Boy, 6, suspended from Silver Spring school for pointing finger like a gun

It teaches that authority is arbitrary, unfair, panic-prone, inflexible, stupid, needlessly punitive, ignorant of context, cruel to children, and harsh. It teaches absolutely nothing about guns but something about moral hysteria.

when schools went nuts with zero tolerance for everything, I had the thought that the whole thing taught students one thing - that adults are stone stupid and have no idea how to protect them. Having been an anxious kid in my day, I'm glad I had the apparent delusion that the adults around me knew where the real danger was and how to protect me. In today's schools I would probably have been carted away to the pediatric rubber room in about second grade.

It is easy to read the headline and assume that this was panicky foolishness. However, the other side of the story seems to be that the child had engaged in problematic behavior in the past, was told that it was unacceptable, and did it anyway. I'll agree that the action taken (suspension) was almost certainly too harsh, but let's bear in mind that, regardless of the gun context, this is, according to the school, a child who was misbehaving.

And before we make the assumption that he was playing cops and robbers or engaged in some other activity that we remember as innocent fun, we should also make room for the possibility that he walked up to a little girl in class, put a "gun" to her head (sideways in the gangster-style), and said pow. Now if my kid did that, I would deem it unacceptable and would discipline him appropriately. I don't know that that's how it happened, but it could well have, in which case I would agree that some measure of discipline was warranted - especially if he was already told that it was unacceptable.

I also try to keep in mind whenever stories come out in the media about school incidents that the parents can claim whatever they want and the school has the disadvantage of not really being able to give their side of things without violating student privacy.

However, given all that, I still have a gut feeling that the school did overreact. My kindergartener is a bit obsessed with guns right now even though we don't have any. I worry that someday he'll get in trouble at school for incorporating imaginary guns into his play. It annoys me that I have to worry about that. Even though I'd guess that the child in this story went a bit farther than innocent play, a charge in his school records that he was making threats is still rather a serious consequence, and I'd probably try to fight it too if I were his parents.

Support your local thought police.

Not a big gun fan, but outlawing pointed fingers while allowing assault rifles just reeks of idiocy.

Migod, we're gonna destroy our kids with insane overreactions like this.

I dunno if kids still play cowboys & Indians or play Army, but I can somehow just see some out-of-control SWAT team going in with guns blazing to re-take the playground.

--in a society saturated with guns and violence?

The kid may even know about the Sandy Hook incident and other school shootings. But even if he doesn't, it's in the culture. The kid knows that guns are one option in dealing with people you don't like.

I think the school did OK in expelling him for one day. That speaks to the kid that it's serious. After a period of better behavior, they can expunge it from his records I'm sure.

But seriously--this is what we have come to--because of the gun-driven insanity we are exposed to every day.

in the kid's mind. Totally stupid beyond belief. I'll bet 20 years hence he will no longer be using fingers.

I have a 6-year-old grandson. Are you kidding? No wonder the schools are failing our kids - reason and thinking seem to have disappeared. I am disgusted with anyone who thinks it is OK to suspend a K-gartner/1st grader for being a kid - especially given our popular culture.

Stupidest school suspension EVER.

"You think your school did something stupid? Listen to what happened to me."

Maybe the school officials read about that family (in Arizona?) that sent their elementary school kid to school with a concealed gun, other than that this is ridiculous. We need to ameliorate if not solve the underlying problem, not start suspending six year olds for doing what they've always done and always will do.

Suspend a 6 yo kid for pointing his finger like a gun and saying pow? This school is really off it's rocker.
What's next? Police arresting adults for doing the same thing in public?
I hope the parents sue the shit out of the school district and win a huge settlement and force the principal to apologize to the parents and child.

Stupid bullshit.

I recently watched part of an old transformer and GI joe episodes with a childhood friend of mine. His wife, an elementary teacher walked by and mentioned that her students would never be allowed to watch shows like that.

There is a book my teacher friend recommended to me. The name escapes me now, but the gist of it is this. We are often doing far more harm than good in telling kids that normal play and entertainment is "bad". This relates to "aggressive games" (tag), video games, comic books, etc. Hell, tag is outlawed in many public schools as being too aggressive.

Good behavior, manners, respecting other people's rights, bodies and opinions should all be taught. But when kids start believing that many of the things they enjoy are "wrong", they can believe that they themselves are "wrong". And planting that seed can have drastic consequences down the road. Obviously like most things in the world, most kids will handle it ok, but a small percentage of them will take it the other way. They will believe that they are bad, that their thoughts and likes aren't normal and will seek out things that are even further outside of the norm.

All because as a 6 year old they liked playing cops and robbers...

Fire whoever suspended this kid now, before they infect any other children.

If very minor infractions are met with the harshest punishment, why not try some really bad stuff?

Welcome to DU!

And I found this interesting, because I'd just read your OP in GD (so sorry about what happened).

In any event, this gave me context I might not have had, since this reply and this thread are unrelated, yet the comparison is drawn.

I agree with you, and I voted to not hide your reply.

Zero-tolerance and super harsh punishment teach nothing and might even encourage more egregious behaviors!

That is the problem with text-based conversation...no nuance.

But thanks!

The parents seriously need to sit down with their child and explain to them why it's wrong.

Those types of aggressive acts manifest themselves later in life.

You need to nip it in the bud early.

The pointing of a finger and the use of the word 'pow'?

Unless it actually WAS part of a threat, it's nothing.

Could have been a joke.

Could have been a 'quote' from some TV show or game.

If that's an aggressive act, then punching someone must be worse than murder.

And murder must be worse than the Apocalypse, hell, and the Olive Garden put together.

IOW: I think you're massively overreacting.

Has common sense deserted adults these days?

At 6 years old he thinks using a gun, although imaginary, will solve his problems. Which is pretty much the problem with America's addictive gun culture society. The gun is a crutch for your insecurity, paranoia and fears. We're raising a bunch of pussies who hide behind a trigger. Be a real human and confront the other student with words, fists or walk away.

At first, I was going to give the kid the benefit of the doubt (boys will be boys) until I read the article and saw he's been talked to about this before and the incident happened right after he was disciplined for a similar incident. WTF? So after he's told not to do it and points his finger at a girl and says "Pow!" The kid obviously has problems.

I'm proud, being a Maryland resident, that this is taken seriously. We've had several incidents, one recently, at my son's high school in Laurel where a student's plan to "take out" several classmates was averted. After the famous recent movie theater incident a plan by a Maryland disgruntled employee was averted when several assault weapons were found in his house. Maryland is also considering forbidding people who have made previous threats illegal for them to own a gun. That story is in the Washington Post today. In our County, Prince George's, homicides went down last year as a result of guns by the thousands being confiscated.

This incident is all part of a larger plan to keep Marylanders safe from gun wielding whackos. If you want your state to be the Wild Wild West, have at it. But in Maryland, it's taken seriously.

I hope you're not actually dealing with any children.

Thanks for the report from your state.

But will not actually do anything about gun restrictions. In places like this.

but don't agree w suspension; admonish of some sort better, imo, and agree w parents seeking expungement, but doesn't sound like an out of control school administration; the point they're trying to make is sound.

Evil assault appendages.

After all, the only place he could have realistically learned to do this is from TV.

All responsible TV owners will agree, we must have reasonable limits on the right to what we view.

I'm all for letting people own TV's to view cooking shows, or entertain their families, but these new, high-channel-capacity HDTV's are too much.

No one needs more than 10 channels at a time. They're designed for only one thing: to assault your senses.

The Founding Fathers could never have envisioned such advances in technology, or they would have never allowed their ownership to be constitutional.

There, did I miss anything?

Pretty violent stuff.

The headline is deceptive. The child was disciplined for repeated behavior that he knew was disturbing to others and he had been warned against. The parents over reacted. This is clear once you follow the link to the article read it.

Way to pull attention off the real problem of real guns. Jackasses!

And yes I agree with another poster who said this child was simply guilty of bad timing.

From Friday's WPost:

"School officials in Montgomery County rescinded the suspension of a 6-year-old Silver Spring boy who they said pointed his finger like a gun and said, “Pow,” agreeing to clear school records of an incident they had described as a threat “to shoot a student.”

"The reversal, laid out in a letter late Thursday, resolved an appeal filed by the family’s attorney the previous day."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-silver-spring-suspension-of-6-year-old-student-is-reversed-by-school-officials/2013/01/04/4dcbb0d8-561e-11e2-bf3e-76c0a789346f_story.html