I never stated that I assumed the kid did anything. My point is that we don't know.

 

If that is the policy of the school system, it sounds like the teachers and administrators who made this decision didn't have much choice in the matter and followed the policy set forth.

 

If we want to bash lawmakers then I can get on board with that.

That was my point. The teachers and administrators had no choice because of the stupid zero tolerance policy that left them no power of discretion. There was no good reason for the people in charge to not have the authority to postpone the punishment or decide that a lesser punishment made more sense. Zero tolerance policies take authority away from school teachers and administrators that should not be taken away. This kind of policy leads to ridiculous situations where kids who have flimsy plastic knives innocently packed in their lunch boxes are suspended from school for possessing a knife that their parents packed.

^That chart pretty much describes my feelings about the contributions that most lawyers and politicians make to our society in general. Lawmakers generally have very little knowledge about anything beyond raising money and exploiting the hard work of honest Americans.

You can't save the world on the paper. You have to be able to put trust and faith in people and their judgment. Evil people will always exist and will always attempt to do harm to others whether with a swiss army knife or drowning another camper in the drinking water. We just have to hope that as society, we do not cause unneeded harm to ourselves or other individuals as a result of zero tolerance. I personally do not want to want to give up freedoms out of fear. I have commented on this thread because I could see my son taking his swiss army knife on the trip. He has the same one and because of situations like this, I may be reluctant to ever send my son a such a trip if it were offered.

You can't save the world on the paper. You have to be able to put trust and faith in people and their judgment. Evil people will always exist and will always attempt to do harm to others whether with a swiss army knife or drowning another camper in the drinking water. We just have to hope that as society, we do not cause unneeded harm to ourselves or other individuals as a result of zero tolerance. I personally do not want to want to give up freedoms out of fear. I have commented on this thread because I could see my son taking his swiss army knife on the trip. He has the same one and because of situations like this, I may be reluctant to ever send my son a such a trip if it were offered.

 

Why not just send him without the swiss army knife?

Why not just send him without the swiss army knife?

 

It was my understanding that the boy took it upon his self to take the knife. The same as I could see my son doing. I would never had given it to him to take, but I could see him thinking of the knife the same way he would a lantern or a canteen. I wish there were not messed up individuals in the world and people would not have to live in fear of a camping tool, but how far do you go to keep people safe. Most kids could have done more damage with a rock or a stick that than boy could have done with the tool he had. Maybe people should just play Wii camping from their living rooms.