Watch out, he has a stick figure knife!
Didn’t we just do a story like this? What is with these stupid kids today? Don’t they understand that when they go to school they’ve entered a no-thought zone where judgment and reason is replaced by zero-tolerance policies? Story after story like this pops up where kids actually think they can act at school like they do in the real world by doing things like taking aspirin, drawing pictures and so on. What idiots! I blame the parents. I say zero-tolerance on them, too. Throw them in jail for child endangerment for not teaching them the truth about school. And the kids? Life in prison for drawing pictures of weapons, death penalty for actually bringing a deadly nail clipper to school. That’ll teach ’em! Cripes!!!
Sketch gets student, 7, school suspension
A single mother said the school district overreacted by suspending her 7-year-old son for drawing a smiling stick figure shooting another smiling stick figure with a gun.
Shirley McDevitt said her son, Kyle Walker, was suspended Thursday for one day after school officials found out about the drawing, sketched on a piece of paper.
Kyle attends second grade at the Dennis Township Primary School in Cape May County.
McDevitt, of Belleplain, said she was told he was suspended because of the school’s zero-tolerance policy for guns.
“Are they abusing the zero-tolerance law? I’m sure it’s a judgment call, but when does the law start?” McDevitt said Friday. “What I’m told is it’s the time we live in. Is it the time we live in when a little boy can’t draw a picture?”
every student around the country should just draw pictures of guns, and see if they will suspend all of those kids!
Thing is that for every child not in class, the school gets less funding from the government. This is why schools are so stickler about attendance records, and basically slack off on everything else.
And people wonder why privates schools are flourishing… even before 9/11.
You know I am SICK that you would be so sarcastic about this John! I think that this kid should have been suspended for his actions! Today its drawing of squirt guns then tommorow its a drawing of a real gun, but no he can’t stop at drawing guns, eventualy hes going to draw bombs until one day he draws a bomb so powerful that it will totaly take up 30 peices of paper and 20 diffrent crayons! You know how much that costs! Do you want your taxes spent like that! I know I don’t, no I want my kids brain washed!
But really we kick a kid out for drawing a squirt gun, cripes, I would actualy hate to see how a school would react to an actual cry for help.
In the middle of a war, we prescribe to forbid guns??
As if the persons in the middle are afraid of something?
#3: John wasn’t being sarcastic. I was. And I agree. Even worse than bombs he could be drawing ray guns and monsters and space ships and who knows what other imaginary things. Can’t have that because it could lead to the kid becoming [shudder] an artist or worse!
actually, if you read the article, another child’s parents were “disturbed” by the picture – which they seemed to interpret as a picture of this kid shooting another kid – and complained to the school.
so it is not just school administrators that are paranoid and overreacting, it is parents. who are these people who have to make a federal case out of everything? whatever happened to just going and talking to the kid’s parents yourself?
Just wait until they start rewriting history textbooks to delete references to guns in the Revolution, the Civil War, the Old West, both World Wars, Viet Nam, and the Persian Gulf. They’ll probably try to say that we talked our way into winning these situations.
I learned to draw in school by drawing military hardware, back in the 80s.
We made model aeroplanes in school (elective class) with guns (p51 mustands, spitfires and messerschmidts).
Dodgeball’s been banned. Did anybody remember to eliminate Hangman?
Schools have zero tolerance policies for guns.
Hmm, do they also have zero tolerance policies for military recruiters actively recruiting on campus?
When I was seven we had caps guns and played Cowboys and Indians. In today’s climate I’d be in the slammer for all sorts of violations.
He should have done what the other kids draw and that’s naked people having sex.
Just wait until they start rewriting history textbooks to delete references to guns in the Revolution, the Civil War, the Old West, both World Wars, Viet Nam, and the Persian Gulf.
We had wars??
As a kid growing up in England in the 70’s and 80’s I drew images of guns, fire, explosions and destruction. I had a plastic machine gun and a replica second world war Luger aged 5. My sources of inspiration were the A-team, Airwolf, Street Hawk and Knight Rider. I never got suspended from school and now Im a boring middle aged man who leads a very normal life. Is suspending this kind for drawing a frickin gun really necessary? How about banning the real guns????
The only people in the UK with guns are the criminals. If everyone had a gun… we’d really be in the shit.
Its a funny feeling, trying to protect kids from themselves.
IF’ they do have something Mentally WRONG, I dont believe that keeping GUNS out of their hands will help.
I would believe that SHOWING them weapons, HOW to use them, HOW NOT to use them, RESPECT for weapons, is of better interest then anything else.
we are protecting our kids, FAR to much…
From the Old sci kits, to Plastic guns, to DRAWING?? We are killing the creation of INTEREST. Try teaching anything to a child, and see how long it takes before they wonder off. THIs is the time to introduce them to Many things, and find stuff they would LIKE, and focus on it.
# 11 Let me count the ways.
#14: “The only people in the UK with guns are the criminals. If everyone had a gun… we’d really be in the shit.”
Welcome to the United States of America. Lock and load.
#11. shoot, we played cops and robbers, cowboys and indians … we had this game where we’d all be running around and someone would should “radiation!” and we’d all fall down clutching our throats. (no doubt inspired by some episode of Speed Racer or Godzilla movie)
today we’d be expelled for plotting a dirty bomb attack …
Ok, the kid is punished because he drew a picture with a gun in it. School Administration and Parents think the kid might grow up and use a gun. Now the kid turns 58 years old and shoots his boss with a gun. Some relative remembering the past says “If only we stop him before he drew that picture with a gun in it.”
I think I am going to draw a picture of me beating my head against the wall.
Artistically gifted students can now get time off from school at will. By drawing a picture of someone “Firing at Will”. Or something like that.
It really is over for the US ain’t it?
One thing I am glad of is that not every school is like this one. Even better, when something like this suspension happens, we hear about it because of its rarity. I hope to heck that it remains a rarity.
I remember when stick figure animations were all the rage on the interwebnettubes
This isn’t just an isolated incident – it is happening all over the country. Maybe we should send all those kids to counseling. The counselor could tell them. “Don’t act out your anger, just draw a picture of it.” Wait – that is what they did!
I am so sick of this. I am 12, and every time I draw something that has a reference to a weapon, I get told off for it. My favorite thing to draw is a scimitar, and the only person who actually lets me draw my little weapons and re-enactments on paper of WW2 (Which im VERY interested in. I love to read up on the history and things like that.)
The U.S. is just another country gone bad 🙁
I am a retired teacher with 36 years of service. I retired just in time! in the last 2 to 3 years of my career ZERO TOLERANCE was a growing ADMINISTRATIVE approach to problems in education. Heavens!!!! – why would we ask all those highly paid professional classroom teachers to actually THINK, INTERPRET and otherwise make a COMMON SENSE DECISION about some child and a “classroom incident.”
After all, ZERO TOLERANCE is SO neat and tidy! The one other major truth/outcome to ZERO TOLERANCE that my colleagues in ADMINISTRATION overlooked was the MOST IMPORTANT TRUTH about ZERO TOLERANCE. It is a simple equation
ZERO TOLERANCE MAXIMIZES STUPIDITY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!