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“Nickolas Taylor, a fifth-grader, was suspended [from school for two days] after pointing an imaginary ray gun – his finger – and mouthing laser sounds in the school’s cafeteria last Friday,” milforddailynews.com reports. Nickolas’ father Brian is not amused. “I think this is very slanderous toward Nickolas and his character. It was non-threatening. He’s just a typical boy with an imagination.” Prevaricate much? Who cares if the hand gesture was threatening? Isn’t instructing children in proper social interaction part of the school system’s remit? Anyway, here’s young master Nicholas’ description of events . . .

In the report provided by Brian Taylor, Collins writes two girls came to him saying that Nickolas cut the lunch line and, when confronted, pointed the imaginary gun at them while mouthing the shooting sounds.

In an interview with the Daily News, Nickolas said he was standing behind the girls and was shooting his imaginary gun in no particular direction.

Note to children: always point your finger gun in a safe direction. Do not point it at anything you’re not willing to annoy. Violation will invoke the first rule of bureaucratic bluster: slavish adherence to published rules is the only defense against chaos, disorder and moral disintegration.

A conduct slip, written by Assistant Principal Noah Collins, lists the offense as a threat . . .

In the school’s 88-page handbook, threats are listed as an offense punishable by detention, suspension, or even expulsion based on the severity.

The level of severity is often at the discretion of the administrator tasked to reprimand the student, said School Committee Chairperson Scott Harrison.

Policies against threats and guns have been implemented in the district for decades, he said. The School Committee has made no recent revisions to the policy.

Though the handbook explicitly lists toy weapons as items banned from school grounds, there is no clause that specifically addresses imaginary weapons.

Staff writer Bill Shaner is hereby forgiven for his barely concealed sarcasm. In case you’re wondering if Nickolas is a perfidious finger gun felon, his father asserts that his sprog has “no history of discipline outside detentions for incomplete school work.” That said . . .

Mr. Taylor reveals that Nickolas has been diagnosed with ADHD and sometimes is disciplined because he is “hyperactive and fails to focus.” More PC-speak for a child who needs guidance – who ain’t getting what he needs. Anyway, let’s just hope Nickolas doesn’t learn how to use both hands to shoot a pretend “assault rifle.”

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70 COMMENTS

      • Even special needs children aren’t exempt from the school’s policy. They must be punished to set an example for special needs children even if they can’t understand the gravity of the offense or control their limbs properly!

        • It seems that the school officials are in need of “special education” more that the student.
          How stupid.
          I suppose throwing a paper wad is a capital offense.

        • Honor students aren’t exempt from the idiocy…

          Honor student charged with 2 felonies for making a volcano as science experiment
          http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/kiera-wilmot/

          Although prosecutors eventually declined to pursue Kiera as a criminal, the charges themselves continue to taint Kiera’s record and impede her future success.

          “All my charges have been dropped, but the lawyer says that it takes 5 years to clear each felony off the record,” Kiera said.

          The Advancement Project is presenting Wilmot’s story as an example of what they call the “School-to-Prison Pipeline.”.

    • Yet another reason to homeschool.

      Hardest, best, most challenging, most rewarding thing we have ever done. Our kids are worth it.

  2. Get. Your. Children. Out. Of. Government. Run. Schools.

    If you mistakenly think money is the issue, the ‘nicer house,’ coolest car, adult-age toys (golf clubs, four wheelers, another gun for the safe, etc) are not worth your child’s future.

    All government schools suck. There is no “but our school is one of the good ones.” They ALL suck.

    The public education institution exists to serve only itself – the institution – not your child. Read John Taylor Gatto for more detail.

  4. Students won’t even know Florida is a state if the school bureaucrats ever realize the founding fathers intended its shape to resemble a handgun.
    /sarc

    • They have already banned maps of Idaho because it looks like a pop-tart chewed gun when you tilt it onto one side.

  6. It feels like we already live in the Dystopian future where everything is hyper PC, nagging shrews chastise every child for every behavior and nobody wants to do the right thing anymore. Sickening.

    • Sexual harassment? 6-year-old suspended for kiss on hand
      http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/10/first-grade-kiss-suspension/3963813/

      A child psychologist told KRDO that tough love in this case could have negative consequences. She said kissing is normal behavior for children of that age.

      “For most 6-year-old boys, absolutely. That would be a normal behavior,” said Sandy Wurtele, a child clinical psychologist who specializes in child sexual development and the prevention of childhood sexual abuse.

      Wurtele said she was surprised to hear the school suspended him.

      “That really gives mixed messages, negative messages to the kids,” she said. “This part of development is just as important if not more than their academic subjects.”

      Wurtele said children at that age are simply curious about the differences between boys and girls.

  7. I fear for what the future generation will become due to this kind of sterilization of our kids. It’s really starting to look more dystopian day by day. My kids are already home schooling, thank God I don’t have to put up with this BS

    • We are already seeing it, this kind of bullshit was getting started at younger grades when I was in highschool (late twenties now). The product are a bunch of special snowflakes who get trophies for showing up and a mandatory passing grade just for having 98.6 degree body temperature. When they get into the real world and suffer rejection from a real person they either kill themselves alone, or worse they take a bunch of people with them on their way out.

      Look at that kid in Washington, every says he doesnt fit the profile, but he absolutely does, he was an athlete, moderately popular, and for all intents and purposes appeared outwardly successful, but he gets rejected by his best friend poaching his girlfriend and completely melts down.

    • In the school’s 88-page handbook,

      An 88-page handbook for an elementary school?!

      “Well, the handbook says…”

      No individual thought, reason or intellect required on the part of administrators.

      That fits entirely with the Statist agenda of making individuality obsolete.

      Twilight Zone – The Obsolete Man
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZymJAsxHbVg

  9. ‘Mr. Taylor reveals that Nickolas has been diagnosed with ADHD and sometimes is disciplined because he is “hyperactive and fails to focus.” More PC-speak for a child who needs guidance – who ain’t getting what he needs.’

    Actually, ADHD is feminist school-speak for “boy child.” And if he’s not ADHD, then he’s Asperger’s. Either way, dope him to the gills with who-knows-what and pray that he sits still for 12 years until he can be turned out into the community. And then the feminists all sit around and wonder why men don’t act like men anymore.

    Government schools are no place for children, and boy children especially. Homeschool already.

    • Yeah somewhere along the way letting “Boys be Boys” got labeled as a clinical/psychological defect. No need to home school necessarily but for the love of God send you boys to a good all boys summer camp, or enroll them in a scout troop (albeit one where maybe you know the scout leader isn’t a pedo) where they can be themselves while being taught to use their energy to be constructive.

    • Also notice that as schools increasingly eliminate recess and PE time, the number of students (read as boys) sent for diagnostics and declared ADHD/ADD/Awhatever increases. Boys need to burn off energy.

    • “Actually, ADHD is feminist school-speak for “boy child.” And if he’s not ADHD, then he’s Asperger’s”

      Although it’s often overused by underfinformed school personnel, ADHD is a genuine cognitive disorder. Properly diagnosed (you really need to do a full neuro-psychological evaluation) and treated, ADHD kids can function much better in all social relationships, not just school. Specifically, the term refers to “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder”. While not everyone with the disorder needs meds, those who do really need their meds. In children (and even adults) the difference can be profound. ADHD kids tend to be uncommonly bright but are often marginalized by their inability to interact successfully with others. Medical intervention can be transformative allowing affected children to go from being marginalized school failures to straight “A” students. I’ve seen it happen many times.

      • Never, ever, trust the school’s diagnosis that your child is ADHD. Always have your child evaluated by a private specialist in your employ. Although there are good school psychologists, the district they work for will almost always exert subtle and not-so subtle pressure to influence diagnostic outcomes.

        • The bureaucracy exists to ensure the smooth functioning of the bureaucracy.

          Anyone who interferes will be “pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered!”

      • Agreed that there are cases, however it is also used as a crutch by so-called educators. Give kids back their recess to blow off their energy by running, jumping, climbing, and using their imaginations.

  11. When I was a kid (about 6 or 7 yrs old)we used to play “WAR” at school during lunch recess and we all died overly dramatic deaths by machine guns and bombs fighting imaginary North Koreans all whilst using the slide and jungle gym for cover. Boys and girls participated, teachers DNGAF.

    Note: this was while we were in S. Korea at the time lol

    • Yeah, we did the same thing in the middle of corn country, Indiana.

      The real threat here is that the boy was displaying use of an imagination. You’re not allowed to have one of those in a Government Indoctrination Center. A student should only think about Government sanctioned things, like Barack Hussein Obama, mmmm mmm mmmm, and all hail Gaia.

      • “The real threat here is that the boy was displaying use of an imagination. You’re not allowed to have one of those in a Government Indoctrination Center.”

        Exactly.

        This poor kid has everything going against him:

        He’s male.
        He has an imagination.
        His parents have him enrolled in that Re-Education Camp.

        He hardly stands a chance.

      • @Chip Bennett said: The real threat here is that the boy was displaying use of an imagination.

        Spot on!

        Meanwhile, at 29 million views and counting, “Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.”

        How schools kill creativity
        http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

        Well worth 18 minutes.

        Robinson provides an excellent example of what happens when a child (in this case Gillian Lynne) who doesn’t fit “the system” is recognized for who she is, rather than disciplined, treated or medicated.

  12. Don’t think of it as excessive response to a juvenile’s mock-violence.

    Think of it as the boy’s brief reprieve from their stupid-as-F_ _K educational system.

    Thank God MA is a small state, because we’ll have to put a fence around it soon.

    • “Think of it as the boy’s brief reprieve from their stupid-as-F_ _K educational system.”

      That’s a nice thought except for one big, glaring problem.

      His own father is working hard to get him back in.

      What’s the message the kid is seeing in all this? What is he internalizing (to use the psycho-babble term)?

      Getting kicked out of school = bad, even so bad Dad is trying to right that wrong. The boy is not learning getting out of there is a step to freedom. He’s learning school = right and proper.

      He’s learning to bend in order to stay in the system. He’s learning about “compromise” and “compliance.”

      He’s watching his own father negotiate his re-instatement (reincarceration) into his own intellectual prison.

      • +1 on that. The father should be using this as a teachable moment to impress the kid with the idiocy of government. He should be showing the kid that this is the kind of idiocy the kid will have to deal with all through school, into and through college: “educated” idiots who can’t tell the difference between a real gun and a pop tart – or a finger.

        “See, Nick? Your teachers and the school administration are all really stupid people, so you shouldn’t believe anything they tell you.”

        • My wife and I have those kind of teachable moments at least once a week with our daughter.

          For example, one day I explained, “I can conceal carry in front of the school on the public sidewalk, but if I were trip and fall onto the grass (school property), why that would be a felony offense.”

          Her jaw dropped, she rolled her eyes and said, “Well that’s a stupid law.”

  13. Just more pathologizing of boyhood. I couldn’t be more grateful that I graduated high school before all this garbage started.

  14. This type of punishment is so asinine, I would raise holy hell on the teacher or staff member who initiated the suspension if that were my child. This is what’s wrong with public schools in America, and for the most part private schools too. Educators are more concerned with disciplining children and their parents for violations of their own set of ideals. I mean, who did the kid hurt with his action?

    Children nowadays will learn how guns are bad, questioning authority is frowned upon and taking answers at face value is more important than empirical research, questioning authority and realizing that the Government is in place to serve the people, not the other way around.

    • “Educators are more concerned with disciplining children and their parents for violations of their own set of ideals.”

      That’s not an accident. This was organized (or at least written down) in the 1950’s.

      http://www.rense.com/general32/americ.htm

      Check out 17,18,19 and 28-32. The others are important to read and understand, too. But those will open some eyes on the “roll of modern public education.”

  16. Just part of the social conditioning of the younger generations attitudes on the 2A. These stories will continue and escalate, regardless of which party holds any office. Only a massive grassroots legal legitimate challenge to the constitutionality of these policies has any hope of changing this. Don’t hold your breath. And don’t count on the courts to play fair either.

  17. Wow. In school I carried a 3″ knife; so did just about everybody. Noone gave a flip.

    California, from ’67 through 79 – K-10, before I dropped out of high school and into college.

    Different world.

  18. Speaking from the standpoint of a recently escaped (read retired) teacher, I’ve come in contact with these kinds of rules, and the people who enforce them, on many occasions. What happened to this little kid is infuriating because the application of the “rule” has nothing to do with his behavior. He was deliberately victimized by being turned into a public spectacle for the benefit of first his teacher and then the school administration. This is shameful on so many levels. Our schools are doomed.

  19. If possible…HOME SCHOOL PEOPLE. My son and brother do it. My brother has 10 kids(seriously) and one is disables with cerebral palsy. And they sacrificed. Thank God my kids are grown…

    • “If possible…HOME SCHOOL”

      I would say, based on my own concentrated study and direct observation, that except in certain very, very specific circumstances (such as some single parent homes), it is generally possible.

      Too many prioritize materialism and consumerist greed over their children. That may sound harsh, but it’s my observation.

      I have seen people make the sacrifices necessary to homeschool. THAT is quite inspiring to witness.

      Remember: before the mid 1800’s, everybody homeschooled. And Gatto’s research shows that literacy in America has actually DECREASED since making the shift to institutional education.

      That’s a dirty little secret few want to admit.

  20. In my day, Nickolas would’ve received a butt-warmin’ and no recess for a day or two–for cutting in line. ADHD or no. Oh wait… there was no ADHD in my day. Full disclosure: My 4 nephews lovingly call me Evil Aunt Micah.

  21. Dad should organize a pew-pew day during recess where all students participate.
    Suspend the whole school!

  22. The complete and total idiocy of today’s school system amazes me. If I had done what this kid did, I would get ignored until I got too carried away with it, then I would be told to stop. I also remember kids getting in fights, and if one kid started it, and the other kid merely defended himself, the kid who started it got in trouble. Now days, if one kid starts it, and the other defends himself, they both get in trouble.

  24. Thank God for Lutheran schools – my son brought a “I love Guns and Coffee” mug to school and the teacher loved it.

    They also play cowboys with guns. I have an awesome photo of his class all on the playground playing with their little hand-guns. It’s especially cool because 90% of the kids are minorities – having fun isn’t just for white people.

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