The Death of Common Sense or "You Can't Fix Stupid School Administrators"

It would be great if we had a "common sense" app that we could download from the app store. If that were the case, it might spare  some supposedly bright, educated, smart people from doing so many stupid things. 


Under the heading, "You can't fix stupid," some of the dumbest things are being done by teachers and school administrators. You don't believe me? 


Consider this:
Some schools like Freedom Elementary in Cheyenne, Wyoming have banned tag. Broward County, Florida banned running at recess (to guard against kids falling down). 

• Little Leagues forbid sliding into base.
• Some towns ban sledding.
• High diving boards are history, and it's only a matter of time before all diving boards disappear.
• Soccer and touch football have been banned in Wichita, San Jose, Beaverton, Ore, and Rancho Santa Fe, CA. 
• Contact sports were banned at Charles Pinckney Elementary School earlier this year in Charleston, SC because kids suffered dislocated fingers and broken arms from playing touch football and soccer.

This book is written by a feminist
who believes we are harming our
young men by refusing to allow
them to be boys.

• Many schools have banned dodge ball, according to Donna Thompson of the National Program for Playground Safety. Schools in Maine, NY, Virginia, Maryland and Texas have banned dodge ball because it is warlike, unfair and exclusionary. Do see what's happening? Just by the language these administrators and school board use, they reveal their political correctness. Since when is dodge ball exclusionary or warlike? Is it their job to raise a generation of pacifists who refuse to fight or defend their country? Who set these people up as judge and jury over what kids can do? 

Do you see what is at work here? I call it the "feminization of our children." By that I mean, most of these contact sports favor boys and they allow boys to be boys. But what we are doing is stifling boys from doing what is normal and natural, playing dodge ball, soccer, touch football. No wonder we have a problem with childhood obesity. We are forbidden almost any activity because they "might get hurt." Our teachers and administrators in their infinite wisdom want to eliminate all risk and they want to penalize our boys from being boys and behaving like boys.

I recall on more than one occasion observing a young couple with their first or second child. They were overprotective and probably would agree with all bans in place in schools regarding recess, dodge ball, tag, etc. Why? Because they don't want their little Johnny to get hurt. So they see it as their responsibility to protect him from anything that would cause him pain. However, just the opposite is taking place. When little Johnny hits his head on the coffee table, he looks at Mommy and Daddy. He is going to take his cue from them and their "over-reaction." When he sees them jump up and get all concerned over his having bumped his head, he realizes that he needs to reward this "over-reaction" with crocodile tears. Cue the tears!

However, I've observed other children who, when they hit their head on the coffee table, looked at Mommy and Daddy and saw that they were not overly concerned. Mommy smiled and said, "It's ok, Johnny...you'll be fine." Then Johnny realizes that it's no big deal and not worth the effort of shedding any crocodile tears. Why? Because he's taking his cues from Mommy and Daddy. They're not in a panic and why should he? This is akin to what we see going on in our public schools. This over-reaction is not helpful to the psyche or the future well-being of our children. We are raising a generation of whiners and babies who cry at the slightest provocation or scratch, and that's how they've been raised and educated. We're raising young girls to cry out "sexual harassment" if a boy gives her a little kiss on the cheek on Valentine's Day.

Please indulge me a few more examples of stupidity on the part of our government school teachers & administrators:

• Stephen Fogelman from Branson, Mississippi, who is in the 3rd grade, was suspended from school for kissing a classmate on the cheek. School officials saw this as sexual harassment and suspended the boy for 1-day. Stephen was chasing a girl when the incident occurred. His parents have stated that he doesn't even know what sexual harassment means and didn't know that he was doing anything wrong.

Just how little tolerance is zero tolerance? 

• A Staten Island fourth-grader was reprimanded and almost suspended yesterday when the principal spotted him playing with a Lego policeman and a 2-inch long toy gun during lunch. Under the city's no-tolerance policy regarding guns in schools, PS 52 Principal Evelyn Matroianni brought 9-year-old Patrick Timoney to her office and called his mother to say the boy might be suspended for carrying the miniature toy gun to school, pending the approval of the Dept. of Education's security administrator. 

• A New Jersey school's zero-tolerance policy went into effect after a 7-year old student drew a gun. He didn't literally pull a gun--rather, he drew a picture of himself and another student "David" and the drawing showed him holding a gun. But that was enough for Kyle McDevitt to earn suspension from Dennis Township Primary School. Kyle apparently gave the drawing to David on the bus, and David's parents alerted the school. Kyle's mother said she wasn't worried because Kyle says he had drawn a water pistol-not a real gun. Kyle's mother wonders if they school administrators are abusing the zero tolerance law when a boy can no longer draw a picture of a gun?
• Terry Wilson thinks Spokane Public School administrators may have jumped the gun when it comes to her 8-yr old son. The 3rd grader, along with 2 other boys, was suspended from Bemiss Elementary School for bringing GI Joe action figures which he carried in his pocket. The guns which were carried by the action figures are from 1-3 inches long--half the size of a pencil. "I don't think any child would look at it and be threatened," said the boy's mother. But the school district is standing by its zero-tolerance policy on weapons. Bemiss Principal Lorna Spear says, "We've been very clear with our students and parents....at school, you don't need anything that's going to make kids feel unsafe."

I think I would be more afraid of a principal like Lorna Spear than a third-grader with a GI Joe action figure. Ms. Spear doesn't care that she is doing more to harm these little 3rd grade boys with her over-reaction and heavy-handedness than anything they might be doing with their GI Joe action figures.

These are the adults who are charged with teaching and training our children and in far too many cases, they are dangerous. They are educating our children to be afraid of everything, even drawings and GI Joe action figures. They are educating kids to cry "sexual harassment" if a boy gives a girl an innocent kiss. These people who have been charged with the education of our children are scary and dangerous! They are doing more harm to our children than any game of dodge ball, or tag, or stick figure drawing of a water pistol. 

Finally, these are the same individuals who will not give a student an aspirin without written parental consent, but will turn around and refuse to notify parents of a student's decision to have an abortion. How crazy is that? Which is more serious? Dispensing aspirin or an abortion. In the minds of educators, it's the aspirin. The death of common sense.

Next post: The Death of Common Sense, pt. 2: How NY city regulations and bureaucrats have kept people like Mother Theresa from helping others.