# Poll: Principal allows students to bring water guns to class- do you have a problem? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790 "2011-05-13T16:36:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/41 "2011-05-14T06:28:14Z")
I know I would hate to be squirted all day and sit around damp for 8 hours. So I’m against it. Now if it was just at lunchtime or something, and outdoors, that would be different. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/42 "2011-05-14T07:28:54Z")
No problem at all. And I hate objections made under the concept of kids being too rowdy. So what? Kids have these sort of things all the time. Why is it suddenly worse in a school? As for the reason to do this: it’s called letting the kids have fun. Heck, it’s likely to actually get kids to attend. When I was in high school, there were about 30 people out of 600 by 9:30. You want to opt out? Take your test and leave like everyone else. This isn’t junior high, where you have to wait on your parents. Heck, you likely drove yourself to school, or at least have a friend who did. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/43 "2011-05-14T11:24:58Z")
I don’t have a problem with it, but it seems pretty stupid. There are good ideas and bad ones and this idea has no point to it. I remember Mama Harper telling Euince _Eunice where the HELL did you get the idea that a water gun and a water bomb were the same thing? You nearly gave that poor girl a concussion_ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/44 "2011-05-14T11:29:18Z")
> [@Ladymarmalade](#): > > Several thousand hyped up kids, not all of them well-mannered, constantly re-filling these water guns. Halls slick with water, ready for a fall. Kids going too far, running in the water, ganging up and not all of it kidding, deciding oh yeah well let’s fill this cup, bookbag, book, whatever with water to get even, bigger fun, yay, and then someone falls, someone goes too far, someone gets mad … all this for eight hours, and it will be “controlled” when there is what, one adult per twenty kids and “incidents” happen within seconds? Not to be a wet blanket, haha, but I think it’s an idea that sounds fun, but there is going to be trouble, guaranteed. I would love to hear how it goes though. Oh noes! If you let some children bring water guns to school, all the football players are going to use their gunz to bully teh little nerd kids, and the floors will be too wet and everyone will slip and fall and die! ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/45 "2011-05-14T12:19:04Z")
> [@Ladymarmalade](#): > > LOL. And how many of you have actually taught in a high school, may I ask? I think it’s safe to assume most of us have _been_ to high school, so I don’t know where you think you’re going with that question. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/46 "2011-05-14T13:28:47Z")
Some of those guns are gonna be filled with pee… Though I’m personally against guns, I don’t really care about toy guns. And it’s the last day of school, so whatever ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/47 "2011-05-14T15:32:52Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Some of those guns are gonna be filled with pee… Or bleach. (Boys would use pee because they could do that themselves easily. Girls would go to bleach because they’d think about ruining people’s clothes.) Or something else stinky or destructive. Add that to the bullying aspect. Yeah, my happy butt would’ve stayed right at home if my school had done something like this. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/48 "2011-05-14T16:00:02Z")
My gods. You guys sound like the wiener kids who got agitated every time anyone else had fun, and if the school’s iron fist eased up ever so slightly, you’d become paranoid because you thought it would somehow lead to you being picked on. “Rut roh. We’re gonna let people play with toys? They’re going to use them to abuse me, aren’t they? I need a lot of restrictions to protect me. I’m scared. Halp!” I’m sure most of the kids just think it’ll be fun, and won’t turn this into an opportunity to squirt bleach in other students’ eyes, or drown the scrawny kids. I know I would have thought it was awesome. Water guns are the shit. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/49 "2011-05-14T18:29:09Z")
I voted that I had a problem by accident, but meant to put that I didn’t. Heck, my school sorta has one of these. On field day all the kids get soaked and all have much fun. I brought my water gun and went after the kids. They got soaked. I got soaked. All had much fun. I even used one of the eighth graders as a human shield when his friends went after me with a hose. I think its good for school to have a relaxed day as long as the school culture allows it. However, if a school has a major problem with bullying or with treating faculty members properly it may be a bad idea to allow such a day. But the problem would have to be widespread and not isolated to a few individuals. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/50 "2011-05-14T19:28:20Z")
That would be such an awesome day. It should only be outside, because otherwise there is a genuinely big risk of someone falling and getting seriously hurt, and the water would damage computers, any art hanging on the walls, science equipment, etc. And kids who didn’t want to play could then stay inside watching movies and playing games and the usual things people do on the last day. One school I worked at allowed water pistols one day (and asked people to donate extra ones so that everyone had a chance to play) but only outdoors and it was really good fun. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/51 "2011-05-14T20:37:18Z")
I can see pros and cons of the situation. I will just share this anecdote without further comment. When our older son was stationed in Iraq, the men in his barracks used to have battles using Super Soakers. In one of those freakish accidents which seem to happen to my family members, another Marine shot our son dead in the eye. He had to be taken to the hospital in Baghdad - he was ever so embarrassed over it. The Marine Corps was afraid that he’d lose enough of his eyesight that he could no longer be a sharpshooter. He did recover, and didn’t lose his certification, but it was a concern for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/52 "2011-05-14T20:56:41Z")
If that were proposed at my school, I’d be so fucking pissed. As a teacher, I do not want to oversee that shit. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/53 "2011-05-14T21:02:19Z")
Hell, I think they should let kids bring _real_ guns to class. Think about it: Columbine would have never happened if the good students had been armed\*. \*This message brought to you by the NRA ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/54 "2011-05-14T22:34:50Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > My gods. You guys sound like the wiener kids who got agitated every time anyone else had fun, and if the school’s iron fist eased up ever so slightly, you’d become paranoid because you thought it would somehow lead to you being picked on. Maybe that’s because every time our school’s “iron fist” eased up, we _were_ picked on. Or tormented. Or otherwise made very very well aware of our outcast status and treated exactly like shit by the social rulers of our schools. Bullying is real. In case you hadn’t noticed in the headlines lately, it is so real that kids are killing themselves over it. Its effects tend to last for a while, even into adulthood. I won’t pretend that my response isn’t in direct reaction to the shitty way that the little prince and princesses of my school treated me with the de facto approval of, amongst others, my homeroom teacher my senior year. In return, how about if proponents of this activity try _not_ pretending that bullying isn’t a consideration when kids are given free reign to behave in ways that are, by design, going to turn into battles and ambushes and the like. It’s naive, at best. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/55 "2011-05-15T00:04:00Z")
I’m familiar with the concept of bullying, but not every moment to let loose will be seized as a field day to beat people up. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/56 "2011-05-15T00:18:23Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I’m familiar with the concept of bullying, but not every moment to let loose will be seized as a field day to beat people up. Obviously you didn’t go to high school with the same people that I did. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/57 "2011-05-15T00:34:45Z")
I was taught that you should never point a water pistol at someone unless you intend to drown them. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/58 "2011-05-15T00:41:20Z")
Great. First the HUSSEIN agenda comes in and steals all my real guns (well, the’re priming to, just wait) and now my water guns are next I just know it! All my civil liberties are being washed away! Yes it was happening in a different country but the HUSSEIN administration will surely use this to take away my water guns. _begins stockpiling water-based firearms_ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/59 "2011-05-15T01:09:34Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > Obviously you didn’t go to high school with the same people that I did. Nor did the rest of us. God made Man, but SuperSoaker made them equal. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790/60 "2011-05-15T01:47:27Z")
It’s all fun and games 'til somebody loses an eye. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-principal-allows-students-to-bring-water-guns-to-class-do-you-have-a-problem/581790.md?page=4)