ah! he’s got a (paper) gun!
talk about an overreaction. an arizona school has suspended a student for drawing a picture of a gun.
the boy’s parents said the drawing was a harmless doodle and school officials overreacted.
“the school made him feel like he committed a crime. they are doing more damage than good,” said the boy’s mother, paula mosteller.
the drawing did not show blood, bullets, injuries or target any human, the parents said. and the east valley tribune reported that the boy said he didn’t intend for the picture to be a threat.
so now drawings, without any context, are perceived as threats without any effort taken to talk to the boy before suspending him? hmmm, let’s see, cars can kill people. should we outlaw the drawing of cars? animals can kill people. better not depict animals in any drawing or it’s the boot for you.
maybe we should try talking to kids instead of giving them the idea that some things are just wrong. why did you draw the gun? do you know how guns work? do you know what guns are capable of? are these questions too much to ask? instead, the kid is probably embarrassed and everybody thinks they should keep a close eye on him. is that any way for a 13-year old to live?
matt @ 9:29 am on 8/23/07