Brickbat: The Key to Learning

Officials at Rhode Island's Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School suspended Joseph Lyssikatos,12, for three days and barred him from a class field trip after finding he had a gun-shaped keychain charm slightly larger than a quarter. They refused to discuss the matter with local media, saying they can't talk about student discipline issues. The boy's parents say the principal and superintendent have also refused to talk to them.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think the bigger issue here is, why does a 7th grader have so many keys that he needs a keychain?

[Sy]

The second amendment doesn't give you the right to a military-style assault garage door opener.

[Snark Plissken]

Having keys shows a lack of faith in the State's ability to protect us. This kid's obviously a class enemy and should be treated as such.

[Snark Plissken]

School officials released a statement that said, "Because this is a student discipline issue, we cannot comment on any specifics."

Which is same excuse they used for locking up another student after his mother died.

[Steve G]

wut?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Parents: "We give you full permission to comment on the specifics of this student discipline issue."

[Ted S.]

Those privacy laws are really designed to protect the government-sector workers, not the students.

Of course, I presume people here already know this.

[Doctor Whom]

The innocent have nothing to hide, right? Right?

[PM]

It's nice to see schools giving kids the tools they need to adapt and thrive in the FYTW kind of world into which they will someday strike out.

[Fatty Bolger]

su?per?sti?tion noun \?s?-p?r-?sti-sh?n\

a belief or way of behaving that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck : a belief that certain events or things will bring good or bad luck

Full Definition of SUPERSTITION

1 a : a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation

b : an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition

2 : a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary

[WTF]

Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence.

The imitation tiny gun coresponds to a real gun in the world of sympathetic magic. So it could attract bad things.

[Bardas Phocas]

Are you giving me the evil eye.

PLUCK IT!

[Bill Dalasio]

You know, I can't help but wonder if some of the zero-tolerance anti-gun fetish is simply a war on lower middle class whites. There's the gun charm, the NRA t-shirt, the Duck Dynasty t-shirt. We all knew these kinds of kids. Hell, a lot of us may well have BEEN these kinds of kids. I can't help but wonder if this isn't a politically excusable way of getting them taken away from Skippy and Mitsy.

[Killazontherun]

Is there anything proglodytes don't do that is not out of spite for the wrong kind of people? Its the club you join when you want to get your hate on but not pay any consequences for it.

[sarcasmic]

You got it. Tolerance means hating anyone who thinks differently. Equality means you're superior to anyone who thinks differently. Inclusiveness means you exclude anyone who thinks differently. Being a progressive is all about the hate.

[Ted S.]

And, of course, they claim all they while to be the broad-minded accepting people.

[sarcasmic]

Well, yeah! They accept anyone who agrees with them! They're totally open minded to people who agree with them! I mean, agreeing with them is what it means to be open minded!

[Almanian!]

STOP RESISTING!

[Bardas Phocas]

In defense of the hysterical prog-totalitarians, if a minority kid was wearing gun-like stuff, they'd be kick his violent negro/spick ass out and call the gang cops to harrass him.

This kind of zero tolarance has been preached and practiced hard in urban schools for years. You're just hearing about it since they're trying it out on white kids now -- cuz some nut killed some children last year - remember.

[Heroic Mulatto]

if a minority kid was wearing gun-like stuff

Gun-like stuff? In urban "schools", kids are banned from wearing jerseys for certain sports teams, or even certain colors, regardless of proof of gang membership or not.

[Bill Dalasio]

You make a very good point. The proglodytes don't hate lower middle class white kids. They hate lower middle class kids without regard to race. Basically, if you're not SWPL, you're on the road to verboten.

[Rich]

"This boy was the one waving it or showing it to other kids. Not Joseph. Joseph wasn't doing that so why weren't both neither of them reprimanded," said Bonnie Bonanno, Joseph's mother.

FTFY, Bonnie.

School officials released a statement that said, "Because this is a student discipline issue we're trying to cover our sorry asses, we cannot comment on any specifics."

FTFY, school officials.

As NEM has alluded, this "cannot comment" bullshit has to end. How can students and parents, um, learn to do better, if they don't know the specifics?

[Almanian!]

I'd say "I'm so glad my kids are out of school", but the last one's a college freshman at my alma mater. Just went back for homecoming - HOLY FUCK, it's literally worse than public high school. LITERALLY!!1one!11!

And this is a "private" school (of course they accept teh Pell grants and gummint loans, so really not so private, but...)

I would never have made it through school if I had to go today. The fact that it's now spread to college, and is every bit as bad... This "zero tolerance" being carried out to its [il]logical conclusion is exactly what many of us thought it would be - the final road to Derptopia.

[some guy]

the final road to Derptopia.

For the Progressives it's all about the journey, not the destination.

[sarcasmic]

Riding those good intentions!

[Rich]

This "zero tolerance" being carried out to its [il]logical conclusion

Zero tolerance for *stupidity*?