Link: http://www.kmov.com/story/37816582/boy-suspended-for-drawing-stick-figures-holding-guns-knives
Summary: A 13-year-old boy who drew a stick figure holding a gun and another holding two knives was suspended from his North Carolina middle school for two days. His father made a statement stating that the picture was completely harmless and that any boy around his age draws pictures like this. He also mentioned that his family often goes hunting together, adding that the guns were kept under lock and key, so it is not strange for him to be drawing pictures of rifles.
Analysis: Given the tension following the Florida shooting, it is no wonder school officials want to tighten up their security. But I think this is a bit much. Adolescent boys draw pictures of weapons of all sorts at their age. It is nothing new that has sprung out after the emergence of all these shootings, kids have been doing this all the time. From the Tinker v Des Moines case, we know that the first amendment doesn't give us complete freedom of speech within the confines of the school property. But personally, I think a suspension for drawing stick figures depicted with weapons is not grounds for suspension.
Questions:
Do you believe that the school acted out of hand when suspending this student?
Do you think that this only happened because of the recent surge of mass shootings?
23 comments:
I agree with you that the school's response to the drawings was unnecessary and fairly extreme. Plenty of kids play violent video games as well; I don't believe a simple drawing is enough to claim that the boy is causing harm to himself or to his peers. I wouldn't go as far as to say the fervor around mass shootings would be the sole cause of their response but I would say that the heightened tension would possibly make the faculty feel inclined to be overly careful in maintaining the safety of their students.
I believe that the school acted out of hand, they should have talked to the student and tried to explain what is going on right now rather than suspending him. All students doodle in their notebooks, and I believe that he had no malicious intent in drawing said pictures. It's a difficult decision for the teachers and administration because of all the tension surrounding this issue, but I believe that they pushed the boundaries by suspending him.
I feel like the school was unreasonable. I understand that there was a recent shooting but I definitely think the kid should have given a warning or the school should've made it clear that these sorts of drawings are unacceptable and will be given consequences. I also agree that these sorts of drawings are common for kids those ages even if they might not be right.
Although I understand where the school is coming from, they are making a mountain out of a molehill. The kid is just a kid. Kids draw things. That's good, it actually shows signs of creativity and intelligence. Suspension is way too far to go. By doing this, the school assumes that every boy who draws pictures of guns will be a danger to society. In that case they should suspend all of the middle school classes, for this is what everyone does at that age.
Like other commenters have said, I think that the school was being unfair when suspending this student. The boy's drawings look like any kid's drawings and they don't seem to suggest anything that would threaten the school. It's good that the school is being cautious, especially with the recent mass shootings, but this is just going overboard.
Like many other commenters, I can can comprehend the intent of school, yet find that this was an overreaction. The sketches made by the student were hardly atypical of someone his age, and certainly did not warrant a suspension. Furthermore, actions such as these are very counterproductive in the grand scheme of things. I remember that a while back, there was a news story of a student being disciplined because he ate a pop-tart so that it would have the shape of a rudimentary gun. It became a meme that, while it started as a critique of this one school's absurd action, ended up trivializing school security holistically, which in turn inadvertently contributed to the trivialization of school shootings. Now, perhaps this logic is too tenuous, but I stand by my point that pointless incidents of overtly worrisome campus security only make things worse.
I agree with the comments above that kids will be kids. I understand why the school decided to suspend him, but he's just a kid and doing that was a bit too much. I think the school could have approached this situation in a different way, like having a talk with him letting him know that these drawings are unacceptable.
The school's punishment for the boy was definitely a bit extreme. One of his drawings looks like a ninja, while the others look like a hunting rifle and a crossbow. Taking into account what the father said about the family's frequent hunting trips, the drawings of the weapons seem completely normal and not at all like a threat to the safety of the boy's peers. I feel like a small talk with the teacher or maybe the dean would have been sufficient enough punishment, and the administration blew this incident way out of proportion.
I agree with the comments above. The school should have talked to the student first before the suspension, but I understand they would rather be safe than sorry. I think that it is common for the younger generation to draw action figures, and its apart of their childhood to make drawings during class. Students are also accustomed to playing violent video games, which is just normal in our society.
I do think that the school acted out of hand by suspending this kid. Kids don't always know as much as they should and sometimes they might not understand a situation in full and how it can relate to their actions or vice versa. I find it almost impossible to believe that this kid had any intent to threaten or harm anyone by drawing these and I think that the school sent a horrible message to the kid by having him suspended. I think it should have been explained to him why what he drew might not be appropriate for the climate in America in the moment, and made sure he understood and wouldn't do it again, and then he should have been sent on his way. I mean really it isn't that big of a deal the kid drew a picture and It got blow way out of proportion.
Although I understand the school's desire to keep everyone safe, especially during times like this, I believe that the school went too far with the punishment and had an overreaction. Drawings are very typical for all kids, and it is not abnormal in my opinion for a kid to have drawn something like this. Drawings like this are not a threat to anyone. However, if the student were to give verbal threats, then I would understand. I think that the recent shootings are definitely affecting the schools decisions as they want to be extra cautious in a time like this.
I would have to agree with Iman in that the school should not have punished this kid for simply drawing. The drawings weren't causing any harm, and since they were in his notebook it was private and not being posted all around the school. If the kid was known to be violent or mentally ill then maybe get him to talk to a consultant or someone to talk to, but punishing him was unnecessary. It's completely normal for kids to draw during class. However I do think because these mass shooting happened just recently schools are being a little more strict on student behavior.
I think that the school's response to these pictures was extremely inappropriate. Nothing about these pictures should indicate that the school was going to be put in danger by this young boy. The article claims this as a safety issue that they wanted to be vigilant about, but to me this seems like nothing more than a terrible administration unjustly punishing some poor kid who can't stand up for himself. Besides a man with a gun and what appears to be a knife wielding ninja, the boy's picture also included a guy with a magic staff and a building holding a bow and arrow. Does the school feel in danger of buildings now? Must we be on look out for transformer style skyscrapers who want to do us in? Of course I understand that the nation is grieving for all of the terrible school shootings that have happened recently, but this is too far. This boy obviously did not pose a threat and if the school actually believed that he did they need to put someone new in charge immediately.
I think the outcome of the recent school shootings and fear over guns definitely prompted this. I think that the response was inappropriate but it makes sense as to why he was suspended. I do not think he should have been suspended and like the boys father said, practically any young boy draws pictures like this. While adults might not like this, it is just the reality of how the youth acts and what they do.
I think the response, although the school had good intentions, was blown out of proportion. Even as a middle schooler, you are still a child. Instead of suspending him, they should have had a mature and open conversation with him about the drawings. We can't really punish a student for drawing weapons when we are still selling violent video games including all sorts of weapons, and creating movies with unlimited amounts of violence with guns or knives. You have to regulate and change it all, especially when there is a child involved, because he may not have known that his actions were affecting others.
I can understand why the school is taking every incident very seriously due to recent events, but I think they were being too extreme in this situation. Unless the pictures depicted a more serious threat, the school didn't need to suspend the kid. They could have called him into the office and asked about the drawings, but there was no need to suspend him for numerous days.
I understand why people are so worried about any little thing because of all the recent school shootings and threats, but I think the school responded unreasonably. Suspension was way too extreme. Most little kids don't really understand what's going on. I know that when I was younger I never followed the news at all. This kid might not even have known why he was suspended as he thought he was just drawing. Especially in his case, his family hunts so he's been exposed to guns so he could've been just drawing his family or even a character from Call of Duty. I don't think he had any intention of symbolizing a mass shooting or anything like that, he was just drawing a picture. But, I understand the caution each school is taking into account with all the recent incidents.
This falls under the same category as playing violent video games. Just because boys play violent video games doesn't make them more likely to shoot up a school. People have dealt with violence since the dawn of time. People by nature, however, are not violent killers. They need to be provoked. Therefore, simply drawing a knife doesn't deserve to be suspension worthy act.
Initially, I agreed that suspending the boy was maybe a bit much. But as I think about it, guns, knives, bad words, and any of that sort is inappropriate in school grounds and there are consequences if ones actions involve any of these things. In my middle school, kids were suspending for such things also so in reality it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Also, following the several school shooting and current political climate surrounding guns, the school’s actions are 100% understandable. I think they maybe should have consulted with the student first and made sure that this was nothing more than just a drawing. Overall, the school had the right reasons to suspend the boy as he failed to follow school rules.
Like everybody else, the school definitely acted out of hand. Ever since school shootings have unfortunately become more prominent in today's society, the stigma regarding school and anything related to guns has gotten worse. Because of this, people are more likely to exaggerate when anything remotely violent is brought up. However, this isn't one of those situations where there's a reported threat which prompts an increase in security. This is simply a boy sketching a couple of weapons on his notebook. Although I get that the school had good intentions, I think suspension is too much of a punishment. A simple conference with the parents would probably get the job. Also, you bring up a good point that other kids have done this before. Violence is a part of society and kids have been exposed to it, so the school really can't punish a kid for doing what other kids have also done before him.
I think that following the tragedy at Stoneman Douglas High School, schools have been extra sensitive to anything related to guns but in this case it is a bit excessive because it is natural for some children to draw things like this and just because someone draws a picture of a gun does not mean they have the intention to kill someone or carry out a school shooting.
Like most of the previous commenters have stated, I believe that the school's actions were a bit out of hand, and that they went too far in suspending the child. On one hand, I think that the reaction was definitely impacted by the recent school shootings that have occurred, so it is hard to get too upset at a school's administration that was just trying to ensure the safety of their students. On the other hand, they were just drawings, and I agree with the father of the suspended child in that I would bet that almost all middle school boys draw those types of things at some point. I am not sure whether the school intended to make the assumption that these drawings equate to the kid potentially shooting up the school, but if so, it is unfortunate because it just ended up putting both parties in tough situations. At the end of the day, I think that the school definitely had the right intentions, and somewhat justifiable reasons, to suspend the child, but they should have considered whether a drawing really justified a suspension.
While the school's response (as according to previous commentators) was leaning toward the side of being extreme, I would center my discussion on concern for the child's drawings. Yes, it's true that violent video games are immersed into the culture of our children's day-to-day playtimes nowadays. But I believe that we ought to be scaling back the violent images which we expose to our children. The fact that a child may absent-mindedly depict such violent images is a troubling revelation. In AP Psychology class we learned about Albert Bandura's famous bobo-doll experiment, which revealed the social-learning theory in psychology. Within the experiment, children who watched adults get rewarded for demonstrating excess violence towards a bobo doll were later more likely to exhibit more violence as well, even though the children were never directly reinforced or rewarded themselves. If we as a society in the United States want to reduce the amount of gun violence, a measure we ought to encourage, beyond gun control alone, is a reduction in the culture of violence. Following Bandura's findings, we ought to make sure that children are not exposed to video games or other social media that glorify violence, as these ideas may later corrupt their minds toward committing violent crimes. The child's drawing we saw in this news report ought to provide us a startling reminder that there is yet work to be done in promoting a more peaceful society that does not promote violence in children.
Post a Comment