Pocket Knives in School?

[Piedmont Plinker]

Hmm. As a current high school student, I have some insight to this.
I attend a small, Christian school in suburban Durham. While there are some gang and violence problems elsewhere in the city, the area in which the school is located is in semi-rural country, next to two yuppie neighborhoods- so crime isn't much of an issue. We're by no means inner-city. We have a nature trail on school campus, for Pete's sake.
I do not carry a knife. Why? A real one would be useful, but I'm not going to risk it. During December, we went Christmas caroling. Saturday evening, very cold. I had been wearing my Kershaw Sapphire all day long- and I lost it in some bushes. My reaction was "Dad-nabbit" but it never occurred to me that it would get me in trouble.
Luckily, or not, it was found by the wife of the director of school. He wouldn't give it back. Apparently, there was a caveat saying that I could not have a knife at a school-sponsored event. Never mind that the caroling had taken place almost totally off campus, or that I had used the knife to help out the voice coach a couple of times, or that the knife was a small, blue, gentleman's folder. He asked me, with a tone in his voice that suggested a "why did you have the gall", why I carried "that" type of knife. I responded that it fit me well, cut well, looked good, that I could open it with gloves on, and that I like variety.
It eventually took a conference with my mom to get the knife back. She's always insisted that I not carry a knife to school. I have a history of being the gun nut, and she's always thought I would have less chance of successfully getting off than someone else caught with a knife. Still, we finally managed to get my knife back, but it was way too much hassle. It was also a primary offense.
I carry a Wenger Air Traveler on my keyring. I'll let any teacher see it- it has a nail file, an eyeglass screwdriver, and a pair of scissors. If anyone points out that the nail file is pointy, than I'll pull out a pen and touch the point. You can do much more damage with a pen.

 

[MDG1976]

me and all my buddies used to carry and trade pocket knives in elementary school. that was 20+ years ago in a rural district. try that now and they'd call in the SWAT team

 

[eldiabloe1]

I graduated in '93 and we weren't supposed to carry but they didn't really care as long as it stayed out of site. Our art teacher made custom knives and would take ours home with him for sharpening. We also brought large knives to class and made leather sheaths. I even made a shoulder rig for a Western Coleman boot knife in class. Local PD took it away when he was illegally searching through my tool box. If you live in Belton Texas please say hi to officer Murphy for me.

 

[Smith]

As a current High School student, I do not carry a pocketknife at school. While I carry one literally everywhere else (with the obvious exceptions of airports, court houses, etc.), it is not worth the risk to carry one at school. Besides the fact that my school is extremely strict with "weapons" offenses, it is a felony in California to possess a fixed blade knife of any length or a folding knife greater than two inches in length on a school campus, either private or public (California penal code 653(k) I think). Because of this I am limited to a Utili-Key and a tiny Victorinox which are kept in easily accessible locations in my backpack. While it bothers me that I cannot carry a full sized pocket knife, the Utili-Key and Victorinox are nearly always sufficient for the rare, small cutting jobs that I encounter while on campus.

 

[j-easy]

no, i went to a public high school and a kid in 10th grade had been stabbed to death when i was a junior. if i had ever been caught with a knife at school I would have been expelled. I knew a kid that was expelled for having an airsoft gun locked in his car parked in the parking lot a month before graduation.

 

[Piedmont Plinker]

no, i went to a public high school and a kid in 10th grade had been stabbed to death when i was a junior. if i had ever been caught with a knife at school I would have been expelled. I knew a kid that was expelled for having an airsoft gun locked in his car parked in the parking lot a month before graduation.

Same here- I know a kid who got 365 suspension and was arrested, literally, taken in handcuffs from school, because he had a paintball gun and a knife in his car. His light were on, so a cop asked him about it. They saw the "gun" and saw that it was lying in a "threatening/ easily accessible for assault position." The knife was a KaBar in a kydex sheath, but this is rural NC- I'm willing to bet you would find a knife in about every car in the parking lot.
If it weren't for my friends and a few select teachers, I would homeschool. The state of fear of what society had branded as "deadly" has gone too far, and as long as enough people are afraid, we a re powerless to stop it.

 

[lesterg3]

The people who are afraid of everything and need the government to take care of them, vastly outnumber those of us that are not afraid to breath!!!

 

[Howser87]

I graduated class of '06, and because I was on a first name basis with the disciplinarian he didn't care if I carried my folder at school.

I knew a few other ppl that got away with it (yes got away is the proper term now). We knew not to show them off, or use them if we didn't have to. The reason we were allowed was mostly because of jobs or scouts. One of the teachers asked to borrow my knife in class mid senior year, just about every jaw in the room hit the floor. (He was my wrestling coach and knew I had it on me because he saw me stow it everyday before practice)

 

[federalfarmer]

Small school, over 15 years ago, no knives no exceptions.
I carried everyday since 2nd grade, Christmas was a 3 blade folder from the grain elevator in my uncles town. So in 9th grade the principle walks into study hall and asks to borrow my knife to open box's. What knife? your knife that you've had since second grade, hand it over! I guess the rule was no knives out of your pocket.....until the principal needs to borrow it!
I need a new knife now.

 

[theken206]

Yes, since the 6th grade untill I was out of school.

A small very nice gerber as well as a swiss army on an off in the 6th grade.

A expensive auto in the 7th.

An assortment of diffrent folders and small fixed blades during 8th grade and HS.

 

[cleardiddion]

Been carrying a combination of knives, mostly little cheap ones I got from my Dad, and more recently swiss/kershaw/gerbers since the 8th grade.

Graduated from HS in 2007

 

[LightningCrash]

I carried my Victorinox Swiss Champ with me in high school, but then again I went to a high school in BFE.

 

[kBob]

You had to have a knife when I was in grade school to fend of the dinosaurs!

Son recently started Cub Scouts and while buying uniform gear ("Made in China" what's the US and BSA coming to) came across the knife snap on a metal belt loop. When I mentioned to the clerk I was supprised to see those still sold she asked "Why wouldn't they sell a compass clip?"

On scout meeting days in elementary school we wore our scout knives on those belt clips in the open as we wore our uniforms to school. It was part of the uniform.

There was a no knives rule by 1968 or so, but it was largely ignored. Several teachers asked to borrow mine and I usually asked where theirs was.

SOme guys would stick a piece of match stick in their folder near the tip so the tip protruded a little high from the grip. They would snag the tips on the edge of their pocket to flip the knife open as it was drawn. Nothing like having to explain to Mom how the edge of your trouser pocket at the seem has been neatly sliced through. Hawk bill Barlows were also popular as they could be easily pinched open for one handed use.

I used to pinch open common pocket knives all the time, not for speed or cool ness but because the other hand might well be busy with a bale of cheese cloth, a fish, what ever the string about to be cut was attached too or other work related chore.

My clip on has gone work about again (darned seat belts in the truck, the knife is in the truck somewhere) and I pinched open a pocket knife yeasterday while dragging a bail of hay over to where I wanted to open it.

When I went to basic training at Ft. Knox and we got the contraband speech and were told to face the walls and tables and empty our pockets on to the tables, I held my pocket knife straight up looked at the two nearest NCOs and then repocketd the Demo kit knife I used for a paocket knife at that time. Nothing was said and I carried it through basic training. It was stolen in Infantry AIT one morning as we prepared for our little three day two night camping trip. Dissapered right off my foot locker while I was sitting on the other end of the thing and no one saw anything. About nine hours later I was clearing a bit of ground to pitch my half of a tent and found a little tree brand folder with 1 3/4 inch or so main blade and a little 1 inch pen blade.

THat nine hours may have been the longest time from 1961 untill 9-11 that I went without a pocket knife

-Bob Hollingsworth

 

[DeepSouth]

Where I went to school almost every guy had a pocket knife of some sort, we weren't supposed to but it was a very bendable rule. The teachers would frequently ask for one when they needed it for something.

I got that beat though, from Thanksgiving to Jan 31st (hunting season) at least half the trucks in the student parking lot had a rifle or two hanging in the rear window, it was not uncommon for a kid to carry a shotty in his rear window year round, alouth I never did. My niece now goes to this same school and I can tell you things things have changed a LOT since I graduated.

 

[Jeff F]

I did. And during bird hunting season a bunch of us had shotguns in our cars and trucks.

 

[Litlman]

I have been carrying some type of pocket knife since the 8th grade. That was a long time ago.

 

[squinty]

school knives

I went to high school from 1883-1987. Always had a little swiss army knife in my pocket. The more common pocket knife, carried by the clique called "rednecks" at my school, was a wooden handled, brass bolstered lockback knife. These were sometimes worn openly on a belt sheath with snap down cover. In 1983 noone seemed to care. We also smoked on campus, in designated areas outside. By 1987 things were a little different, smoking had been banned and pocket knives and other weapons were subject to confiscation, though no suspension or other disciplinary action would necessarily follow, it was usually a "You'll get it back at the end of the term" sort of thing. I recently attended a community college paramedic program. Interesting how there was a campus wide weapons ban, that included folding knives, which was completely ignored in the public safety (police, EMS, firefighter training) buildings, as every aspiring firefighter, cop or medic carried a gerber tool or a "tactical" folding knife clipped into a pocket. The same knife that drew no notice at all in the public safety building nearly got me kicked out of a nursing class, all of 100 yards away.

 

[publiuss]

Absolutely, I graduated from a private school in MS in 1990. Always had a gun in my (yellow Volvo station wagon) too. Somebody got a new gun, we went to look at it during break or lunch. even had a friend give an instructional speech on his AR-7 in speech class.

 

[pmeisel]

I went to high school from 1883-1987.

Really... and I thought I was a little slow

 

[gallows]

I just got kicked out of school for carrying a knife. they sent the police and all that crap to. It sucked and they didn't give it back to me. The pinkos go nuts if you have a knife in school now.

 

[JohnnyOrygun]

I always carried a pocket knife when I was in school, from about 10 on. Never took it out, but I always had it with me. I was/still am responsible and didn't/don't get in trouble. But today if my son took a knife to school, they would call out the SWAT team and maybe even the National Guard, ok just kidding, but it's almost that bad.

JohnnyOrygun

 

[Enginetech88]

I graduated in 2006. It was in the rule book to not have a knife in school. I normally always had one for shop in the afternoon though, then ready for home on the farm after school. Never got in trouble and everytime a teacher needed to cut something and I provided the proper tool nothing was said. Josh

 

[Nikdfish]

Probably every day from 2nd or 3rd grade ('62/'63) straight on through to the day I finished a masters degree ...

I can remember a few occasions when a lady teacher would ask to borrow a knife from someone in the class to open a box, cut string, etc.

Two "candid activity" poses in my senior year portraits set included a Remingtion 870 and a Ruger Single Six! (My mother still has one hanging on the wall)

Nick

 

[kva47]

I'm currently in high school, and I never leave home without something sharp, normally a gerber paraframe. I know for a fact that I'd be expelled instantly if caught (even though the school's rural), but I keep it hidden... it's not that I expect to need a knife in school, it's that I'll probably need it after school

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Everyone in my school carried a knife. Funny story, one day on the playground, a fight broke out. No, the knives didn't come out, as we all knew better, but one kid went to the hospital with a pencil stuck in his chest!