the social type who are attracted to school administration as a career, the culture of the teachers colleges, and the effect of the tort system on institutional decision making. The union might intervene to keep Miss Creamcheeseforbrains from getting canned, but that’s not at issue here since the school administration is at least as bad. I doubt the crimes of the teachers unions include this sort of stupid.
DDS,” the culture of the teachers colleges”
I agree. Ever tried to threaten the livelihood of someone with a Ph.D. in education?
I have and it didn’t end well for me.
By Jove, I’ve got it!
We must outlaw Moana because Moana used a spear to fight rabid coconut monsters and Maui whacked the lava monster with a giant fish hook. And of course Despicable Me, as obviously kids could go around emulating freeze rays. There was a sword in Sleeping Beauty, a triton in <The Little Mermaid, a gun in Old Yeller…
Oh for God’s sake, this is so stupid. Stop traumatizing little kids, giving them insecurities that there is something major wrong with them if they use imaginary play war games.
You cannot watch TV without someone picking up a laser blaster or a bow and arrow. Are we to outlaw Brave because Princess Merida was an avid archer and some innocent child may pluck an imaginary bowstring and freak out some teacher and cause a school to shut down?
School districts are becoming neurotic and totalitarian, and stupidly persecuting kids instead of making their schools safer. You want a safer school, then have an armed guard like they do at banks, where they protect money better than we do our children. How is suspending kids for playing cops and robbers, or something similar, having any affect on real violence.
Do you think the teachers do not understand the difference between imaginary and real? Perhaps a 6 year old could explain it to them, using Common Core.
Democrats are mentally ill and they are teaching our kids this insanity
Really? This occurred in North Carolina. A red state.
In school administration, there are no red states. There might be red school boards, but the compliance costs of receiving federal aid and receiving state aid, not to mention the efforts of NCATE to keep teacher training stupid, assure there are no red states in administration. If you want red states, you’re going to have to shut down the federal Department of Education, end federal aid to education strip NCATE of its accreditation functions, finance local school districts with local taxes supplemented with unrestricted revenue sharing, shut down the teachers college, and found new teacher training centers which emphasize hands-on apprenticeship. Relieving local school districts of the obligation to hire certified teachers will also help neutralize NCATE.
THIS INSANITY HAS TO STOP!!! THESE LITTLE KIDS HAVE NO IDEA THEY ARE “DOING WRONG” ACCORDING TO THE AUTHORITIES. THEY WILL BE SCARED FOR LIFE FOR JUST PLAYING WITH A STICK THEY FOUND IN THE OUTDOORS. THIS HAS TO STOP!!!! STUPIDITY RUNS AMOK IN OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM. WHY NOT JUST STICK TO TRYING TO TEACH READING, WRITING AND MATH. IT’S UNBELIEVABLE. I’D CALL AN ATTORNEY AND SUE THEIR ASS INTO NEXT YEAR!!!!
Can you just imagine if that thug had picked up a long stick? It would have been considered an assault rifle and she would have been in detention for a week.
What if the stick had a twig that allowed a pistol grip???
What a close call…
Or a baseball because it resembles a hand grenade.
Every time JT posts stories like this he reveals what appears to be in this blog, our lowest common denominator. We do have some common, common sense after all. 😉
Good god, thinking back we would take large cardboard boxs and cut holes in them to create cockpits of fighter planes. We would play all day until the boxes feel apart shooting each other down. I guess today we would have be placed under arrest by the FAA. What has happened to this once wonderful country we lived in?
“Teacher, Teacher! I declare: I can see your underwear!”
“I’m a poet and don’t know it.”
“From First, To Second, To Third. No, not grade school you dummy it’s baseball.”
Ok, class. If you have been out of high school for ten years or more and have gone to a class reunion. Who were the dumbest catagory of your former classmates. Correct me if I am wrong, but I would say those who became teachers in elementary or high school (not college level). Fellow bloggers: What is your take on that?
Jack Ruby – having taught elementary, high school and college I would not make any blanket statements about intellectual levels. However, the discussion level in the faculty lounge at each level was very different. 🙂
First of all the teacher is an idiot, then the administrator is an idiot. Teachers know or should know their students and are aware who are the dangerous ones. Hopefully, zero tolerance is a policy that will go the way of the dinosaurs.
The teacher’s a dope. The administrator’s a dope. They commonly employ dopes in public education. The dopes are likely under the influence of attorneys, who are malevolent.
And this is why schools are producing generations of triggered snowflakes.
If you are one, do not click on this 1950’s ad for a toy gun:
https://youtu.be/aMqd5EQXD-g
I am not sure if it has been tested in court, but this would seem to be a clear violation of the 1st Amendment freedom of expression, and possibly some nascent 2nd Amendment right.
That poor child looks so distraught and angst ridden. She should be assured that she did NOTHING wrong.
Fookin cruel.
I was pondering that too. And it is very sad. I personally might end up in that state, and was hoping they were better than having mindless government issue educational robots. Guess not.
If you are confused by zero tolerance, remember this simple rule: zero tolerance equals zero intelligence.
If the elected representatives in NC are as smart as they claim they will pass legislation stipulating that proposing or implementing zero tolerance policies is fully equivalent to an admission of professional incompetence requiring termination.
There are times that I am thankful that I am sadly childless. Sheesh. This is surely one of them. I would have gone ballistic if this happened to my kid.
How apropos that this story follows the one about the Iranian story.
Yeah those intolerant damn radical Islamists.
Exactly.
It is the same unthinking mentality that leads to both travesties.
As usual inability to make common sense judgments leads to a destructive result. Zero tolerance allows administrators and others to avoid making hard decisions. Enough.