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It’s a Fork, It’s a Spoon, It’s a . . . Weapon?

More news stories on Liberal Myths

Ian Urbina, New York Times, October 11, 2009

{snip}

Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.

{snip}

Spurred in part by the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, many school districts around the country adopted zero-tolerance policies on the possession of weapons on school grounds. {snip}

{snip}

Education experts say that zero-tolerance policies initially allowed authorities more leeway in punishing students, but were applied in a discriminatory fashion. Many studies indicate that African-Americans were several times more likely to be suspended or expelled than other students for the same offenses.

“The result of those studies is that more school districts have removed discretion in applying the disciplinary policies to avoid criticism of being biased,” said Ronnie Casella, an associate professor of education at Central Connecticut State University who has written about school violence. He added that there is no evidence that zero-tolerance policies make schools safer.

{snip}

Original article

(Posted on October 12, 2009)

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Comments

1 — Question Diversity wrote at 6:14 PM on October 12:

This article has it backwards. Zero Thought policies came to be because the schools needed a way to balance their racial stats in suspensions. So when a fight breaks out, both the party that provoked the fight (often black) and the victim (sometimes white) both get suspended.

2 — Sissy White wrote at 6:18 PM on October 12:

Only 45 days suspension, sent to reform school… is that all, the kid is lucky!
Usually the system needs to make an example of a White kid-lethal injection.

3 — MarcusVA wrote at 7:36 PM on October 12:

Meanwhile over in Indonesia or Pakistan or wherverStan young Mohamed is being trained at his school how to field strip an AK47 and the best places to setup explosive devices.
The American child is being taught to commit suicide.

4 — Anonymous wrote at 8:07 PM on October 12:

In criminal trials intent is taken into consideration despite race (supposedly). Shouldn’t these cases be treated on the bases of intent as well? From the fact that more blacks where punished, it seems as if it where until some liberal hand-wringer stuck their litigious beak in.

5 — Sissy White wrote at 8:30 PM on October 12:

Only 45 days suspension, sent to reform school… is that all, the kid is lucky!
Usually the system needs to make an example of a White kid-lethal injection.

6 — Quiet Professional wrote at 9:00 PM on October 12:

Laws are written mainly by white people, and thus are based on the white-centric principle that the vast majority of citizens are law abiding.

What the law cannot accomodate is the general level of day-to-day lawLESS behavior found in most minority communities.

The result is always as you see here: idiotic, overbearing regulations aimed at violence-prone minorities.

I can only imagine the “beauties of diversity” young Zachary will encounter in the district’s reform school.

7 — WR the elder wrote at 10:04 PM on October 12:

Yet another reason to home school your kid. Otherwise your Cub Scout winds up spending 45 days in reform school, surrounded by real thugs.

8 — UnTel wrote at 10:24 PM on October 12:

In order to show that they are not racist, the school must target Whites. A metal detector is going to show blacks as many times more likely to bring weapons, and lethal weapons, to school. To counter this negative, if true, picture, they need to meet their quota of White Cub Scouts.

Since the scale of black on White violence and intimidation in elementary schools is kept out of the media, such stories lull people into thinking that the schools must be on top of the problem if they are clamping down on even such minor issues as reported here.

9 — GreatNorthWoods wrote at 10:41 PM on October 12:

Here’s another fine reason to homeschool. Another public school subject to current political winds.

Zero tolerence spurred by the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings and so they suspend the kid for eating with a spork or some similar utensil.

School boards are populated by neurotic idiots who can’t distinguish between semi- automatic firearms and eating utensils. The board must of been convinced the boy planned to convert it into a shank to assault another immate.

GNW

10 — Anonymous wrote at 12:22 AM on October 13:

I saw an article once about “stabless knives” in the UK. The knives have a rounded tip. The article said the parliament was considering mandating ALL knives sold be “stabless”. It was clearly a joke… only it wasn’t.

11 — Cousin Charlie from TN wrote at 3:12 AM on October 13:

Another old-guy comment:

When I was in elementary school (99% white) in Nashville in the late 60’s, just about
every boy carried a pocketknife. I was very proud of my fancy official Cub Scout knife and carried it with me always. I used it all the time, too; cutting sticks, carving, prying stuff, etc., just like we were taught to do in Cub Scouts. I sharpened it often with a whetstone as we were taught. I don’t remember there ever being a “crime” of any sort committed in or near that school.

12 — Southern Hoosier wrote at 6:30 AM on October 13:

I am sure that Zachary will learn all sorts of lessons in the district’s reform school. He’ll learn about drugs, weapons, and what it means to be hated because of of the color of his skin.

13 — Anonymous wrote at 6:38 AM on October 13:

Liberalism doesn’t care if it messes up normal peoples lives.

14 — GenX in Oz wrote at 8:21 AM on October 13:

I was curious to this little boys fate as the punishment odviousily doesn’t fit the crime, here are some things found while snooping around…

The ‘Weapon’ (image)
http://tinyurl.com/yjm2nmf

From the Christina School District Code Of Conduct on page 48 http://tinyurl.com/yge5lye
“Dangerous Instrument(s) Possession” (knife with blade 3’ or less)
Gets suspension and Alternative placement (such as young Zachary received as opposed to…
“Deadly Weapons(s) Possession” (3’+ bladed knives to guns etc.)
Gets suspension and Expulsion.

From the minutes of a 2008 school board meeting on page 7 http://tinyurl.com/yfmwu22
After 7 explusions for ‘Deadly weapon’ possession violations..
Student # E0708043 did submit a threatening written statement causing a threat to the orderly school process (terroristic threatening – bomb threat.)
Ahh, youthful high jinx like running in the hallwall, making terrorist threats and playing spitball.

From School document at http://tinyurl.com/yjalwqr
Alternative placements are intended to be short term educational placements for students who violate the Christina School District Student Code of Conduct and for those students returning from placement in an Outside Agency (examples include, but are not limited to youth detention facility, substance abuse facility, mental health facility).
….Yeesh, hopefully moreso at High school level.

Christina School District Overall Demographics http://tinyurl.com/yh2pkhm
African American 43.5%
White 37.1%
Hispanic 14.4% Asian 4.8%

Then looking further at the key demographics of the 1 star schools under ‘Academic Watch’:
Bancroft- African American 93.3% (Was 53.8% only last yr)
Pulaski- African American 40.4% and Hispanic 53.7%
Stubbs- African American 90.5%

Percent of Students Suspended/Expelled (presented in the same order) 58%, 24%, and 57%.

As compared to the Districts overall Percentage of 28% and
the States overall Percentage of 18%.

From a comunity Strategic Planning meeting slide 7 http://tinyurl.com/yhb5n4b
African American students are 2.6 times more likely to
have been suspended one or more times (through March
2009) than students of all other ethnic backgrounds
combined.

Here is a splash page for the high school level reform school for this School District (note overflowing with diversity.)http://tinyurl.com/yf2cdhc

And finally (sorry about being so long winded)from the first elementary school page I looked at (of the ‘1 star’ schools)http://www.christina.k12.de.us/bancroft/
The school has community partnerships with the Girls Scouts and similar groups.
Also as a foreigner I find it intriging that after the school district has all of these statistics on racial groups in the enrolment figures, that this schools web site under ‘Diversity links’ has Hispanic, African, Native and female links and where you’d hope to see White or male there is just ‘multicultural.’
Neither of Zachary’s demographics made it, I suppose his is the only group that doesn’t require self esteem building.

Sure he needs a talking too and the parents to get a phone call, but 45 days in reform school, overkill.
Equality looks like a bad deal for White people in the States, what’s in it for you?
It seems you just lose things when being brought down to the middle.
And you hear people say things these days like “chivalry is dead” or “romance is dead”, this story makes it look like innocence is dead too.
I mean what is more precious than a little boy being excited about something like cub scouting.
It’s lucky that his parents got him karate lessons too, but hopefully he won’t need it.

15 — Gayle Sollenberger wrote at 9:26 AM on October 13:

I wonder how fast the school officials would yank the parents of this kids into court if they kept him out of school for 45 days.

Remember the schools are allows to abuse your kids, but you aren’t.

16 — Shawn (the female) wrote at 9:42 AM on October 13:

“Zero tolerance” is just one more way of removing common sense and free thinking from our society. People will no longer have to weigh issues, think for themselves, or conclude what is appropriate behavior. It’s one more step toward mind-numbing, unquestioning obedience to a higher power. Which is exactly what is wanted of America.

17 — Anonymous wrote at 10:14 AM on October 13:

Although not really related (or only in a roundabout sort of way) a new law was passed in the UK recently. If someone wanted to marry a non-citizen, and bring them to live here, the non-citizen had to be over 21 and residing in their own country for the first two years of the marriage before being considered eligible for residency. This was brought in with the intention of preventing dirty old Muslim men marrying their 16 year old cousins, and bringing them over here to live on benefits. But, the first person deported under this law was…a White 18 year old female Canadian student!

18 — Anonymous wrote at 10:26 AM on October 13:

These educated people are in charge?
It is time to get rid of all of them.
Homeschooling is a solution.
Starve the left-wing public school “indoctrination” beast.

19 — Say It! wrote at 10:29 AM on October 13:

These nonsensical zero tolerance policies are there to avoid lawsuits from blacks whose children are overwhelmingly more violent & disruptive and therefore get & deserve suspensions far more often than whites. Again white children have to suffer because spineless politicians & public officials won’t admit the truth and fight these nuisance law suits.

This case just represents another way in which blacks are adversaries to whites in our society. Whites need a strong sense of defensive white consciousness to counter militant black consciousness. This means trashing the nonsensical “white guilt” and the fear of being called “racist” for protecting your own.

20 — john wrote at 12:54 PM on October 13:

Zero tolerance is really a term for zero judgment. We might ask why we need school administrators at all when they absolve themselves of all responsibility for exercizing any judgement or common sense.

We could replace all these worthless and witlesss drones with $10/hour armed security guards at all public schools.

21 — jewamongyou wrote at 4:43 PM on October 13:

Thank you GenX #14 for your research. I sent the following email to the principal:

Dear sirs,

A glance at your website:

http://www.christina.k12.de.us/bancroft/

reveals what appears to be blatant bias against European Americans. Near the bottom of your page, you list links for Hispanics, African Americans, famous women and Native Americans. Do you believe it is less important for European Americans to feel good about themselves as it is for others? One would expect a spirit of inclusiveness on such a public site - instead one gets the clear impression that European Americans are being intentionally marginalized.

Thank you for taking this observation into consideration,

22 — GenX in Oz wrote at 10:58 PM on October 13:

21 — jewamongyou

Yeah, by omitting Whites (specifically males) it’s really showing the kiddies who by default (or by process of elimination), supresses them or who in their eyes ‘has all the money.’ (As inherited wealth seems to be liberals excuse no.348 for some groups success over others.)
It’s indirect hate really.
And as a White male I think to myself (as a consolation) “well if there is no place for my demograhic in the ‘rainbow coliation’, then I’m not going to play.”
I left home and school at age 15 and some of my very recent Irish ancestors were called ‘dogmen’ (firemen or coal stokers on steam ships going from Liverpool to Boston or NY), i.e. we haven’t all had it easy.
Surely they can come up with some positives about us without turning it into an superiority thing.

One of the typical liberal coments that was thrown out on the original article to make everyone feel guilty was “would you care about this so much if the boy was black” and to be honest I wouldn’t.
When looking at the background information you can see that there is cause to discern, compare or ‘discriminate’ (ooww that evil word again) between the groups based on their behaviour.
But on another level I’m a proud hypocrite when it comes to race issues, I look at it all competitively and I’d rather we focus on the front runners rather that the people lagging behind.
And trying to be fair all the time just takes away our power.

This is just one little district, in one little State in your large country, but we pragmatic realists see the same senario replayed over and over again, be it on the micro to the macro level.
The policies and attitudes have all been set, from the top, not even necessarily from within your country.

I have two little children myself and it’s plain to see that being young is such a special time in your life when you’re playful and free and when you can live in your imagination.
And I just hate the way kids are made to grow up so fast these days, but then I also know that some kids grow up faster than others, that 6’4 12 yr old who shot in a woman recently after 1am (in Detriot?) comes to mind.
Or from my own life when I was growing up (partially in NZ), the Islander boys down here by age twelve had fully grown beards and had gone through painful ritualistic tattooing sessions as a rite of passage, where their whole families history was scribed onto their inner thighs with a hammer, chisel and Ink in the presence of the whole family/tribe and if any pain is shown they were considered unmanly.
While at the same time I was into TMNT and now these same Islanders are dominating all of our full contact sports down here even though their populations are currently comparitively tiny (more on that another day though.)

Throwing this boy into the same one diversity pot to make everyone feel the equal, is just sacrificing him really and we see it here everyday.
Aiming for equality just isn’t viable, in trying to be fair and judging everyone by the same standards we all get dragged down to that same low point, the lowest common denominator.
And maybe this is why virtuous traits like chivalry, romance, honor and integrity all seem to be on the decline in our societies and why our young want to act so Black (down here too believe me.)
It’s all pretty complicated and there’s more to it I know.


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