School calls 9-year-old's Lord of the Rings play a 'terroristic threat'

Just a slightly twisted point of view …

This means that the terrorists are no more frightening than a 9 year old pretending he has a magic ring

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I have a BoingBoing T-shirt that says, “Demolish Serious Culture.” People ask me what that’s supposed to mean, and I always find it hard to express in words. I think from now on, I’m going to carry this story around in my wallet when I wear it.

Sounds like another school that takes a “hands-off” approach to discipline and control of the classroom. I’m categorically opposed to corporal punishment, especially when it comes to children, but I would rather send my kids to a school that hits them than to a school that deprives them of an education every time they do something inappropriate.

As for “terroristic threats?” This is precisely why I have a really hard time taking people seriously when they say they’re concerned about terrorism. That word has effectively been pushed past semantic saturation for me. I can’t hear it without suddenly running out of fucks to give. Even my rainy-day savings account of fucks gets depleted.

I wouldn’t bat an eyelash at someone calling someone else Black. I think that falls well within acceptable bounds in polite society. at least in a neutral context. “African American” sure, for some academic writing or a job interview where relevant, but Black is everyday parlance. Maybe he used it inappropriately somehow, but kids are in school in part to learn social mores, we shouldn’t suspend them every time they say something wrong. I remember my younger brother objecting to term “black” when he was a six-year old, on the grounds that his friend was clearly “brown.” Strangely, he was not punished for the observation.

On a final note, these stories make me think I might homeschool if I ever have kids.

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Honestly, my first instinct is to assume the kid said something inappropriate. Why? Well, he’s a fucking kid! Kids do that!

But, after reading that he was punished for bringing a fucking children’s encyclopaedia to school, I immediately stopped giving the school any benefit of anything resembling one iota of a shred of a molecule of doubt. Fuck them.

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Um, this happened in Texass, OK, got it…

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My kids are in grade school now. They don’t say “black”, they say “African American”. I don’t know why the change, but it is real ans likely coming from the school or maybe TV.

So stupid. Our son had a teacher tell him that “black” was an insult in middle school - so he called one of his best friends, who is black, and asked if it was ok to call him black. Jabari said he didn’t care - asked if it was ok for him to call my son “white”. Are the black kids supposed to call the white kids “european americans”?

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Texas.

Didn’t they invent zero tolerance?

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What needs to happen to our laws for us to be able to hold jackasses like this principal accountable? (I mean, preferably without making it so teachers can get fired by one crazy soccer mom on a silly crusade. Getting both those results at once is the hard part.)

Just wait till this kid gets hold a real disappearing ring…that principals dumb ass is gonna be on a milk carton!

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Why is that? (serious question)

only when it comes to fun, and things they don’t understand.

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I’m getting more of a Grishnákh vibe from the principal.

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A non-teacher adult I know well was teaching his child to call dark-skinned Playmobile figures “African American,” apparently with the idea that something’s wrong with saying “black.” If get the point of the two terms properly, what he was doing was a bit off. As I understand it, “African-American” designates a culture, and you can’t, without making improper, stereotyping assumptions, tell what someone’s culture is from pure physical appearance. On the other hand to call, for instance, a music style “black” would be to treat the style as based in ancestry, which is also wrong.

I can only imagine what some elementary school teachers do with this distinction–if I’ve even got it right.

As a teacher this story shames and embarasses me. Seriously? We suspend children for fantasy play? Our administrators are so ignorant of literature and popular culture that they don’t understand the reference?

But as a parent, oh, can I relate to those poor parents. Common sense and proportionality seem to be singularly missing in modern administrators. I suspect the initiating incident was something to do with the ring of power, but the child failed to verbally submit or acquiesce to the administrator in some way, or called out their stupidity or lack of knowledge of literature, and was punished for that. My child is seldom punished for whatever the initiating event is, rather he is punished for refusing to back down and submit to the cult of compliance. It’s exhausting.

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It’s the Texan way!

Shoot. What will they do with all kindergartners who have stolen noses?

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I was joking, not making a serious suggestion.

I think we do a grave disservice not giving kids sex education. It doesn’t have to involve birth control use or anything the hand-wringing moral panic set would object to. Just the basics. More comprehensive lessons could be opt-in.

It is pretty bad in some states. I’ve read stories about teachers and school nurses who dealt with teen girls who didn’t know what a period was or what to do about it.

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Or perhaps Snaga…

What about their legs minds? They don’t need those…

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I’ve heard a story like that too. It ended up with a lot of deaths at the prom.

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Some sex educators have had to get very creative. Here’s what this guy has to do to teach “sex ed” in Mississippi:

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