Here he is, in all his nefariousness, the boy who brought his Cub Scout fork/knife/spoon to first grade lunch and got slapped with a 45-day suspension for it, as seen here with his mom and mom’s fiancee. The kid is so cute you just may cry.
27 Responses to Criminal or Cutie Pie? Cub Scout with “Dangerous” Utensil on Today Show
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By reader acclaim: school suspends Cub Scout over camping utensil -
October 14, 2009
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It just boggles the mind that any child, cute or not, could be exposed to the irresponsibility of the adults around him the way this child has…and apparently many others like him!
I appreciate your site and have added you to my blogroll!
Love your witty comments on raising children right.
This boy is so bright and adorable. His comments about homeschooling are so cute and articulate.
This is a typical lack of common sense response by the school districts.
“as seen here with his mom and mom’s fiancee.”
Finally the real reason this troubled young boy has brought weapons to school. This unorthodox family structure has once again proven that any family orientation besides that of the superior Nuclear family is a cause for outbursts, violent or nonviolent, within children ages 5-17 years of age. This child’s abnormal home life has clearly been a large factor in his upbringing and is one of, if not the most, crucial factors in his choice to bring deadly weapons to school.
I am unsure why this idea has yet to be discovered by the fascist liberal media, and I myself am disgusted by the fact that you have also neglected to focus on this important correlated relationship that is constantly shown within the news posts on your blog.
This is why not only parents but adults as a whole need to stand up against these unfamiliar and uncharted ideas that break the American norms on the family structure, we hold so dear to us. We must begin enforcing a policy of shaming families that break these strict well known rules as the liberal communist government clearly will not do so formally with regulations.
Join me in a stand against these parents by using this boy as a poster child for our campaign to relieve children from families that are non nuclear. Standing together we can give our children a safe and structured life that facilitates growth, learning, and hard work in a structure that is scientifically proven to be not only more efficient, but produce smarter, stronger, and better Americans for the future of the country.
This is really a sad world that we live in.
Alan— your post seems a bit irrelevant, don’t you think? It’s hard to tell if you are being satirical or not, but it really falls flat…
Alan, the sad thing is it’s hard to tell if you’re sarcastic or not. I’m guessing YES, but what do I know?
What ever his intent, Alan’s post is irrelevant. From the video the mother seems to be very responsible and intelligent, and the boy is obviously above average in every way. He’s intelligent and very perceptive.
A spoon, a fork, a knife and a *bottle opener*. How can you guys be so glib? It has a *bottle opener*. I just love kids. When they’re describing it he feels the need to correct all of those silly adults who kept leaving out the bottle opener part. Clearly, he is a risk to all of the other students.
Incidentally, I personally think that kids shouldn’t be allowed camping knives at school. It’s how they implemented the rule that is absurd. They should have taken the knife away until the end of the day and informed the parents to have a talk with the pupil.
Blessing in disguise. This kid got a “get out of jail free” card, and now his mother will be motivated to homeschool him.
I wish someone would have kicked me out of kiddie jail at that age.
This kid couldn’t be much cuter. I’m still trying to figure out why discretion- like deciding that this kid obviously meant no harm and the time he’s already been suspended is more than sufficient- is apparently the antithesis of discrimination. The gentleman who stated that the school administration is just trying to avoid discrimination by treating every child the same blows my mind. When did American adults lose sight of the fact that every child is NOT the same. They didn’t come from a factory. They aren’t mass produced. Does it really take that much extra time and effort to treat each young person as the individual that he or she is?
This exact same thing happened to my brother when he was in sixth grade in Santa Monica. He had a swiss army knife in his backpack pocket from when our family had gone hiking the day before, and it fell out in his class. His teacher brought him to the principal, and he was suspended for five days pending a disciplinary hearing. The vice principal wanted him to be expelled and sent to the “alternative school” in our district, a rundown, ramshackle place in a bad neighborhood which was reserved exclusively for kids with “disciplinary issues”. My mom fought like hell for him, and he ended up staying in our school. I ran into a teacher from that school years later, who told me that the incident had caused so much internal controversy in the administration that it had made the training manual for future administrators and changed the policy of the school. Now, trying to expel a kid with an otherwise good record just on principle is explicitly against school policy, and all factors have to be taken into account. Hopefully this kid’s school will make the same kind of turnaround!
Oh, and ditto on Alan’s comments being off-color and off-putting. It’s nice to see different viewpoints, but it is hard to tell if you’re being sarcastic, Alan, and if not…whoa there!
I would like to ask these bureaucrats in the face – How does it feel to accuse and to punish innocent first grader of being a potential criminal? Does it feel good? It empowers you? Is this why you have your job? I bet you eat your lunch with utensils, and no one jumping a gun around you, how would you feel if your office mates accuse you of using a knife and being a potential criminal in your office?
It’s much worse then 1950. Bureaucrats twist the meaning of everything, starting with the fact that it was an eating utensil, not a weapon, then call an innocent boy a potential stabber, and it all goes downhill. Mother is right to call for public support – her son is not a potential criminal!
I’m with Jan S, it was hard to tell at first exactly what kind of knife it was that he brought. Now seeing it, that is a bit more than a table knife and I can understand why it isn’t allowed at school.
That said, the reaction was way over the top. The school guy (don’t remember what he was exactly) in the video talked about not discriminating and that is just crazy. There is obviously a difference between a 6 year old little boy who didn’t know better and a 18 year old thug who does. Dealing differently with these situations isn’t discriminating, it is taking into account maturity and knowledge. We don’t teach the same thing to 6 year olds as we do to 18 year olds, so why should we deal with problems the same way?
opps, forgot the subscribe button.
In the NYT article, the one guy defending “zero toleance” is a professor of law and psychology.
Figures.
I don’t think anyway is saying that kids SHOULD be allowed to bring this type of utensil/weapon/gadget to school (it does have a blade afterall and it appears to be more of a pocketknife than a butter knife) but that if one does bring it, that the “punishment” fits the “crime.”
Obviously this boy was bringing it as a eating utensil. It woudl be entirely different if he were bringing it and using it as a weapon. It truly makes me wonder about the sanity, intelligence and mindset of the adminstrators who can’t understand that context and intent play a huge part in pretty much every circumstance they make decisions on in a school. It’s somewhat equivalent to a kid who falls over another kid’s feet and gets hurt. In one scenario, the kid is purposely tripped. In another scenario, the kid just happens to trip on someone’s feet that were inadvertently sticking out in his path. Do you punish both kids whose feet caused someone to fall? Apparently in this school the anwer is yes.
How sad the adminstrators haven’t learned context, discretion and maturity themselves and can’t distinguish between outright discrimination and contextual decision-making. Unbelievable. I just hope the collective outrage of the nation makes them (and all administrators of similiar mindsets) reconsider their attitudes.
What’s wrong with people that they want to send this child to reform school for bringing this to school. It is obvious be meant no harm with it.
Well there is certainly probable cause that the principal at this school possesses “dangerous weapons” in her office. I think that the local police should search her office immediately and upon finding anything like a pen, pencil, or chair, should immediately arrest her and drag her into county lockup where she belongs. For gods’ sake, the woman was around kids and was stockpiling weapons.
Or, maybe…. a pocketknife isn’t a weapon…
When I was in junior high, I went around for weeks with a large folding knife in my schoolbag, because I’d forgotten to take it out after the school camping trip. Luckily it was never discovered, but if it had been I bet it would not have been a big deal (so long as I didn’t imply any threat with it). Different times!
Alan I hope your remarks are brilliant satire, if not you’re a lunatic.
Anyway the school totally overreacted. What a nutty world!
He’s not suspended or going to reform school anymore. The school board changed the rules and will be changing more of them. He’s going back to school.
That kid is adorable.
In In 1998 my son was suspended for 5 days for bringing a COMB to school. It was a “Fonzie” comb – the kind that pops into itself like a switchblade operates – but it was clearly a COMB. It certainly helped us make the decision to homeschool.
Link to my local news station- Story about him and the school boards reversal of suspension
http://www.katu.com/news/national/64211772.html
Last year my son brought a jackknife to school because I was picking him up early to go on a trip and he wanted it with him. One of his classmates saw it and reported it to the principal. They brought him in and took it from him, talked to him about why it was not okay for him to have it and called me to pick it up. I guess a couple of years ago he also would have been suspended but the school wisely changed that policy.