Now that school is back in session, we once again get to look forward to the insanity that is the American educational system when confronted with anything that doesn’t exactly align with their anti-gun absolutist ideals. Today’s story comes from South Carolina, where a 16-year-old student was tasked with writing a fictional story about himself in the form of a Facebook status (oh the depths to which our educational system has slumped). One student decided to employ a little poetic license and embellish his tale a little bit, adding in the obviously fictional element of a dinosaur. And shooting it with a gun…which caused his teacher to call the police. Obviously . . .
A 16-year-old Summerville High School student says he was arrested Tuesday morning and suspended after writing about killing a dinosaur using a gun.
Alex Stone said he and his classmates were told in class to write a few sentences about themselves, and a “status” as if it was a Facebook page.
Stone said in his “status” he wrote a fictional story that involved the words “gun” and “take care of business.”…
Investigators say the teacher contacted school officials after seeing the message containing the words “gun” and “take care of business,” and police were then notified on Tuesday.
Summerville police officials say Stone’s bookbag and locker were searched on Tuesday, and a gun was not found.
According to (Alex’s mother, Karen) Gray, Stone was suspended for the rest of the week. Gray says she is furious that the school did not contact her before her son was arrested….
Stone was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. District officials say the student has been suspended.
Apparently, in today’s government school system, the simple act of writing a fictional story involving a firearm constitutes “disorderly conduct,” a serious accusation, and a criminal record that will follow a person for the rest of their lives. One extra-sensitive teacher can put a gigantic black spot on a student’s life that may never be removed, all because he wrote the word “gun.”
First it was toaster pasteries shaped like a pistol. Then it was making finger gestures in the shape of a gun. And now school administrations are panicking solely based on the written word, “gun.” One wonders how English teachers manage to make it through such literary staples as All Quiet on the Western Front without repeatedly fainting from the firearms references and calling the police on Erich Maria Remarque.
And what will his classmates think when they turn 18, fully indoctrinated against guns before they vote for the first time!?
More likely to be indoctrinated into believing that their teachers and school administrators are absolute idiots. Especially in South Carolina.
Yup. It would not surprise me if a few parents moved their kids to private schools over this either.
Running from problems never solved them.
Kind of depends. If the problem is that my kid is having his head stuffed with poison at the local government school, then getting him out of it and into a better educational set-up will indeed solve it.
^ What another Robert said.
Education vouchers or anything like that will probably not happen within the next 20 years… if ever.
If I had kids, I would know the time they are children is finite. At the end of the day, the welfare of me and mine is levels of magnitude higher to me than other people’s spawn.
When I read your comment, my mind jumped ahead before I was finished reading. This is roughly what I thought,
“And what will his classmates think when they turn 18 … and have to decide their career path while this young man is already retired with his multi-million dollar award from his lawsuit.”
Unfortunately, it won’t be a “multi-million dollar” lawsuit, as there is this pesky thing called “damages” that you have to prove. While it is possible to get punitive damages in some cases, it is rare. These cases usually settle for low 5 figures.
Liberal progressives know that they can not sell their ideology at face value, the american people would reject it. They are/have secreted themselves into the education system to indoctrinate at the youngest age possible.
The so called “authority figures” in this story are doing no favors to these youth. Acting like this over a fictional story? Cue SELF DESTRUCT in 5…4…3….2….
Not only that but most young men and women are hunting in that state before their 10-12 years old. They have a grasp on firearms from their parents if they are pro firearm. This unjustifiable act by the school, police are nothing more then the rights of American being constantly taken away…Day by Day.
I hope this family fucking destroys this school system in the courts. How can anyone be convinced to be a part of this outdated Prussian model school system anymore.
Prussian indeed. And bearing all too much of a similarity to a production line.
There’s a pretty good argument out there that the whole rationale behind the “public school movement” in the 1800s was to produce docile fodder for the needs of the Industrial Revolution.
Yes, and there was a political goal, too, in line with the Prussian viewpoint, to habituate and train children to be subsumed into the new Progressive state.
Both goals remain paramount in the school system, regardless whether administrators and teachers understand what they are doing.
It’s not insane everywhere. Here in Austin – yes, the so-called “liberal” heart of Texas – parents were invited (yes, INVITED) to come to the end-of-school carnival to soak the kids with water from – wait for it – super soaker water GUNS. Much fun was had, and many thanks issued. So stop munching your panties into wads, y’all sound like a bunch of hysterical nabobs over schools.
Texas doesn’t treat its citizens like prisoners – hence why I live here.
Had to smile, I went to play basketball at the practice gym at one of the local schools here, there was a sign on the administration building warning would-be miscreants that members of the staff were armed for the protection of the school and the public. Bet you won’t see that in Austin, tho…
Got room for me? I don’t need much, one room, TV, cable for internet and I can pay up to 300 a month. No criminal and a retired EMT and parts salesmen.
You can open carry in Texas no? I live in New Jersey one of the four states left with the worst firearm laws in the country. Look at that black women, Driving her car, Minding her business get yanked and she immediately tells the cop she is a concealed carry permit holder and does have a firearm in the car. She is now looking at ten years in prison, No record and two young children. makes me sick.
Just kidding about moving in although I would like to get out of here again, I lived in FL for a while but moved back here to try and take care of my aging mother. shes 83. God forbid she goes before I do but I will be looking to move to the best state for 2nd amendment rights. Take care.
I live in the Austin school district and even though my firearms culture experience has been great (I.e. people are receptive to firearms here) I don’t hold high hopes for the Austin school district.
Austin may be in Texas but it’s still a state capital… and capitals by and large tend to be pretty statist.
It’s also home to a whacking big university stuffed to the gills with liberal yo-yos.
I recommend reading John Taylor Gatto on our schooling system:
The shorter version:
http://www.bartlebyproject.com/gatto.html
The longer version:
http://antioligarch.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/john-taylor-gatto-weapons-of-mass-instruction.pdf
Not that one should take his analysis for gospel – there are parts where I think he goes far astray, and he is not as well-organized as he should be – but many of the facts he presents are critically important – and all too rarely found in discussions of education today.
Just watch the movie Indoctrination. It’s got a major Christian theme but it is also packed with the history of the public education system. Very eye opening.
Thanks, I’ll do that. I love that the documentary has been out since 2011 but it’s not available on Netflix or Amazon streaming. Vimeo has it for $4.95 online and Amazon sells the DVD for $17.95.
http://vimeo.com/ondemand/indoctrination/13912103
Here’s the movie’s website:
http://indoctrinationmovie.com/
This madness is all due to the federal government’s control of the education system. The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. Recreated by the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88) and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 17, 1979. Prior to this law states were allowed to determine for themselves how their school systems operated and the United States ranked number one (1) in the world, fast forward to 2014, the three-yearly OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world, ranked the United States 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics.
The federal government and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have joined forces to ensure that little Johnny and Jane have very high self-esteem and very low IQs. They have done away with Civics as a requirement for graduating high school. (Can’t have the students actually knowing how the government is supposed to work.) They have also reduced the level for passing a course from a C to a D. (Again, protect the student’s self-esteem and dumb down the academic requirements to ensure this criterion is met.)
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is an American labor union that primarily represents teachers. It ensures that incompetent teachers can keep their jobs and at the same time removes any responsibility to control the classroom from the teacher. Even if a teacher tries to assert any control and actually teach the system is set-up to prevent this from occurring. You can’t discipline a student for fear of reprisal from the PTA, legal system, and whatever gang to which the student belongs.
I know recounting how schools were run when I was a student won’t help, but, when we crossed the line we got a paddling, our parents were informed, and when we got home we got another spanking. We didn’t come out emotionally scarred from this; instead we learned that there are rules you have to conform to in a civilized society. We also learned to respect other students as well as our teachers. The teachers that weren’t actually teaching didn’t stay around very long and the really good teachers we still remember 40+ years after graduation. The same goes for college professors who actually made an impact on how we think to this day.
The DOE is 2nd behind only the ATF in my list for “streamlining” our government. It has never been able to show ANY measurable improvement in education since its inception. Completely useless, obstructionist, expensive and counterproductive in many instances. It does not need to be cut back. Simply eliminated, like turning off a light switch.
I hope the family wins a respectable settlement for this abuse of power. Unfortunately, the school leaders will not learn the lesson as they will ultimately hike taxes to cover this settlement and not be held personally accountable for the Orwel ideology they instill.
This is…….I don’t…. what the….
If there is not a multimillion dollar settlement in favor of this boy and the termination of at the very least the responding officer and the teacher who called the police, I am 100% in favor of an armed protest/riot/town looting.
#notevensarcanymore
Count me in!
When and where? I will just have a hard time finding the right assault rifle to go with my shoes. I think I will go with the Tayvor and some black timberland boots (I hear they are great for looting).
You can’t bring a Tavor… I was going to bring a Tavor. Its my riot, I don’t want anyone cramping my style.
CX4 Storm! Call it!
Thanks for some light humor after such a really crappy story.
I laughed!
I’ll show up sporting a pre-production MPX, just to one-up everybody
You are all terrible people for joking about that.
I like you.
this is so stupid he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for shooting an extinct dinosaur with a non existing gun?WTF
It’s worse than you describe. He didn’t say he did anything. It was a story about shooting a neighbour’s dinosaur. By that same logic, the police should have arrested Tom Clancy for treason.
I imagine a good lawyer is going to step in real quick and have a field day with this. let’s see what happens. Hell, even the ACLU defended Nazi’s wanting to march against Jews. They need to get in on this too.
There won’t be a lawsuit. The Supreme Court has ruled that school children have no right to free speech in school or out of school. The First Amendment does not apply to people forcibly enrolled in government schools even when out of school. I have yet to follow the incoherent logic that led to that decision. Soon, this new concept of limits on speech will be expanded to adulthood, I’m sure of it.
He may not have free speech (which is not wholly true per Tinker), but the disproportionate response is worthy of an a$$-whupping lawsuit.
The speech and subsequent suspension are one thing, and possible grounds for reinstatement once it goes before a court. Where there will be grounds for a monetary lawsuit is if the school violated any of their policies. There is no published policy regarding the simple mention of firearms, and I have posted below the relevant portions of Summerville HS policy. They are about to be creamed in courts.
From the school’s policies:
“Students have the right to due process of the law with respect to suspension, expulsion, and unreasonable searches and seizures. They also have the privilege of appealing administrative decisions that they believe have deprived them of their rights”
“According to state law, the school administration may suspend a student from school for commission of any crime, gross immorality, gross misbehavior, persistent disobedience or for violation of written rules and regulations established by the district board of trustees, or the state board of education. The school administration may also suspend a student when the presence of the student is detrimental to the best interest of the school.”
“The board and its administrators will meet the following minimum due process requirements when making decisions directly affecting the private rights of a student.
When a hearing is to be held, sufficient notice thereof will be given to the student and his/her parents.
The student will be given the opportunity to be heard.
The student will have the right to be represented by counsel.
If a student feels that an agent of the board – teacher, principal, superintendent or other – has injured his/her rights, he/she may initiate action by requesting a hearing before the board to remedy the situation. Such hearings, if granted, are to be held in executive session unless otherwise requested by student and/or parent.
After administrative remedies have been exhausted before the board, the student may appeal to the court of common appeals or to the federal courts if a constitutional question is involved.”
“Students do not lose their constitutional rights upon entering school premises. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects all citizens, including students, from unreasonable searches.
However, students and their belongings are subject to reasonable searches and seizures when administrators have a belief considered reasonable under these circumstances.
• A student committed a crime or a violation of a school rule.
• Such a search will reveal contraband or evidence of a violation of a school rule or a criminal law.
Any search conducted must be reasonable in scope given the age and sex of the student and the nature of the alleged infraction.
Only the principal or his/her designee may conduct such searches within the constitutional parameters outlined in this policy unless exigent circumstances exist which require another staff member to take immediate action for safety reasons.
School lockers and desks
All lockers are the property of the school district. School officials may conduct searches of lockers in accordance with publicized administrative rules.
Interrogations by school personnel
Teachers and principals may question students about any matter pertaining to the operation of a school and/or enforcement of its rules. The staff member will conduct the questioning discreetly and under circumstances that will avoid unnecessary embarrassment to the person being questioned. Any student who answers falsely or evasively or who refuses to answer a proper question may be disciplined.
Interrogations by police
When law enforcement officers find it necessary to question or arrest students during the school day, the school principal or his/her designee will be present and will attempt to notify the parents immediately. The police will conduct the questioning in the principal’s office with the principal or his/her designee present.
Contacting law enforcement
School administrators will contact law enforcement authorities immediately upon notice that a person is engaging in, or has engaged in, certain activities on school property or at a school sanctioned or sponsored activity. Those activities are ones that may result, or do in fact result, in injury or serious threat of injury to the person or to another person or his/her property.
Adopted 8/87; Revised 11/13/00”
Chicago Steve,
Here is how the school will attempt to wiggle out of it:
“The school administration may also suspend a student when the presence of the student is detrimental to the best interest of the school.”
Wherein the school has decided it is in their best interest to sanction anyone who merely mentions the word “gun”, the school is acting within the scope of their policies.
I love this gem from the school’s policies:
“Interrogations by school personnel
Teachers and principals may question students about any matter pertaining to the operation of a school and/or enforcement of its rules. … Any student who answers falsely or evasively or who refuses to answer a proper question may be disciplined.”
This clearly violates the Fifth Amendment right that we are not compelled to incriminate ourselves. So, according to the school, pupils have no First, Second, or Fifth Amendment rights.
Whether or not the student can write about guns in a class project is different from being arrested and charged with disorderly conduct! C’mon, man, even you can see that!
So, someone below the age of 18 has no civil rights then? They have no Fourth Amendment rights to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures? They have no Fifth Amendment right to due process and not incriminate themselves?
We really need to dissolve the U.S. Supreme Court if that is their official holding.
Prison would be better.
There is no Supreme Court ruling that does away with civil and constitutional rights of those under 18. The First Amendment covers speech rights of students regardless of what school administrators say. There should be a lawsuit against the school system and the arresting police officer for violating his rights. Now here is the kicker, the school system will spend thousands of dollars to defend this lawsuit even as they whine about wanting more money.
Skyler: Your interpretation of the law is incorrect. the law on this topic is far more nuanced that you suggest.
Click on the link to nbc12. He’s already hired a lawyer.
I thought us “gun people” were worse than Nazis? I understand antisemitism is all the rage in the media and the White House.
Nazis did not like private gun ownership for the common serfs. We do. Private gun ownership promotes civil and individual liberties.
IIRC, the ACLU does not recognize nor support RKBA. When I heard that years ago, I quit donating to them. Nazis, fine, KKK, fine, Americans owning firearms? Hell no!
Why, when the police receive a call like this, do they not laugh hysterically and hang up?
No. Another stat to justify why they NEED an MRAP
Because the police see it as another opportunity for someone to respect their authoritah.
I was amazed that the police didn’t call the school authorities idiots and hang up.
Because I’m sure the principal reported it as “student threatening to shoot others with gun,” not as “whimsical creative writing assignment.”
I agree. However, when the police arrived and discovered the actual situation, they should have arrested the teacher and the principal for disorderly conduct and filing a false report, even child abuse. That would have stuck, and removed them permanently from any school ever again, they could look for real jobs.
when the police arrived and discovered the actual situation, they should have arrested the teacher and the principal for disorderly conduct and filing a false report,
But they didn’t. What does that tell you about the police?
That they also went to public school.
(And that they care more about keeping their pensions and benefits than respecting the liberties of the people.)
Thought Police. from the Ministry of Love.
Behold the liberal progressive “tolerance” that has entrenched itself with the public education system.
They’re tolerant… as long as you agree with everything they preach. No questions asked.
Saw this on Cam & co. The level of stupid is beyond belief. Home schoolif you can people.
No; not stupid; sly like a fox. How do you think England went from a fairly gun tolerant society where the carrying of a pistol was generally an accepted norm in the early twentieth century to the gun phobic culture it is today?
By these same tactics and techniques; and it’s been working here for the last sixty years.
We have been asleep in the back of the bus while we let a bunch of statist control freaks take control of the wheel. and they are happily racing down the steep slope of state mandated disarmament and ultimately enslavement.
We are starting to wake up; but don’t dismiss this process that has been implemented in the public schools as any thing other than a very well thought out plan of indoctrination of our “youts”.
Very well thought out, indeed. Read Marx and Engels for the outline. They mentioned “public school” specifically.
Something about “let me control the teaching of your children and it matters not what you, the parents want”.
If at all possible please try to avoid sending your kids to these government indoctrination camps.
+1,000,000,000,000
Home school. If you have children, find a way to make it happen.
Under no circumstances give your precious children to the government to raise. If there ever was the definition of immoral, that is it.
Signed,
Home schooling parent.
Sending your children to public schools is parental malpractice. There can be no other objective assessment of the current situation.
In the current state of affairs for most of our public schools; parents that send their children to these “dens of iniquity” should be charged with mental, emotional, physical and civil rights abuse.
Amen! I’d work three jobs to not send my 3 to the government schools. Whatever it takes. #Homeschooling
+ 1000,000
Yea well don’t forget a student was suspended (in another state) for chewing a pop tart into a “gun”. As time goes by it will get worse and worse. Especially as we win more in court. Just my humble opinion though.
Don’t forget the 5 year old that was suspended in PA for her Hello Kitty Bubble Gun.
I’m a teacher, and amazed at the idiocy of our policies. After my principal made a statement yesterday about our weapons policy, I resolved to attend the next school board meeting and ask for clarification. The statement was “If a student brings in a squirt gun, that is a weapon and they will receive a 10 day suspension”. As has been said…the stupid…it hurts.
This is a huge indicator to me of what’s destroying our country.
They are changing the definition of weapon to scare students. Even though anything hard enough to hit someone with could be used as a weapon, the object has to be designed to harm a person to be such an item.
They are DILUTING the meaning of the word ‘weapon’. Just like they did with words like ‘torture’ and ‘racism’. The more they scream over these words the more people will learn to ignore them. Unfortunately we are still in the phase where the whole town runs out to save the boy screaming ‘WOLF!”
Maybe so, but the actual definition stands. Something not designed to harm a person and not used to harm a person is not a weapon. For example, attacking someone with a baseball bat is assault with a weapon. Bringing the bat to school for the baseball team and never attacking anyone with it means it never was a weapon in that instance.
Yeah, sort of like voicing concern for the education of the children.. then going on strike for more money right before school starts…
Teachers and their Unions rank up there with used car salesmen.
Yes, yes – except I’d say the teacher unions are considerably worse. Used car salesmen are businessmen who cannot stay in business long if they do not respect the market. Teachers unions have a government-guaranteed monopoly regardless of their perfornance or customer demand.
The fact that this is tolerated by a scared, dumbed down public is a better indication on what is ruining this country.
Legally change his name Alex Gun, or Dino Shooter, or Raptor Slayer, Beast Glocker, or Winn Chester..someone stop me.
I dub thee “Browning A.Bolt” young man! May you have many .270’s and .308’s in the years to come!!!
Maybe start as a 300 BLK, and grows up into a .308.
The only problem is, they’d try and force him to change his name. It’s already happened. One deaf mute student when signing his name had to form his fingers into the shape of a gun. The school demanded that his name be changed as he was in violation of the zero tolerance policy every time he said his name in ASL.
This is how “they” create a new generation of sheep. Make an example of a few and the others will fall in line, worked for the Romans, slave owners and Nazis.
Yeah, but it eventually blew up in their faces.
“Terrific race, the Romans!”
People called “Romanes” they go the house?
That’s the best scene for anyone who ever took Latin. (Can you picture Cleese as a young child in Latin class? I can only imagine.)
This is mind-boggling. I’m from Indiana. I’m 23. In high school (not that long ago), I had to do a research paper on a topic of my choosing. I chose gun control and why it’s a bad idea. I was never even given a second look. The teacher didn’t care, so long as I did the assignment. How have we fallen so far so fast?
One step at a time on the slippery slope.
I graduated in 2003, but in a history class some time early on in high school, I did a report against gun control and the teacher failed me because I didn’t agree with her insane liberal stance on guns. From then on, I chose the “dark side” of every topic just to piss her off. We were justified in kicking the Indians off their land! The Nazi’s thought they were doing the right thing! Hiroshima and Nagasaki actually SAVED lives! It didn’t even matter if I didn’t actually feel that way. At the end of the year I took my work to the school’s administration to complain about her bias and I was regraded by someone more sane. Passed that class with a 99. Suck it, dumb-ass history teacher!
Teachers with bias are unacceptable. I had a rather good English teacher who had a heavy left bias, and it’s tainted the memory of her. Her bias was plastered all over her classroom. Fortunately, her teaching was relatively fair. I guess I was just lucky.
For all the talk about the kids being ‘indoctrinated’, I get the feeling that the normal childhood response to idiot teachers and their agendas is probably yours. And when the next generation comes along you’ll be sitting your 5 year old down and explaining how his teachers are going to be really, really stupid.
Actually, this is good practice from an educational standpoint. Learning to argue in favor of the opinion you disagree with is probably the best way to strengthen your own opinion. When you understand your opposition as well or better than they understand themselves only two things can happen. 1) You realize you were full of crap and change your opinion or 2) You strengthen your understanding of why you were right and are better equipped than your opposition when faced with them. Either way you win. What you did here was educate yourself while the classroom attendant behind the desk was trying to teach you instead.
Right on!
:virtual high five:
Ours not a straight line descent. Not every teacher would have been ok with your passport on gun control, not every teacher would have had this kid suspended and arrested. There are certain teachers that make up the vanguard of progressivism in education and when somethingting like this happens in their classroom then they get to act on their ideology. Your teacher may have even been liberal or progressive, but not to the point of believing they need to indoctrinate everyone.
Beliefs run the gamut on every issue, independently of the other issues.
Reason 176,923 why my wife and I sacrifice and send our child to a private school. Screw the gubment indoctrination camps!
The problem is that good schools are prohibitively expensive for all but the most well-to-do, and the inexpensive ones are crammed full of kids that were kicked out of the government schools.
You cannot find a good, inexpensive private school near your home for about 99.9% of the country, unless that’s the reason you moved to where you live, and even then it’s bound to have a different religion.
Home schooling is the answer for those that can. Sadly, my wife does not feel that she can teach, and I have to work. I’m screwed.
Skyler, there are many home school associations that can help you and your wife get started. If your wife passed high school then she can teach. Many curriculums are self-paced for the student and you can re-use them on the next child. It is way less expensive than you might think. Additionally, you can help teach in the evening or on the weekend. The beauty of home schooling is the flexibility of scheduling. Your children are worth it.
Cordially,
David
That’s PART of the beauty of homeschooling.
Another part is being that part of your children’s lives. You share in their accomplishments, not hear about them second (or third) hand.
Really…the list of benefits is long. There is no down side.
Sorry to say this, but as a current student I can safely say that homeschooling is not an ideal choice. It can easily create antisocial children who aren’t properly prepared for an adult life. Some people can pull it off, but be careful.
“It can easily create antisocial children”
Bullsqueeze.
There is a large body of research that shows the contrary. There are numerous studies that set out to “prove” this antisocial aspect of homeschooling that had to admit, against their desired judgment, that homeschooled children are at the very least not worse in terms of socialization.
So, stop with the FUD. This notion has been debunked for over 30 years.
“Sorry to say this, but as a current student I can safely say that homeschooling is not an ideal choice. It can easily create antisocial children who aren’t properly prepared for an adult life. Some people can pull it off, but be careful.”
In my experience homeschooling (seven years), it has been an ideal choice. Who decides what properly prepares a child for adult life? Somebody with a bachelor’s degree who is statistically within the lowest performers, academically? Aside from under-achieving, the “education” majors are lumped in with the other leftist anti-American departments, like Social Studies, Psychology, and Philosophy.
Homeschooling is sounding better and better.
Just saying guys, if your kids don’t get out and play with other kids they aren’t going to grow up quite right. Maybe get them into group sports, clubs, and such.
“Sorry to say this, but as a current student I can safely say that homeschooling is not an ideal choice. It can easily create antisocial children who aren’t properly prepared for an adult life.”
Bull hockey!
http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/Beyond.asp
“Homeschool graduates are active and involved in their communities. Seventy-one percent participate in an ongoing community service activity (e.g., coaching a sports team, volunteering at a school, or working with a church or neighborhood association), compared to 37% of U.S. adults of similar ages (Table 2). Eighty-eight percent of the homeschool graduates surveyed were members of an organization (e.g., such as a community group, church or synagogue, union, homeschool group, or professional organization), compared to 50% of U.S. adults.”
Also, look at this:
http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/Fig8-12.gif
Homeschool graduates on the whole are better socialized than their peers who had the unfortunate fate to attend a government school.
“Just saying guys, if your kids don’t get out and play with other kids they aren’t going to grow up quite right. Maybe get them into group sports, clubs, and such.”
But your “just saying” is wrong. Sorry. It’s a straw man. It’s not consistent with observable facts. That’s a popular meme, but it has been thoroughly debunked. Avoid cognitive dissonance.
One example study was done in the late 80’s or in the 90’s. I used to have it bookmarked, because this comes up a lot. Anyway, in this study, the researchers were trying to prove the “socialization problem” and studied a group of children both home and public schooled over a period of several years.
Repeat: they were trying to prove homeschooled children had socialization problems.
What they found was the opposite. That is, that precisely because homeschooled children’s peer group contains a higher percentage of adults, and lower percentage of children that they themselves don’t know how to properly behave, homeschooled children are socialized by better roll models.
It has been studied many times. That’s just one example study that happens to be notable that the researchers were clearly (admittedly) biased, yet had to conclude the opposite of their bias was observed.
So no, homeschooled children with not “grow up not quite right.”
Besides, it’s not like we keep them locked up in the house doing school for the 20 hours a day they are not asleep. The premise that they won’t naturally encounter children (playgrounds, neighborhoods, church, etc) is absurd.
20-odd years ago when I retired, we moved into a new school area, the first my kids remembered that was not on a military base with military kids. After a couple months he had no friends that I knew of, and I asked why not, telling him he should get to know some people. He replied the school was filled with dopers and gang members he did not want to mingle with. I said “never mind”, and left him alone. He started mingling again when he started college.
PLEASE have your wife contact me.
http://www.dsbscience.com/contactdsb.php
(my business site, but not an ad…not soliciting for commercial purposes)
Have to throw in my bit. I have a law degree, but my wife went no higher than high school. And we did the traditional I worked she stayed home thing. We home schooled and she did the teaching, mostly, using curricula bought online, the first was “Classic curriculum” using McGuffey’s Readers and such. One kid is now a teacher (oddly enough), one is a 2nd Lt, US Army, and one is an engineering student. We got plenty of “socialization” through home-school groups, extra-curricular stuff, and daily life, where my kids learned how to interact with people outside of their own age group. I would say if we could do it, most other folks can do it.
Robert – We are following the very same approach. Good for you and your wife, and good luck persuading more Americans to follow in your footsteps.
Keep an eye on the private schools, too. Just because they cost an arm and a leg does not mean their moral or even “factual” teachings are agreeable to you. And their teachers gradate from somewhere, most available places are way left.
“gradate”? good grief.
What Larry said. Also, private schools are increasingly subject to regulation by the same bureaucratic overseers that run the public schools. This is more the case in some states than others, but I’m not aware of any state that does not lay a heavy hand on the private schools.
Of course, as a matter of principle, private schools are private, which means states have nothing to say about what they teach, so long as the students are not being taught to pick pockets by headmaster Fagin.
But the idea that the government must control everyone and everything is well-accepted by a great many nowadays, and if you propose that private schools themselves decide what to teach, you will encounter alarm and hysteria. My goodness, can you imagine what could happen if people were allowed to make their own decisions? (I sure can. Americans would be more thoughtful, inventive, independent, etc. etc. etc.)
Ah, there’s that “love”, “tolerance”, and “understanding” that the left constantly bleats about!
I hope he used a .577 Tyrannosaur in the story.
I’m an English teacher. This would have made me laugh and give the kid extra credit for being creative. Dinosaurs? As I’m Michael Crichton’s Jurassic park? That’s just fun. This teacher needs to be slapped upside the head with Shakespeare’s collective works. Maybe after the concussion wears off he’ll remember he’s dealing with kids. 16 year old kids.
Cry havoc and let slips the dogs of ignorance. Sigh
Same.
I’m a teacher too and I don’t mind one bit if a student’s story has guns or dinosaurs.
Now… if you plagiarized, or it shows a lack of effort, or if it’s a poorly written piece of crap… then I will be making a phone call. Just not to police… it’ll probably be to your parents, to whom you, my student, will have to explain why your paper sucked.
I made an :alas poor yorick” joke the other day at work and one had any idea what I was talking about. “Shakespeare? Hamlet? Holding the skull of the jester Yorick……?”
Yeah schools suck now.
My experience is the same, and I have worked and studied in a variety of places with people of various backgrounds, including many who would be considered highly educated and successful. Very few understand even the most famous literary or historical references.
“Cry havoc…!” Great Star Trek quote!
The teacher should have been arrested and fired for wasting everyone’s time and embarrassing the school system.
Even anti-gun liberals should realize how ridiculous the school system is getting. They don’t believe people are being brain washed? Bet this kid will never say the word gun in school for the rest of his life.
And for his next story:
“And then the Dinosaur stepped on Mrs (Rhymes with teacher’s name), as the blood flew everywhere the end!”
Or is a suspension time off of school? How is that not a win?
Quick – somebody check in with Shannon & Bloomie, their school shooting stats probably just went up one more because of this. Using their methods of calculating, this counts, right? /snark
Seriously, what’s happening to our country?
Well we have heard it and read it several times … those people who oppose the Second Amendment also oppose the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and so on. This is concrete, undeniable proof.
I’m a public school teacher. There are a great number of very good teachers out there. Unfortunately, there are also a fair number of nitwits.
Either way, public educators are somewhat trapped in the system, since they are not allowed to pay into nor collect Social Security. This means that the nitwits, finding out that they can’t teach, tend to find a way out of the classroom and go into administration–if they ever hope to have a decent retirement.
Above that, you have legislators who know nothing about teaching telling us how schools should be run. The teacher in this instance was most likely covering their own @ss.
Back when I was in high school (19 years ago), for a creative writing assignment, I wrote a story about wizard getting disemboweled by an assassin. The (female) teacher gave me an A.
Has one, single, solitary instance of this zero-tolerance fear-mongering nonsense involved a girl? Ooh, or to take things even more ‘uncomfortable,’ a non-white student? Not a ‘legit’ suspension due to fights, serious threats, or actual contraband, but perceptions of perceptions like we see here. Granted, this ‘story’ in question does have an eerie quality to it coming from a 16 year old young man old enough to father children, but I think that’s mostly due to a combination of the ‘Facebook status’ format and that this kid’s education has left his writing reminiscent of Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Tell me about the dinosaurs, George…
There was that 6yo girl in PA who was suspended (or maybe expelled?) for bringing her Hello Kitty bubble gun to school
This is why I homeschool. Neither my mother-in-law or my mother agree with it but the constant stream of stories like this let me know I’m doing the right thing.
Dino ~
I had the same problem with my folks and M.I.L. they have since come around.
But my sister’s in law that’s a different story. They have tried to grill both my kids at family functions, I sit back and watch as my kids get flustered at the never ending stream of questions then they look at me and I shake my head [sadly] and my bright progeny then look at their aunts and say “Whats your problem” why are you asking me all these silly questions about math and reading and stuff I thought we were here for a birthday party? The now flustered Aunts try to justify their questions later to me, which makes me laugh as I look at them with pity and softly say, It must be hard to unlearn what you thought about homeschooling. My kids at 12 & 14 make phone calls [to the elderly] every Saturday night asking if anyone needs a ride to church Sunday morning [this was their idea not mine ugh] Sorry I could go on and on…
“They have tried to grill both my kids at family functions”
We get that, too. It can be infuriating to watch.
The underlying thing about it that is so angering? The subconscious cultural belief that only The State can provide something like an education. Or home protection. Or…well, name it.
Doing something for yourself, whatever it is, whatever mode of self reliance one stakes out, is anathema in contemporary America. This is the product of several generations of public school conditioning…that only “school” can educate.
Try living on your own property and providing for yourself. Check out the story of Eustace Conway in Watauga County, NC.
I believe Statism is woven into our cultural identity far, far more than most of us realize.
“Now listen: you raised your kids, now let J. raise hers!” my father to my grandmother when tried to interfere in our family.
You are doing the right thing, no matter what your family says.
Government schools. Government school teachers. Government school administrators. Stupid law enforcement. When they come together you get such insanity.
If this student had written about barbecuing Big Bird would he have had prison at hard labor?
Another student says, “Bless you” to a fellow student who sneezes and she receives 1 week in-school suspension from another government teacher.
A failed and failing government school system is winding out of control.
But truthfully, it is NOT failed or failing. It is accomplishing precisely what it was designed to do.
Read John Taylor Gatto for the full story.
I read the news story. The police are not saying he was arrested/suspended over the “gun” aspect, although that did initiate the police investigation. He allegedly became “irate” and disruptive during the search, so they handcuffed him and arrested him for the disorderly conduct in school charge.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Pure stupidity on the part of the school, perhaps a bit of aggressive investigation on the part of the police, and the kid lost his cool. Willing to bet suspension stands, criminal charges dropped.
An important point most people seem to have missed.
Given that he was the subject of a very unreasonable (in fact, moronic) search and seizure, I can see what he got upset.
Lack of specific, reasonable, articulable suspicion* that he had a weapon in his locker results in the seizure of his person and search of his locker being violations of his fourth-amendment rights. Thus, he was justified in being disorderly regarding violation of his constitutional rights, and therefore the “disorderly conduct” charge is likewise specious.
* As is obvious to anyone with more than two brain cells’ worth of common sense (a threshold that seemingly exceeds the teacher’s capacity), writing a fictional story about killing a dinosaur does not constitute reasonable suspicion that the author was in possession of a real gun.
@Other David: Maybe so, which would be pretty ironic, given that by your description it was the suspension that was stupid and baseless and the arrest that was appropriate. To me, the use of that famous catch-all “disorderly conduct” , in itself is not very persuasive that any criminal conduct occurred,
can you imagine what would happen if a teacher asked the class what they did the past weekend? ” me and dad went hunting, and got us a couple of turkeys” wow, would shit hit the fan
Try, “and we’re going to EAT them!”
And to think, I read this story in 6th grade English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sound_of_Thunder
…a GREAT story!
Homeschooling family here too. It is a sacrifice, but the curriculum we have chosen is far superior to even what can be found at a private school. I mean it when I say that money cannot buy a better education. Our family is closer because of this decision. And, there are so many other families doing the same thing here that we all get together and do school together once a week. I can’t imagine a better situation and neither can my boys.
Am I the only one that thinks the media should be releasing the teacher’s name rather than the student? I think the public has a right to know when someone so lacking in intelligence is charged with educating their children.
In his story, he should have said that he was a police officer and he shot the dinosaur to protect the public. Nobody would have blinked.
Or shot the dinosaurs dog…
Lordy. Sounds like another case I will read about when it gets laughed out of court. Hope so, anyway. Are there adults in that school who can take charge?
What an odd world. At 14 we had to read Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I had to do a term paper on addiction for “Mockingbird”. Guns, violence, politics,racism, drugs…..oh my!
How about Facebook? Can we spell “moron”?
This is an outrage. How much longer are American Parents going to tolerate this treatment/brain-washing of their children? Are you going to sit around complaining about this crap while these “educators” mentally castrate your sons and daughters of any sense of liberty, freedom and self-determination? You can decry the totalitarian excesses of the Public Schools all you want, but if you do nothing to save your children, soon there will be nothing you can do. I think the wussification of America has already taken place. Kudos to those of you home-schooling your children! Shame on those of you surrendering your children to the Socialist indoctrination of the Public Schools!
Okay, I just had to release that and I apologize for the incivility of my tone, but not for the substance of what I said. I have no children, and, hence, no dog in this fight, except an intense desire NOT to see the American Republic transmogrified into a Socialist slave camp. In the town where I live, there are many young people working in the stores and service establishments I frequent. They are friendly, outgoing, polite, respectful, and enjoyable to interact with. It just kills me to think they and their children may spend their lives unable to know the fullness of a life lived as free people that I experienced and benefited from. Liberty and self-determination are the greatest assets to Human existence after Love and Hope. Without any of those four, Human existence is fundamentally meaningless.
Amen, DerryM, and well-said! I think most of us here miss the America that once was, and wish fervently for her revival.
I didn’t know an “irate behavior” was against the law. More police desperately in need of training. “Demeanor” police. Policing peoples demeanor.
What you wanna bet his “irate behavior” closely followed his request to review the search warrant? And let us think, here, the violent madman criminal is in police custody, so there is no excuse to not obtain a search warrant before searching his possessions. But I got $100 says they did not, and made up some ridiculous reason why they didn’t have to, or just told the kid to shut up.
I think the whole charge of “disorderly conduct” ought to be retired. If someone lays hands on another person, it’s battery. If they threaten them it’s assault. If they hound them it’s stalking or harassment. If they damage or seize someone else’s property we have charges for that, too. All too often “disorderly conduct” means nothing more than that an officer decided a person needed arresting.
“If they really were anywhere near as fair as they claim to be, the very least they’d have done was grade his paper before he got hauled off to jail.”
Creative writing anyone?
Once arrested in school as a result of writing a paper about killing a dinosaur with a gun, a young man goes on to become a world-renowned geneticist.
Impressed with ideas gleaned from Jurassic Park movies, he extracts dinosaur DNA from ancient mosquitoes and engineers, raises and releases hundreds of “Liberraptors” into society. Ravenous, fast moving creatures with voracious appetites that only feed on old-age digressives — and thus saves an entire Nation from the throes of edumacational devolution.
[ For those who may not yet have thought about it in quite this way, but are actively or otherwise engaged in the study of the Old-age, Illiberal, Digressive-Statist Movement — it may or may not be of value to consider the following as a ‘Key Phrase’: “Arrested Development” ]
Damn. I’m voting for an “A”.
Persecuted for his first amendment right to excercise his second amendment rights…. In fiction. Wow! Stalin would be very happy
Indoctrinate the student body today, and you can more easily subjugate the body politic tomorrow.
Da, da, kanyeshna!
Ms. “resource teacher” Lewis and Mr. “assistant principal” Giet should be stripped of their credentials. If the words, “neighbor’s dinosaur” appearing in a creative-writing assignment were not considered before calling the police, they have no business teaching….ever. Maybe Alex will write a book about his experience which becomes a best seller and he gets a movie deal. I would love to read his paper but according to the police, “The suspect’s classroom assignment was later placed into SPD Evidence.” Maybe the word “liability” should start meaning something different to these administrators. Hopefully, they get sued out of existence.
Insanity. Pure and simple.
Lol. I love being in the middle of nowhere. We have a ‘zero tolerance policy’ but we’re seriously laid back. My friends and I talk guns as much as we please. The agricultural department is all about hunting and stuff. Basically? As long as it doesn’t disrupt class you’re good.
So in this case what is it the cops were actually doing to come to the conclusion they did? Do they just act on satisfying the most hysterical voice in the room? I’m trying to see it through their eyes here. I show up, a teacher is all loopy because a kid wrote a story about shooting a dinosaur. Why don’t I just leave or arrest the teacher for false reporting or interfering with duty? What makes me conclude that arresting a kid who wrote a story about shooting a dinosaur is the appropriate course of action?
For consistencies sake I’d like to see every student with a copy of Catcher in the Rye questioned by the Secret Service. Or maybe Common Core took all those scary books out of the curriculum?
This is the fascism that has been developing since at least the “war on Drugs”. The young generation has little to no chance of even understanding freedom, let alone experiencing it.
Here in the statute for disorderly conduct in South Carolina:
Any person who shall (a) be found on any highway or at any public place or public gathering in a grossly intoxicated condition or otherwise conducting himself in a disorderly or boisterous manner, (b) use obscene or profane language on any highway or at any public place or gathering or in hearing distance of any schoolhouse or church or (c) while under the influence or feigning to be under the influence of intoxicating liquor, without just cause or excuse, discharge any gun, pistol or other firearm while upon or within fifty yards of any public road or highway, except upon his own premises, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars or be imprisoned for not more than thirty days.
As a LEO in Florida, I am disgusted that an officer would make a false arrest for something that is obviously not a violation of South Carolina law. My advice for the parents is to file a civil rights violation lawsuit against the school district and police department. They should also file a lawsuit against the officer for false arrest.
I hope the teacher realizes that the student’s story resembles a Ray Bradbury story–you know, the one about going back in time to hunt dinosaurs? The same Ray Bradbury who gets taught in many English classes in high school? And whose novel, Fahrenheit 451, is one of the quintessential anti-censorship books in American literature? I just…can’t…take…it…
Line your chillians up for that free gubmint edumucation!
Was he charged with hunting dinosaurs without a license?
An occasional sentiment I’ve heard since moving to NC: “North Carolina is a State, South Carolina is a mental condition.”
I am shocked by the responses here!
As everyone SHOULD know the noble dinosaur has nearly been extinguished (except for certain secret Nazi labs working to establish the 4th reich, and an Antarctic caldera). This “fictional” story glorifying anti-dinosaur hate crimes is simply another indicator of the rampant racis… er specisism that pervades our society. You should be ashamed to call yourselves Americans
As long as situations like this are tolerated, there is no future for the 1st and 2nd Amendments.
We get a double header of fascist stories……
http://news.yahoo.com/bless-you-suspension-153852989.html?bcmt=comments-postbox
The public school system HATES boys, especially when they talk like boys, act like boys or think like boys.
If you want your son to become an emasculated little ninny, send him to public school so he can get his nuts cut off. Otherwise, it’s private school or home school if you actually care about your son.
A lot of truth to that Ralph.
Don’t forget the drugs, to make him docile and passive.
Larry – I’m about ready to vote for you for president. Maybe Another Robert could be on the ticket, too.
Probably mentioned a number of times prior. Censorship, freedom of speech. This is getting larger than just idiots knee jerk reactions. Yep, sue for all they got. But there are too many instances abuse of rights seemingly multiplying each day.
A short response to the teacher in this story. “Thank you, you’re everything we’ve come to expect from years of government training.” ~ Zed – MIB
Public school has become child abuse.
The kid may have grounds to sue all involved for numerous civil rights violations such as violating his 1st 4th amendments just for starters.
I keep stories like this saved and immediately link them when anti gun types relate conservatives to fascists.
And my fiancee wonders why I’m so adamant about home schooling.
If there gonna be this picky about it they better remove ALL the history books since there full of wars(lots of guns in a war) and arrest the people who bought them for the school.
Comments are closed.