When I read the article, I could not believe this boy would be suspended form school just because he draw a gun. Now, I am not a fan of guns but I think the school over did it.
QUOTE |
MESA, Arizona - Officials at an Arizona school suspended a 13-year-old boy for sketching what looked like a gun, saying the action posed a threat to his classmates. The boy's parents said the drawing was a harmless doodle and school officials overreacted. "The school made him feel like he committed a crime. They are doing more damage than good," said the boy's mother, Paula Mosteller. The drawing did not show blood, bullets, injuries or target any human, the parents said. And the East Valley Tribune reported that the boy said he did not intend for the picture to be a threat. Administrators of Payne Junior High in nearby Chandler suspended the boy on Monday for five days but later reduced it to three days. The boy's father, Ben Mosteller, said that when he went to the school to discuss his son's punishment, school officials mentioned the seriousness of the issue and talked about the 1999 massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School, where two teenagers shot and killed 12 students, a teacher and themselves. Mosteller said he was offended by the reference.... |
I am an Arizona boy myself so this story right now is pretty big here.
I think kids ,especially boys, tend to go through a stage where they draw things like guns.
My 7 year old son came home the other day and he showed me a picture of a "cool" gun he had drawn. I remember as a kid I used to draw guns all the time, because in the area I live in, hunting is a way of life. Unfortunately the world of zero tolerance that we live in does not look kindly on little boys being little boys. I had to tell my son that he should probably not draw pictures of guns at school. I told him he could draw them at home but considering the way people look at them it probably wasn't a good idea to do it their.
Rather off topic, but... My son's Grandma is his teacher in public school so I'm hoping he wouldn't have gotten in too much trouble for the picture. But I didn't want her to have to be her be in the difficult position of having to report him to the school counselors. |
This is ludicrous suspended for drawing a picture! Would one be suspended for drawing a sword or a bow and arrow also since these to are weapons? I think they need to ensure that know one is bringing a real gun in and let the children have some doodle time.
I ponder what would happen if they got caught playing hang man.
dbackers that was good advice you gave your son.
Okay...at first I agreed since obviously drawing a gun on someone should be illegal (it's assault). But then when I realized that he drew a PICTURE of a gun and I saw that silly little picture...
Please. Absurd. What happened to expecting adults who manage our schools to use reasonable judgment?
Ridiculous. They can take away his gun sketch, they can suspend him from school, but they can't make him think differently or behave differently. Okay, so maybe in the future he'll refrain from drawing anything that "looks like" a gun while in school, and the school will believe they have done the right thing. But what's really happening is they (the school administration) are repressing creativity and even free speech. And teaching that boy to be very, very careful of people in authority positions.