[CNYCacher]

Today at the school where my wife works, a 2nd grader was found to have a BB gun in his backpack.

The BB gun was confiscated and returned to the parents with some stern words. The child was sent home for the day and given one day of out-of-school suspension.

[ihopewewin]

I agree the school did the right thing but on the other hand if that kid does something more extreme down the road the school will get nailed for not throwing the book at him the first time.

[Im283]

Geez the kid is in the second grade. If there is any blame to place it would be on the parents. I don't see how you can hold a 7 year old responsible for it.
Sounds like the school did it okay.

[DoubleTapDrew]

I'm glad they didn't scream "murderer" and subject him to a life of therapists and watch lists (which I think is more likely to make someone crazy).

It's still sad that it really wasn't that long ago (I'm in my early 30's) that we brought things like that to school on a daily basis to show off to friends, and rifles in gun racks were practically a status symbol and conversation piece.

[fireflyfather]

In the mid-90's, we had archery in high school PE for our first sport rotation. Brought my own bow, left it in the archery room. Was all kosher. Now teach at that same school. Archery is off the menu now, and any kid who even suggested bringing a bow to PE would receive a pair of bracelets and make new friends named Bubba.

[EHCRain10]

Glad to hear at least some people in power can react properly

[doc2rn]

I remember back when I forgot my shottie in the pick-up and was told to take it home. Came back VP wrote me an excuse that said I was excused for "being a redneck". Which was true I was one of 5 hicks in a very preppie highschool. Times have sure changed. What happened to all the NO FEAR stickers we used to see back in the day?

[230RN]

Sounds like the school did right.

The BB gun was confiscated and returned to the parents with some stern words.

They referred the problem to the parents.

All as it should be.

[chris in va]

If only parents would do their job. Many were raised during the 60's and could care less what their kids do.

[dtown240]

About 15 years ago, my little sister who was in kindergarten grade took my pocket knife to school. It was an Old Time type folder that my grandfather had given me. Her teacher just put it in a small envelope, and kept it for the rest of the day. She even sent it home with my sister, along with a letter that mentioned if it happened again, it would be dealt with in a much more severe fashion; a 3 day out-of-school suspension per the "weapons" policy. Later that evening I got a talking to for letting her take it to school, even though I had no idea she had taken it. She learned her lesson, and without a juvenile record no less. Go figure.

[230RN]

Wisdom is unevenly distributed.

[elrod]

A school with that much common sense must, undoubtably, be a private school! :cool:

[whitetiger7654]

I'm only 24 years old and I remember in school that gun racks and pickup trucks were a serious status symbol, wearing your camo to school was fashionable, and hunting trips were planned between classes. Times have seriously changed rather quickly.

[SomeKid]

I am 23 now. When I was in 3rd grade (give or take a year) I took a folding little swiss army type knife to school. I even walked up and showed it to a teacher "Look what I got for Cmas" type thing. She did not take it from me, she did not call my parents, she did not have me sent home, she just looked at it, knelt down, and told me not to bring it back. That was it.

It was a good thing that was a private Christian school, a few years later we could not afford it anymore so I went to the public schools. They had the good ole Zero tolerance dreck.

[Elm Creek Smith]

I suppose taking a .22 singleshot rifle to school and leaving it in the cloakroom so you can hunt squirrels and rabbits on the way home is out of the question these days? After all, Dad would only let me take twelve .22 LR high velocity hollow points with me because the limit was twelve. (/sarcasm)

ECS

[Robert Hairless]

Pocket knives were a symbol of approaching manhood when I was a kid. Just about boy got one from his parents--really his father, while his mother wrung her hands--when they trusted him not to do anything particularly stupid with it. I think I got mine when I was about nine or ten: too long ago to remember exactly.

All the kids who had pocket knives took them to school. Who would leave one at home? They also came in handy for sharpening pencils during tests or whenever it would be too big a production to get permission to leave the seat and go to the front of the room where a pencil sharpener was screwed to the wall. I remember sharpening pencils that kept getting smaller as I took too much wood off one side or another, quickly whittling them down to stubs.

I don't know what happened to my first pocket knive but I still can't imagine not having a pocket knife with me. You never know when you have to whittle a pencil. It's a skill I never mastered though.

Nobody in my school did anything stupid with his pocket knife because nobody wanted to have it taken away. The shame would have been unbearable to any self respecting kid in school.

From time to time there would be bundles of some kids newspaper or magazine delivered to the classroom. (The name My Weekly Reader comes to mind. I could be remembering something from an earlier grade.) They came tied with string. I remember that the teacher would ask "Does anyone have a knife to open the bundle?" Every kid who had one raised his hand wildly to get recognition.

Times have changed.

[Old Fuff]

Times have changed.

So have parents. I don't think mine would have stood for the monkey business that schools do now, and neither would have most of the parents of my friends. Those who ran the schools I went to would have quickly learned that their job was to educate students, and other maters were the responsibility of Mom and Dad.

My parents, and others of that day, expected teachers and principals to exercise good judgment, and to keep the kid's noses to the grindstone rather then handing out suspensions that from the youngster's point of view was the same as an unexpected vacation.

Also during my day it wasn't deemed necessary to have yearly standardized tests to make sure we were learning anything.

Bob Hairless is right... times have changed.

[230RN]

My mother would wring her hands if I went prowling around the bush in Ronkonkoma, Long Island, without my machete.

Skeery-scary, huh?

Late 1940's-ish.

We all had our own WWII-surplus machetes (except Mom and Sis) to clear brush from our new summer home property out there.

Lots of loose dogs in packs.

I did a google aerial map of the place out there recently, and it still looks like it's fairly open area, except for a new school about a half mile from what was our property.

Didn't see any dog packs, though.

I still remember the smell of the canvas sheath and belt it came with.

[CNYCacher]

A school with that much common sense must, undoubtably, be a private school!
Nope, it's actually a public school. A rural one, but definately a public school. In NY, no less.

[Robert Hairless]

Thank you for mentioning the machete, 230RN. It made me recall a belt knife one of my uncles bought for me when I was in my mid teens and was interested in hiking and camping. And that got me to wondering if I still had it. And I did!

Hotcha. I'd forgotten all about it until you mentioned the machetes. No sheath now though. I think it disintegrated decades ago, but the knife survives. I'm proud of myself because it's still in good condition, no rust at all, and still with a keen edge. I see that over those years long ago I had sharpened it often.

I remember those WW II surplus machetes too, with stacks of them piled up for sale at Army/Navy stores. I don't remember if I owned one but I do remember that at least someone among my friends did. We used it to clear a place for our blankets when we went for overnight hikes. None of us had the concept of putting a ground cloth under the blankets though. Truth be told, we must not have been too bright.

You're right about parents too, Old Fuff. Ours--not only mine but also those of every kid I knew--had a keen sense of reality. Their mantra was that it was their duty as parents to help us learn as quickly as possible to survive as independent adults. That was their job: to help us not to need them, and as soon as possible.

You mentioned teachers. All of the teachers I remember, even those whose names I forget, seemed to think the same way and have the same goal. All of the adults in my life were united in helping us to become responsible adults. I don't think they could have grasped the Man-Child concept. I have trouble with it too. This discussion made me recall something my son said when he was a little kid of about six years old. From out of the blue while we were at a restaurant on a trip he said, "The kid in the next booth is a whiner, Dad. He wants bad attention." I caught what he meant. Perhaps I inherited that trait from him. :)

[TexasRifleman]

None of us had the concept of putting a ground cloth under the blankets though. Truth be told, we must not have been too bright.

In contrast none of you had the concept of taking one to school or using it on your friends either, which I'll credit your teachers and parents for without even knowing them.

And there's the problem of course. Those parents are more rare than surplus WWII machetes these days.

[Crunker1337]

My teacher in fourth grade carried a Swiss Army knife for utility purposes. I am now in eleventh grade.

[jackmead]

The kids that couldn't take regular gym had an archery class that some old guy gave, he was 49. This was in the 1970's.

[teknoid]

In the 1970's I was in a Marine JROTC program. Shooting was a regular activity. So was drill with (deactivated) M14's. Most of the trophies in the case belonged to the drill team I was on. I wonder if they're still there? The rest of the school teams were awful.

Pocket knives and gun racks were common back then. Odd how the only injuries in my entire school experience were caused by fists. We had parents, though. It all boils down to that.

[230RN]

Teknoid spelled it out for all of us:

Pocket knives and gun racks were common back then. Odd how the only injuries in my entire school experience were caused by fists. We had parents, though. It all boils down to that.

Let's hear an "AMEN!"

[Big Boomer]

I started carrying a pocket knife with me in the 4th grade. I had guns with me all through high school, even brought my 10-22 and kept it in my locker with it's foldable stock it fit fine.

I always had my single shot .410 behind the seat in the truck, 30-30 in the window gun rack. I also kept a 45 colt under the seat.

Our shop teacher would tell me to take the rifle out of the window before pulling it in to the shop to work on it, just in case the principal happened to drop in for a visit.

Never had any issues, no one shot anyone, or went on a rampage.

I used to sharpen friends knives all the time in high school. I had a way of getting them to shave, so they all had me sharpen them for them including the shop teachers.

[Moonclip]

My sister had an archery class in a Los Angeles county middle school in the mid,late 1980's.

[H23gsr]

I'm only 23 and I can remember back in 5th grade my friend brought a shotgun shell and a few other bullets to class. Teacher saw him showing them off. She told him to put them back in his desk and to take them home and don't bring them back. No shutting down the school, no swat, no ruined lives.

[jlficken]

I graduated in 2001 from a small town and carried a pocket knife every day to school. In fact I made a knife in shop class with the help of the teacher for fun. The principal also told us he didn't care if we had a shotgun, rifle, etc... in our vehicle as long as nobody else could see it. Every time I would get a new knife I would take it in to show everyone. One time is was a 9" Buck knife. Good Times :)

[DoubleTapDrew]

For my 7th grade science fair project I did an examination of the differences between FMJ and HP ammo fired through different mediums. There were a few fired bullets, shot mediums, and lots of pictures of the test gun and ammo, and explanations of the differences between the two types of bullets.

I won first place and everyone at the school lived to talk about it. :D