I give up.
I’ve been having some fun over the past couple of years by mocking education bureaucrats for absurd examples of anti-gun political correctness.
I have made fun of teachers and other bureaucrats when they wet their pants about tiny Lego guns. I laugh at them when they go after little kids for half-eaten pop tarts that ostensibly have gun shapes. And I abuse them for getting their panties in a wad about pencils, fingers, and…um…well, air.
I’m even willing to enjoy a laugh when idiot bureaucrats bust a 5-year old girl because her pink bubble blower vaguely resembles a gun. Or when they nail a little boy for toy army men.
But in recent months, the exercise has become a chore because I’ve slowly come to realize that bureaucratic stupidity is becoming the rule rather than the exception.
And now I think it’s time to throw in the towel and give up. Why? Because there’s really no hope for government schools when you come across a news report about some moronic paper pushers in Nebraska who wanted a deaf boy to change his sign-language name because it requires his hand to vaguely resemble a gun.
Hunter Spanjer says his name with a certain special hand gesture, but at just three and a half years old, he may have to change it. “He’s deaf, and his name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy,” explained Hunter’s father, Brian Spanjer. Grand Island’s “Weapons in Schools” Board Policy 8470 forbids “any instrument…that looks like a weapon,” But a three year-old’s hands? “Anybody that I have talked to thinks this is absolutely ridiculous. This is not threatening in any way,” said Hunter’s grandmother Janet Logue. …”We are working with the parents to come to the best solution we can for the child,” said Jack Sheard, Grand Island Public Schools spokesperson. That’s just about all GIPS officials will say for now.
The good news is that it appears the bureaucrats have backed off following a public outcry.
But it’s nonetheless outrageous that people like Jack Sheard get our tax dollars and then even contemplate making life harder for a deaf kid.
I realize it’s a gross exaggeration to say that all public school teachers are bad and that all government schools are a failure, but we’re getting closer and closer to the point where the presumption should be that good parents send their kids to private schools whenever that’s a feasible option.
And from a policy perspective, we need to bust up the government school monopoly and implement school choice. And not because suburban kids are being victimized by political correctness. That’s a nuisance, not a crisis. It’s far more important to have competition in education to rescue the kids trapped in failed inner city schools.
We now have lots of good data on the benefits of school choice. There’s also strong evidence for school choice from nations such as Sweden, Chile, and the Netherlands.
So next time we see a news report about bureaucrats running amok and ruining the education system, our energies should be focused on promoting school choice, not attacking political correctness.
[…] many stories of anti-gun political correctness in government schools (see here, here, here, here, here, and here). Makes me wonder whether that kind of nonsense is even more counterproductive to kids […]
[…] many stories of anti-gun political correctness in government schools (see here, here, here, here, here, and here). Makes me wonder whether that kind of nonsense is even more counterproductive to kids […]
[…] kids. We’ve even gotten to the point where a deaf kid can’t use sign language if his fingers somehow resemble a gun! And if you think that’s bizarre, check out these other horror stories of anti-gun […]
[…] school wanted to force a deaf child to change his name because, when using sign language to say who he is, his fingers looked like a […]
[…] wanted a deaf child to change his sign-language name because it required him to shape his fingers in a way that resembled a […]
[…] wanted a deaf child to change his sign-language name because it required him to shape his fingers in a way that resembled a […]
[…] wanted a deaf child to change his sign-language name because it required him to shape his fingers in a way that resembled a […]
[…] Bureaucrats wanted a deaf child to change his sign-language name because it required him to shape his fingers in a way that resembled a gun. […]
[…] wanted a deaf child to change his sign-language name because it required him to shape his fingers in a way that resembled a […]
[…] correct educators are brainwashing our kids. We’ve even gotten to the point where a deaf kid can’t use sign language if his fingers somehow resemble a gun! And if you think that’s bizarre, check out these other horror stories of anti-gun […]
[…] politically correct educators are brainwashing our kids. We’ve even gotten to the point where a deaf kid can’t use sign language if his fingers somehow resemble a gun! And if you think that’s bizarre, check out these other horror stories of anti-gun hysteria […]
The reason this bullshit never seems to make any logical sense is simple: This is not about safety, or people “feeling threatened”, it’s the pushing of an anti-gun ideology in schools – always was.
It’s no different to the Creationism/Evolution debate. They want to teach your kids that, “Guns are bad, mmmkay?”, and they’ll come up with ANY excuse.
Meanwhile, your attention is misdirected. You’re busy scratching your head trying to figure out how a non-retarded adult could consider a half-eaten pop-tart a violation of any kind of weapons policy, and honestly trying to solve the problems the pinkos CLAIM to have.
PROTIP: You’ll never be able to satisfy these weasels. They want and NEED kids violating their policy so they can slap them down hard and make an example of them.
Not a top-down conspiracy theory here either – just bottom up pious fraud.
Actually, it seems the real goal here is to educate our children to have a healthy fear of guns. that way, when our grandkids’ generation comes to power, it will be very easy, and almost a no-brainer to remove the second ammendment. After all, a society afraid of guns will see no reason to allow them to be kept by the citizens. Make no mistake what their goal is. When I was a kid, we played war games at lunch and recess- establishing teams, and attack plans, and battle groups and everything. Do you wonder what todays kids do considering similar desires yet no ability to do so?
thought crime eh? hmm… can book burning be far behind? imagine bonfires in public schools throughout the land… children and teachers encouraged to burn books that promote violence… racism… inequality… firearms… bullying… free thinking… there would probably food… games… face painting… and clowns… fun for all… just a carnival of new ideas…
This is yet another example of a pervasive trend that is frighteningly dangerous to the future of this country – and one with which few people are in tune … While we adults meander through the First Amendment affront that is political correctness (tyranny with manners according to Charlton Heston), argue over the modern-day “efficacy” of our Second Amendment (controlling a pistol or rifle is as simple as hitting at what you aim), and now have to suffer an outright assault on our Fourth Amendment (with the recent 5-4 ruling on “swabbing”), we are being blindsided by the blatant violation of nearly every civil right belonging to our children … The recent example of the child being questioned for two (2) hours without the presence of his parents (let alone an attorney) until he wet his pants is disgustingly akin to Nazism … How in Hades does this sort of situation occur in the (supposed) freest country in the world!? Our children are being psychologically and emotionally traumatized in a manner that is astounding – by its grotesquely calculating manner. The children cited in all these examples will no doubt carry this scarring into their adult lives and have a subconscious presence that will affect their future decision making. In effect, they are being programmed. And all us adults are soo busy tending to “bigger” issues … There was a song years ago that sang (and I paraphrase), “… the children are our future … show them well and let them lead the way …” Who’s showing them the way – and what way are they showing them? As Gil Scott-Heron once stated, “The revolution will not be televised.”
Zero tolerance policies are the current name for Thought Crime. A child showing the wrong thoughts is treated as a criminal, ridiculed in class by the teacher, called names by the other students, and suspended while he changes his beliefs. It is a “two minute hate”.
To me, this is child abuse under the color of office. When will parents realize that these are sadistic displays of power against children? There is no judgment or mercy in these officials which stops them from imposing cruel and sudden mental anguish upon the children in their care. What child is safe from emotional abuse under such management?
Parents would demonstrate in crowds if their schools failed to promote entire classes of their children. In a different sense, their schools are indeed failing entire classes of children. Where is the demonstration of anger? Why are such teachers, principals, and school boards allowed to keep their power and position?
The idea of Thought Crime and the “two minute hate” was explained in George Orwell’s novel “1984” published in 1949. It is a fictional warning about a future under complete government control. The novel was informed by Orwell’s experiences in the British Communist party. He awoke to write a warning.
Wags have noted that “1984” was a warning, but Progressives have used it as an instruction manual.
See the full text of George Orwell’s “1984” here with more about Orwell at MSXNet
EasyOpinions.blogspot.com
BTW, this incident occurred last August: (One source: Story Created: Aug 29, 2012)
You probably should not mislead people into thinking that your topics are current when they aren’t. Maybe add a caveat?
In education, as increasingly in almost all things in life today, the bureaucracy takes precedence to all activities of the organization. No one can just teach anymore. Everything has to be filtered and reviewed against the Master Plan or the Common Core to determine its merit or benefit before being given approval for the classroom, or outright rejected.
The public school system is nothing more than an extension of our bloated Federal government. When, if ever, are we going to do something about it? If we do nothing, the problem will take care of itself soon enough, but it won’t be pretty.
I agree that public schools are broken but until it is better understood that accreditation itself is a major driver of the poison in higher ed and K-12 just calling for school choice just expands the problem. Typically as with Louisiana it becomes a means of forcing the private schools to put social and emotional learning ahead of academics.
Also many charters are just full of poorly understood language like life skills and soft skills and a commitment to technology that parents may not appreciate until too late. This is especially true of the charter conversions some districts are now doing. Parents and sometimes the school board assume one interpretation. Meanwhile the charter is binding for a stipulated term, no matter the outcry.
So school choice is the answer IF we take away the current coercion power of the accreditors. And do read those charters carefully. Orwellian language practically lives full time now in education.
I have been saying this for some time now. If you put your child in public school, you may be guilty of child endangerment or child neglect. The examples of this theory are coming “Fast and Furious” now, and I do thank Dan Mitchell for sticking with this issue as he has a much wider audience than I have.
The above truism is not limited to the education bureacracy; it is true of any bureacracy.
There are a myriad of systemic problems with our K-12 education system.
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First, no one is paid to think; they are paid to do what they are told. That’s why the policy manuals have grown to novel length; every problem that arises, including a problem like a sign language weapon, needs a new policy prescription.
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Second, there is no systemic incentive to improve. In the private market, businesses improve or die, period. In the public education business, no individual gets higher personal compensation by being better at his/her job. Instead, they can achieve higher pay by having an advanced degree or for their longevity (i.e., for not getting fired and for otherwise toeing the line). There is no personal incentive, beyond self-motivation, that moves anyone to improve.
The local high school just changed its athletic code of conduct on drug, alcohol, and tobacco use to enforce a half-season suspension for ANY violation. But the real eyebrow-raiser is another addition they made to the policy: they can compel a student to “testify” against himself and assume a non-answer is an admission of guilt. That forces this dilemma on any student who might have violated the policy: either take a certain suspension for half the season or lie about it.
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I’m calling that new policy the “Not Fifth Amendment”. But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this is a new teaching method; maybe this is a negative example they designed in order to show the students what true tyranny and oppression is like.