Detention OK for 6th-grader who called vegetarians 'idiots'

[SLG]

I guess we can agree to disagree.

Where I instruct we have a clear and definite stated policy: coaches and teammates will be treated with respect. Absolutely if a kid violates that policy they will be disciplined. I can't imagine that any school doesn't have a similar policy. The kid got detention. It's not like he was expelled.

I don't operate under the belief that kids have the same rights as adults and I don't believe that children have freedom of speech.

I can agree with much of that. If a school has a written policy already in place that says you will face repercussions for not acting like a Lady or a Gentleman, I'm fine with that. Respect though, is a murky area. Some people will feel disrespected no matter what you do. They don't get to decide FOR ME, what respect is and is not. I'm also not a school kid.

This sounded less like that and more like political/social censorship.

As far as the 1st amendment, I believe that other people's kids have the same right to it as the rest of us. Mine, on the other hand, do not. They also are raised to understand when they should STFU, and when they should speak up. Neither would have acted poorly in this situation, imo. If they did, I would expect to hear about it.

[Jeep]

Sixth grade boys talk to each other like this all the time--and that is what they do with their friends. They also constantly push and shove each other.
It is how they are made.

It seems to me that a well-run school system would both (1) crack down on this kind of stuff in the classroom; and (2) turn a blind eye to the less egregious offenses on the playground or lunch room. There they should concentrate on stopping actual violence. They aren't going to change the nature of sixth grade boys, but with effort they can keep them within bounds.

This strikes me overkill for calling another kid an "idiot"--and it would surprise me if they give such punishments regularly. Rather, it strikes me as the kind of thing where a parent came in to complain that "Johnny called my special snowflake an "idiot" because we are vegetarians and I demand that you do something right now to punish Johnny and let my special snowflake know that he is a special snowflake."

In the old days, parents would never do that, now they do it constantly because they are special snowflakes themselves.

[RoyGBiv]

(2) turn a blind eye to the less egregious offenses on the playground or lunch room.

We live in an era of jury-by-social-media. Everybody is entitled to tell you what's right and you damn well better satisfy them or There Will Be Ferguson.

Had this conversation this morning over bagels and lox with my oldest...... "When a bunch of people get mad about X/Y/Z on the internet, what do you think should happen?" Why?
How often does social media convey all the facts, correctly?

They aren't going to change the nature of sixth grade boys, but with effort they can keep them within bounds.

"They" are trying...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...d-war-manhood/

[Jeep]

You are absolutely correct that they are trying to emasculate little boys--but it won't work. No matter how many feminist mothers and kindergarten teachers try to stop boys playing with toy guns and start playing with dolls, the little boys will keep pretending that their fingers are guns and the dolls were blown up by hand grenades.

However my guess--and it is obviously only a guess--is that this isn't what happened here. Instead I think it most likely that there was some parental involvement by vegetarian parents outraged by a slur against vegetarianism. There are a lot of perfectly fine and normal vegetarians, but there are some who are militant, intolerant and difficult.

Whatever the case, it does seem probable that someone was an "idiot" here--and it was neither of the two boys.

[JohnO]

Every day that goes by and every ridiculous school related news story reaffirms my decision to Homeschool my children.

[SLG]

You are absolutely correct that they are trying to emasculate little boys--but it won't work. No matter how many feminist mothers and kindergarten teachers try to stop boys playing with toy guns and start playing with dolls, the little boys will keep pretending that their fingers are guns and the dolls were blown up by hand grenades.

However my guess--and it is obviously only a guess--is that this isn't what happened here. Instead I think it most likely that there was some parental involvement by vegetarian parents outraged by a slur against vegetarianism. There are a lot of perfectly fine and normal vegetarians, but there are some who are militant, intolerant and difficult.

Whatever the case, it does seem probable that someone was an "idiot" here--and it was neither of the two boys.

Agreed.

To tie into another thread...if genetics and hard work produce top results, I'm pretty sure being a vegetable removes the likelyhood of physical success in any endeavor.

[Jeep]

I've seen military training courses where the trainees get starved. I've never seen one in which vegetarianism was pushed when there is food. There is pressure to have federally required vegetarian days in high school cafeterias, though, and so perhaps that will be coming to the military also. My guess is that if done it won't work out too well.

[AMC]

Of course they want you to be grass eaters. You're the Eloi, and they plan on being the Morlocks.

[JAD]

Every day that goes by and every ridiculous school related news story reaffirms my decision to Homeschool my children.

I admire home schoolers. I have an only child, so I send him to school to learn how to fight.

At one point, prior to getting religion, my wife and I thought we'd send our kid to the best private PK-8 in KC. It didn't work out for a number of reasons, but I knew it was doomed from the first parent gathering. I looked around and whispered to my wife, "what do you see that's wrong with the fathers here?" She said, "they're p*ssies." WWCD. And their boys were p*ssies too.

At his current school, all of the kids have at least four brothers and learned how to take a punch in their diapers.