He shall not pass (for a few days, anyway...)

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

You know how it is. You watch The Hobbit and you bring a ring from into school to indulge in a little bit of fantasy role play with your mates, and...

... you get suspended for "threatening" behaviour!

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-boy-suspended-bringing-ring-power-school-article-1.2099103

I don't think it helped that the kid in question looks like Gollum.

calanus

He's only 9 and this is his third suspension..... Must be a cheeky little git anyway at the best of times.

The Backwards Man

There must be muppets running Kermit Elementary School

shruikan2553

calanus wrote: »

He's only 9 and this is his third suspension..... Must be a cheeky little git anyway at the best of times.

He called another kid black and brought in an encyclopaedia.

We need to stop him now before he becomes the next Hitler.

hatrickpatrick

Can't read the article now but I'm assuming this happened in the United States, right?
Where they suspend kids for making fake guns out of fingers and drug them up for not behaving like dull adults?

Little CuChulainn

calanus wrote: »

He's only 9 and this is his third suspension..... Must be a cheeky little git anyway at the best of times.

Suspension number one - referring to a black person as "black"

Suspension number two - Bringing to school a book containing an illustration of a pregnant woman

Suspension three - Offering to make his friend invisible.

I'd be taking my kid out of that school pretty sharpish. It's obviously run by lunatics.

The Peanut

I could have stopped reading after Texas.

Duckworth_Luas

I think I passed through Kermit, Texas once but my recollection is a bit fozzie!

K4t

The Peanut wrote: »

I could have stopped reading after Texas.

The only time most Texans use their imagination is once a week at church.

The Backwards Man

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

I think I passed through Kermit, Texas once but my recollection is a bit fozzie!

Our talents are wasted here Duckie, these kids have probably never even heard of Waldorf and Statler.

suicide_circus

Tried to watch The Hobbit there the other night, got about 40 minutes in and turned it off due to extreme boredom. Really liked the LOTR movies but this was just piss poor.

anncoates

The Backwards Man wrote: »

There must be muppets running Kermit Elementary School

Probably just making a Tolkien gesture, tbh.

I bet that the principal just wanted the ring for herself

Peregrine

Who wouldn't want to be invisible? :eek:

The kid offers him to make him invisible and he goes off and gets him suspended. How ungrateful :mad:

floggg

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Can't read the article now but I'm assuming this happened in the United States, right?
Where they suspend kids for making fake guns out of fingers and drug them up for not behaving like dull adults?

Texas. Nuff said.

The Peanut

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Our talents are wasted here Duckie, these kids have probably never even heard of Waldorf and Statler.

Waldorf and Stadler were at least funny......;)

"That opening was catchy".
"Yeah, so is smallpox".

Duggy747

A good days work in the salt mines on Mars will straight him up quickly.

valoren

If he does the "rat-at-at-at-at-at" machine gun sound, will he be suspended for assault with a deadly weapon?

calanus

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

Suspension number one - referring to a black person as "black"

Suspension number two - Bringing to school a book containing an illustration of a pregnant woman

Suspension three - Offering to make his friend invisible.

I'd be taking my kid out of that school pretty sharpish. It's obviously run by lunatics.

looks like I certainly didn't bother reading the article! Ooops....

K4t

Over 73% of the people in Kermit, Texas are religious.

26.37% are Catholic and 0.45% are another Christian faith. But of course that couldn't possibly have anything to do with why this kid was suspended for professing to possess a magical ring or for literally possessing a book with the title "The Big Book of Knowledge". Leave people alone they say, stop criticising people's beliefs they say, they're not doing any harm they say. These are just minor examples of what can potentially happen when those beliefs or the respect for those beliefs replaces common sense.

Ficheall

Nim wrote: »

Who wouldn't want to be invisible? :eek:

Hmm... Interesting...
Would you date an invisible (permanently invisible, as opposed to having the ability to switch back and forth) person ? Ceteris paribus* and all that...




*Ceteris paribus = all other things being equal.
That is the only thing I learned in Economics in college, so I have to use it when I can, so forgive me.

Philo Beddoe

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Can't read the article now but I'm assuming this happened in the United States, right?
Where they suspend kids for making fake guns out of fingers and drug them up for not behaving like dull adults?

It's Texas, the kid could have brought in a real gun and nobody would have blinked an eye.

Philo Beddoe

Ficheall wrote: »

That is the only thing I learned in Economics in college, so I have to use it when I can, so forgive me.

So how are things working out in the Department of Finance?

BeerWolf

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

/snip

This PC'ing is getting more disgusting everyday...

kylith

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Can't read the article now but I'm assuming this happened in the United States, right?
Where they suspend kids for making fake guns out of fingers and drug them up for not behaving like dull adults?

Texas

Wossack

Proper order - you cant use the the one ring to make people 'disappear' at will. Kid should take the suspension time and go back and rewatch the movies

Timberrrrrrrr

Texas, Surprised they haven't tried to force an exorcism.

One eyed Jack

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

Suspension number one - referring to a black person as "black"

Suspension number two - Bringing to school a book containing an illustration of a pregnant woman

Suspension three - Offering to make his friend invisible.

I'd be taking my kid out of that school pretty sharpish. It's obviously run by lunatics.

It's the parents are at fault here, not the school. The parents get the same student handbook as all the other students, and yet this one child seems to be such a "trouble maker".

We're missing context here, so I wouldn't be too quick to jump to conclusions about why the school chose to suspend the child.

Adamantium

valoren wrote: »

If he does the "rat-at-at-at-at-at" machine gun sound, will he be suspended for assault with a deadly weapon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDztrw_0N8M

Little CuChulainn

One eyed Jack wrote: »

It's the parents are at fault here, not the school. The parents get the same student handbook as all the other students, and yet this one child seems to be such a "trouble maker".

We're missing context here, so I wouldn't be too quick to jump to conclusions about why the school chose to suspend the child.

A 98 page rule book for a kid to follow?

K4t

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

A 98 page rule book for a kid to follow?

This x 98


Lunatics.

One eyed Jack

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

A 98 page rule book for a kid to follow?

For his parents to follow.

I'm just getting very cynical with these stories that you're more likely to find on upworthy.com or some other social injustice website for "sticking it to the man" nonsense.

Little CuChulainn

One eyed Jack wrote: »

For his parents to follow.

I'm just getting very cynical with these stories that you're more likely to find on upworthy.com or some other social injustice website for "sticking it to the man" nonsense.

I'm sure his parents followed the rules. It was the kids actions which led to the suspension, so it is the kid that must follow the rules.

One eyed Jack

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

I'm sure his parents followed the rules. It was the kids actions which led to the suspension, so it is the kid that must follow the rules.

The child's parents should make the child aware of the rules though, and that's why I say we're missing context here. The parents are responsible for the child's behaviour.

One child, suspended three times, I would say there's more to the story that's not being told here.

Timberrrrrrrr

One eyed Jack wrote: »

The child's parents should make the child aware of the rules though, and that's why I say we're missing context here. The parents are responsible for the child's behaviour.

One child, suspended three times, I would say there's more to the story that's not being told here.

Seriously?

Two of the disciplinary actions this year were in-school suspensions for referring to a classmate as black and bringing his favorite book to school: "The Big Book of Knowledge."

But the teacher learned the popular children’s encyclopedia had a section on pregnancy, depicting a pregnant woman in an illustration, he explained.

evolving_doors

Won't someone please please think of the teachers..
.

end of the road

One eyed Jack wrote: »

It's the parents are at fault here, not the school. The parents get the same student handbook as all the other students, and yet this one child seems to be such a "trouble maker".

We're missing context here, so I wouldn't be too quick to jump to conclusions about why the school chose to suspend the child.

oh i would. it was over nothing.

end of the road

One eyed Jack wrote: »

The child's parents should make the child aware of the rules though, and that's why I say we're missing context here. The parents are responsible for the child's behaviour.

One child, suspended three times, I would say there's more to the story that's not being told here.

if it was a few years ago and somewhere else, you would probably be right. now days, i'm not so sure

One eyed Jack

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Seriously?

I understand how daft it is, you understand how daft it is, but the thing is, if those sort of things violate the school code of conduct, then it's the school's prerogative in how they address the behaviour.

The reason I point to the fact that it seems unusual for this one child to be suspended three times, is because all the other children seem to be able to follow the school guidelines, and I can't help but get the feeling that the parents themselves are using their child to promote their own agenda.

I'm just not so quick to condemn the school when we know so little about the context and the facts.

ratmouse

With stories like this from Kermit Elementary it makes you realise that the world is 'gon zo' bizarre!

Peregrine

Ficheall wrote: »

Hmm... Interesting...
Would you date an invisible (permanently invisible, as opposed to having the ability to switch back and forth) person ?

Of course. I've been doing it for years :pac:

Timmyctc

Serves him right for threatening to destroy another boy's ring.

Kev.OC

One eyed Jack wrote: »

I understand how daft it is, you understand how daft it is, but the thing is, if those sort of things violate the school code of conduct...

Having looked over the 98-page student handbook I can't see anything in it that would call for even one of those suspensions.

omg not a pregnant woman!!!

One eyed Jack

Kev.OC wrote: »

Having looked over the 98-page student handbook I can't see anything in it that would call for even one of those suspensions.

I'm going to take a wild guess and suggest you don't live in America, where they tend to have a rather unusual take on most things that we wouldn't even consider unusual here in Ireland?

I had a look over the same handbook and I can easily see how the three suspensions might be stretched to racism, harassment and terrorism. No, I can't take them seriously either, but then I don't live in arsehole of nowhere Kermit either, and how this story got legs is testament to the sort of Internet faux outrage we see nowadays where we completely ignore context and go with the first thing that makes sense to us (or, doesn't make sense to us, in this case) -

A Kermit parent said his fourth-grade student was suspended Friday for allegedly making a terroristic threat.
His father, Jason Steward, said the family had been to see “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” last weekend. His son brought a ring to his class at Kermit Elementary School and told another boy his magic ring could make the boy disappear.

Steward said the principal said threats to another child’s safety would not be tolerated – whether magical or not. Principal Roxanne Greer declined to comment on the matter.

Steward said his son has attended Kermit Elementary since August. The 9-year-old has been in in-school suspension for referring to another student’s skin color and got in trouble for bringing a kids’ book about pregnancy to school.

Odessa American Online

Timberrrrrrrr

One eyed Jack wrote: »

I'm going to take a wild guess and suggest you don't live in America, where they tend to have a rather unusual take on most things that we wouldn't even consider unusual here in Ireland?

I had a look over the same handbook and I can easily see how the three suspensions might be stretched to racism, harassment and terrorism. No, I can't take them seriously either, but then I don't live in arsehole of nowhere Kermit either, and how this story got legs is testament to the sort of Internet faux outrage we see nowadays where we completely ignore context and go with the first thing that makes sense to us (or, doesn't make sense to us, in this case) -






Odessa American Online

How the **** does a 9 year old child make a "terroristic threat" it's because if stupidity and scaremongering like this that the word terrorism has no meaning anymore and just gets bandied about as an excuse for anything.

K4t

One eyed Jack wrote: »

I'm going to take a wild guess and suggest you don't live in America, where they tend to have a rather unusual take on most things that we wouldn't even consider unusual here in Ireland?

You're going overboard in your search for context here when all you have to do is simply stand back for a moment and see the lunacy at play. I understand context can help explain why something happened, but that still doesn't mean what happened was right in this situation.

RobbingBandit

This is Texas we are talking about, the right wing republican God makes babies and they are brought by the stork.

One eyed Jack

K4t wrote: »

You're going overboard in your search for context here when all you have to do is simply stand back for a moment and see the lunacy at play. I understand context can help explain why something happened, but that still doesn't mean what happened was right in this situation.

That's exactly why I'm going overboard searching for context here though, because it doesn't sound right, at all, how in a six month period, the child is suspended three times for what to us might seem on the surface like the most insignificant, trivial circumstances.

That's why I'm saying there has to be more to the story than just what's being reported in the media.

K4t

One eyed Jack wrote: »

That's exactly why I'm going overboard searching for context here though, because it doesn't sound right, at all, how in a six month period, the child is suspended three times for what to us might seem on the surface like the most insignificant, trivial circumstances.

That's why I'm saying there has to be more to the story than just what's being reported in the media.

Ah, fair enough. I've done some research myself and found that over 73% of residents in Kermit identify themselves as religious, and it is Texas, so I wouldn't have too much faith.

JohnBee

One eyed Jack wrote: »

It's the parents are at fault here, not the school. The parents get the same student handbook as all the other students, and yet this one child seems to be such a "trouble maker".

We're missing context here, so I wouldn't be too quick to jump to conclusions about why the school chose to suspend the child.

Agreed. I have children in school at that age. From the stories I hear, it is difficult to get suspended at that age. Yes, its the USA and all that. However, the parents are in the lucky situation of being able to give a totally one sided story knowing that the school will not make a public statement because of confidentiality. The parents probably left out the part where the other kid was tied to a chair before being told he will be made to disappear.