Students Banned From Bringing Pencils To School 426
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by
samzenpus
from the watch-how-you-play dept.
from the watch-how-you-play dept.
mernilio writes "According to UPI: 'A Massachusetts school district superintendent said a memo banning sixth graders from carrying pencils was written without district approval. North Brookfield School District interim Superintendent Gordon Noseworthy said Wendy Scott, one of two sixth-grade teachers at North Brookfield Elementary School, did not get approval from administrators before sending the memo to all sixth-grade parents, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported Thursday. The memo said students would no longer be allowed to bring writing implements to school. It said pencils would be provided for students in class and any students caught with pencils or pens after Nov. 15 would face disciplinary action for having materials 'to build weapons.'"
Re:The pen[cil] is mightier than the sword! (Score:3, Informative)
I remember some time ago when it was the rage to fold paper and shoot it at each other with rubber bands. For awhile rubber bands were considered a "regulated" item, and getting caught with a piece of rolled up paper could get you in trouble.
But ya, mental teachers here I think.
Re:Oh for chrissakes! (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, it looks like it's a complete non-story.
http://www.globe-democrat.com/news/2010/nov/18/school-pencil-banning-memo-not-official/ [globe-democrat.com]
People love to be outraged. (Score:5, Informative)
So much so that they'd rather take some dudgeon mongering website's word for what happened than to google the original sources and find out this is a non-story. Well, I don't mind being wet blanket, so I did it for you.
If you must know, a couple of sixth grade teachers got fed up with students playing with toy pens, then losing them and disrupting the class looking for them. So they decided to ban student owned writing instruments altogether, but rather than come right out and tell parents that their kids are badly behaved, they used a pen modified by one of the students to shoot spitballs as an excuse for the ban. Since using a writing instrument as a "weapon" conjures images of students stabbing each other in the eye with a pencil, that naturally garnered a lot more attention than the teachers expected. The acting superintendent stepped in, reversed the policy and wrote a memo explaining everything and suggesting everybody calm down.
But of course the story of a couple of beleaguered teachers being too timid to tell parents they'd raised a mob of brats isn't as much fun for people who like to complain about the nanny state.
Re:The pen[cil] is mightier than the sword! (Score:4, Informative)
Yes you did. You stated that weapons control laws never "decreased" violence, not "stop[ped" violence.
Re:Fear mongering 101 (Score:3, Informative)
Bic pens make the perfect blow gun. The dart is created with nothing more than a sewing pin and thread. Use a dot of glue if you want the thread "features" to stay attached for multiple uses.
This works well enough to launch a dart roughly 15-20 feet, hard enough to stick in black boards. Obviously it can stick in people and poses a serious risk to eyes!
Erasers make the perfect place to stow those darts while not in use.
Extreme caution should be used when shooting ceiling tiles as a miss may result in the pointy end coming back toward your eyes as it falls back to earth.
Obviously, don't try this. You can shoot your eye out kid!
Re:Wrong headline (Score:1, Informative)
Sorry, but going way back, pencils actually were lead. In, say, revolutionary times, sticks of lead served as pencils. They were easy to make and sharpen because of lead's low melting point and softness.
I've written with modern replicas of them, and it's neat how much their writing resembles that of modern pencils.
Re:Fear mongering 101 (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Fear mongering 101 (Score:3, Informative)
ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
Strangely enough, we had American exchange students in because there was no "Remedial English" class for university students. These were ostensibly English-speaking (well, they could *speak* English, they just couldn't read or write it) students from the US - English was supposedly their first language.