Student Makes Wood Knife – Suspended!

Here’s another incident that started out innocuously and ended up with serious repercussions. A student in Castle Park Middle School in Chula Vista, California, was “caught” by a teacher making a wooden knife in shop class. If you were the teacher, what would you have done? How would you have reacted?In this particular case, the wood shop teacher did what he thought was best – he called the campus security and had the student escorted to the assistant principal’s office. For his part, the assistant principal called in the police to talk to the student. The mother was then called up and the student was suspended for 4 days. As it is already Christmas vacation, he would not be going back to school till the start of the New Year.

So what is the issue here? The incident actually caused an uproar among people who heard about it. There are camps saying that the teacher and the school authorities in fact over reacted. On the other hand, there are those saying that they did the right thing – times have changed and schools have to enact a zero tolerance policy in order to ensure safety.

As I was reading the news article, I was mulling on the incident myself. Did the wood shop teacher do the right thing? Was there a better way that he could have handled the situation? Same thing for the assistant principal – was calling the police in the best course of action?

This occurrence is actually indicative of the dilemma that school administrators are facing, I believe. On the one hand, they know that they must be strict and enforce security measures to the fullest. On the other hand, they must also take each incident in context and analyze the factors involved in each one.

For this student who fashioned a knife out of a piece of wood – in wood shop, no less – it is hard to say whether the authorities took the best course. I would like to think that if I were the teacher, I would have talked to the student first. Then again, I do not have information regarding the student’s background and if he had any history of violence or insubordination. These things would play a big role as to what decisions school authorities should take.

I know I have not said anything conclusive but I do not think I am in the position to do so. What would you have done?

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4 Responses to “Student Makes Wood Knife – Suspended!”

  1. What the hell?

    The student was punished for making a knife?

    That takes imagination and skill, and look what happened to him…

    The student should have been praised for being so creative and making such a useful tool, and the teacher and pricipal, sacked.

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  3. I think if the student was a good kid and didnt have any other reports of violence or misbehavior. He should have let it slide and gave him a warning saying he was going to tell the principal. If the principle thought he should get expelled he should have suspended him for a short time and said next time your expelled. and if he didnt use it then just take it away if he was still making then just take it away
    Chris

  4. How is this misbehaviour?

    For those who have been brainwashed by the media, a knife is NOT a weapon by default. Is a hammer a weapon? Are your fists a weapon?

    This story reflects upon our sheeple society, Ted from above being top of the list.