Did you hear about the fourth grader who got suspended for bringing an empty shell casing to school? Seriously, during a recent Memorial Day service one of the veterans gave the young boy two empty brass casings as a souvenir from the ceremony. The child was proud…he gave one to his grandfather and with the permission of his mother brought the other empty shell to school.
The teacher went bizerk! She immediately took the casing away from the young boy and started moving the process forward so that the child got punished with a 5–day suspension from school. It was a big issue under the school’s “zero tolerance” weapons-related policy.
The whole matter leaves me shaking my head in utter disbelief. Where has the common sense gone in this world? Oh, sure, I understand that schools of today and not exactly the same as when I attended them 35 years ago…but good grief. The shell was from a blank…yes, I said blank round so it never was a real shell capable of hurting anyone. Lost in all of this is the chance for a young child to experience a meaningful moment appreciating what Memorial Day really symbolizes in our modern 21st Century world.
Certainly I can’t change what’s happening in this Massachusetts school, but it made me ponder for a moment just how during my school days life was much different. Obviously the whole attitude about guns and related accessories has changed drastically while on school grounds.
Heck, I remember in my shop class one of my pals built a recurve bow from scratch by purchasing raw wood materials and bending the wood to shape. I remember another kid who refinished an old shotgun in woods class and did all the disassembly IN SCHOOL under the guidance of the shop teacher. During my high school years there were times I had a cased shotgun in my school locker…and for good reason. Once after school sports got finished if you wanted to hunt a person had to make wise use of the remaining time before sunset.
But those days are gone forever, I’m afraid. No, what I remember most about my school days were my teachers. Teachers who were hunters and fishermen and were not shy about passing those passions along to the students.
Mr. Senjem was one teacher who used to give me all sorts of crap. He once drove by my house and witnessed me fly casting with my new outfit on my lawn…WITH SNOW STILL ON THE GROUND. I couldn’t wait for spring…I wanted to practice my casting and with all the rivers and lakes still frozen the backyard seemed like a logical place to hone those skills. Problem was, when Senjem seen me I was subsequently teased for years about my “snow bass” fishing outings.
Truth is Mr. Senjem was a fishing fool and teased me because he understood the passion. Other teachers were passionate about bowhunting for deer. Yet, other teachers were into waterfowl hunting or upland bird hunting. In many ways having teachers that I looked up to and respected as role models only further cemented those feelings when I realized I shared a love of the outdoors with them.
I feel sorry for today’s youth. It was easier being a sportsman back in my days, especially in the school setting. When a youth can get in trouble for bringing an empty shell casing to school that seems a bit over-the-top for me. I can only imagine that teachers who share the passion are probably a bit “gun shy” about wearing that passion on their sleeves these days, too.
Honestly, I can say that in no small way I grew to love the outdoors thanks in large part to the teachers who loved to hunt and fish. These teachers routinely shared their stories with the class and everyone in the classroom (whether they hunted/fished or not) had the pleasure of being exposed to them.
Indeed, I fear the good ol’ days of fostering the sportsman way of life in our schools has been largely lost in this new politically correct, oft intellectually bankrupt world. Somewhere along the way our society has equated guns with being evil…and this misrepresentation really makes me feel sad.
2008 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.
I'm not sure how much different it is now - but, I just graduated from HS 7 years ago, and many of my teachers hunted and fished. It was nice to be able to find that common ground - and share stories after school.
I read about this Maryland issue on another blog - I'll have to try and find it again, but there is an email address we can write to one of the administrators if you're so inclined. I agree that this is one of the more ridiculous things I've heard.
Posted by: Tom Sorenson | June 03, 2008 at 12:04 PM