I think that’s a great question and perhaps worthy of its own thread. I think we’re at real risk of creating a terrible anxiety problem when we remove the imaginary tools by which children face and defeat their imaginary demons.
As good ol’ GK Chesterton said, “What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.” But now we’re taking away St. George (in combat fatigues). So who is left to kill the dragons?
Never mind. Killing is bad. Buy a new iPad and you won’t notice the dragons…
I think the principal must be insanely retarded. What the hell is she going to do when the kids open a history book? Is she going to take sharpies to all pictures of guns? :rolleyes:
(God, I remember when I was in first grade I dressed up as a cowgirl for Halloween, complete with gun belt and a toy pistol. Lord only knows how that would go over today!)
I’m not outraged or anything, but I think this is an example of the principal having to choose her battles, and her choosing incorrectly. Sure, someone would have complained if the soldiers had stayed on the cupcakes, but would it have made such a stir? I suspect not. The complainer probably wouldn’t have gone to the media, lest he/she be seen as a killjoy or (worse) not supportive of the troops.
So while I don’t really have a problem with the principal from a hygiene/safety/cultural point of view, it was probably way more trouble than it was worth to remove the toys. I wouldn’t have done if I had been in her place.
You forgot option C: Principal is neither right nor wrong, but Dad is a total WTF from beginning to end.
I mean, honestly. If you’re going to put a cheap shitty plastic toy on top of a cupcake, you make it some kind of cheap shitty plastic toy that can stand alone, like a ring or one of those ball-bearing games or something. Even if the cupcakes hadn’t been altered, what do the parents think kids are going to do with one green plastic army man? That’s like having one Lego. It’s gonna get pitched or otherwise destroyed by the end of the day. And alerting the goddamn media because the cheap shitty plastic toy that nobody wants got taken off your kid’s cupcakes? Seriously? That’s something you bitch to your friends about, maybe call the principal over, and then let go.
When I was a kid 40 or so years ago, my dad and I made a crossbow out of an old auto spring from plans in a 1950s home mechanic magazine (he did the hard stuff like cutting the spring down but I did most of the woodcarving). I happily took it into my grade 6 class. The teacher and the kids all loved it. In fact, we took it outside for a demonstration shot at a target on a tree. We then spent the afternoon learing about medieval knights and the importance of the crossbow.
These days, he’d be in jail, I’d be in councilling, my dad would be interviewed by social workers, and the whole matter would be on the news.
I think it was reasonable to ban toy soldiers from school, not because they’re soldiers, but because they’re toys. The kids are going to be playing with them when they’re supposed to be listening to the teacher or doing schoolwork, and that’s going to be disruptive. As long as no disciplinary action was taken beyond removing the toys, I don’t see a problem.
Which is not to say that the principal’s reasoning was reasonable, just because it ended up at a reasonable conclusion.
This, pretty much. If the toys were removed because the school had a policy against small toys in the classroom, fine. To remove the toys because of tiny, fake guns is ludicrous.
By the way, the response from the school includes the line:
Um, no, it doesn’t. Democracy means majority rule, period. It’s pretty much the antithesis of respecting opposing opinions. Democracy in it’s purest form entails “might makes right”. The US, however, is not a democracy. It is a representative republic - which still doesn’t “entail” respect for opposing opinions. In our efforts to be PC, once again we miseducate.
In addition for castigating the father for calling in reporters over an insignificant decision, we should also take the press to task for printing it. I’m certain there are more important things happening in that community that they could report on. I really hate yellow journalism.
It got reported because it’s one more example of paranoid silliness about kids and toy guns. Theres been several examples of kids getting in trouble for drawing gun like objects, tearing paper into the shape, or even pointing a finger and thumb in a gun like gesture.
We’ve got to settle down and relax. Sandy Hook was one abhorrent event perpetrated by a madmen. It’s time to move on and stop freaking out when kids are doing kid like things. Imagination is a kids best toy. They can create a entire pretend world from the simplest things. Playing cops and robbers, soldiers, or cowboys is all part of natural child’s play.
