# They drew stick figures! Take them away in chains! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 10, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476 "2005-02-10T23:00:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476/61 "2005-02-12T21:40:51Z")
That dummy is exactly the sort person we used to sell bags of oregano to. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476/62 "2005-02-13T04:20:40Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > one of my best friends in grade school would spend time with me drawing-we constructed tracked flame throwing nuclear vehicles capable of mayhem, bullet spraying machines, and one of my teachers (I think it was 4th grade) noted on a report card that “He shows great interest in mechanical design and drawing”. Yeah, but isn’t “bullet spraying machines” just a pussified way of saying “machine guns”? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476/63 "2005-02-13T08:07:21Z")
I was about to link to the story **danceswithcats** mentioned. Think the teacher busted the kid because she was pissed about paying ten bucks for a bag of dirt? Seriously, though. The only thing worse than these stories is the fact that there’s a new one every freakin’ week, and they keep getting more and more unbelievable. Forget it. I’m staying over here. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476/64 "2005-02-13T18:39:28Z")
Instead of just bitching about this and attempting to turn it into a partisan issue, wouldn’t it be more useful to try to figure out why Zero Tolerance rules came into effect in the first place? It seems to me that this is essentially an unintended consequence of a few things: 1. The public school system, like other government bureaucracies, has developed a serious cover-your-ass mentality. From their perspective, there is no downside to zero tolerance rules, and a significant upside - they don’t have to use judgement, which opens them to all kinds of charges of favoratism, racism, sexism, etc. So, you stuff everyone into the same box and apply the rules indiscriminately. 2. The endless series of lawsuits, protests, and other pressures put on the school system that has caused it to develop this CYA attitude. 3. The ongoing trend towards criminalizing thought and speech. 4. The ongoing trend to treat younger and younger children as adults in the legal system. There’s plenty of blame to go around. Personally, I like to blame the boomers. Worst. Generation. Ever. When they were teenagers, they ran amok. Now that they have children in the schools, they’re paranoid control freaks. They’re also highly litigious, and every-so politically correct. Bad combination. Wait until they retire. It will be illegal to make old person jokes. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476/65 "2005-02-13T21:01:36Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > **betenoir** … “infringing their rights _as a male_”??? 😕 > Fuck, girls have as much of a right to channel violent emotion. Don’t direct this to me. Ask duffer. Who said : “Anyway, my take on this shit is it’s one more way to deny boys from acting like boys in any way possible, under any banner possible, to pussify the American male.” That was the comment I was responding to. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@Agent\_Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Cooper)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476/66 "2005-02-14T15:34:28Z")
I never really _need_ the reminder, but I always appreciate news like this as my own kind of birth control. “Oh yeah! THAT’S why I’m never having kids!” ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476/67 "2005-02-14T16:01:27Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > … “infringing their rights _as a male_”??? 😕 > Fuck, girls have as much of a right to channel violent emotion. Well, of course. But they don’t as much…see how many of these kinds of stories you see with girls. Therefore, _in effect_, this acts as yet another piece of liberalism in the Education Establishment [tm]. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-drew-stick-figures-take-them-away-in-chains/289476.md?page=3)