Kids carrying knives in school

[Hand Sword]

I was in middle school (6th to 8th) in the late '80's and in high school (early 90's) in Boston, Ma. The homicide rate was off the charts back then, we had a little gang problem also. A lot of people were "strapped" back then, simply because everyone else was too.

 

[KenpoTex]

So, pencils, pens, belts, and other such "weapons" shouldn't be carried either? Anything can be a weapon. It is all attitude!

When I was in high school in the early 70's many of us not only carried knives but we also had rifles or shotguns in our vehicles from going hunting before or after school. We even had a required gun safey and hunting safety class as well as a skeet club at the high school. Oh how we were abused, traumatized, and miss led by our parents and teachers. Imagine actually having to learn how to handle and use a weapon safely At School! We were mentally and emotionally devastated for life.

Danny

When I was in HS in rural west-Texas (I graduated in '99) this was still very common. Everyone had a gun rack in their trucks and everyone openly carried knives (mostly Buck and Case). They used to make an announcement the day before the state came down for "random" drug inspections, etc. so that the students would be able to leave their guns and knives at home for the day.

 

[Lisa]

When I was in HS in rural west-Texas (I graduated in '99) this was still very common. Everyone had a gun rack in their trucks and everyone openly carried knives (mostly Buck and Case). They used to make an announcement the day before the state came down for "random" drug inspections, etc. so that the students would be able to leave their guns and knives at home for the day.

Kenpotex,

After reading some of your posts similar to this one, I am very intrigued by your lifestyle. You sometimes leave me with my jaw on my lap because things like this I had heard of but often thought weren't true. Boy do I live a sheltered life up here in Canada.

I read your response to my husband, he reaction was "Wow, I wanna live there, he had the best childhood"

 

[KenpoTex]

Kenpotex,

After reading some of your posts similar to this one, I am very intrigued by your lifestyle. You sometimes leave me with my jaw on my lap because things like this I had heard of but often thought weren't true. Boy do I live a sheltered life up here in Canada.

I read your response to my husband, he reaction was "Wow, I wanna live there, he had the best childhood"

It was great, I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience living in a place like that for a few years ('96-99) it was definately a sharp contrast to the big cities I've lived in(San Antonio,Tx, Denver,Co, & Dallas,Tx) and even to the smaller cities (Amarillo,Tx, Lubbock,Tx, and Springfield, MO). It was/is a different world. Picture Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show and you'll have a pretty good idea of what it was like. Everybody knew everybody; we never locked our house, even if we were gone all day; and we left the keys in the ignition of the car with the windows rolled down and had no fear whatsoever of having the vehicle stolen.

 

[terryl965]

So, pencils, pens, belts, and other such "weapons" shouldn't be carried either? Anything can be a weapon. It is all attitude!

When I was in high school in the early 70's many of us not only carried knives but we also had rifles or shotguns in our vehicles from going hunting before or after school. We even had a required gun safey and hunting safety class as well as a skeet club at the high school. Oh how we were abused, traumatized, and miss led by our parents and teachers. Imagine actually having to learn how to handle and use a weapon safely At School! We were mentally and emotionally devastated for life.

Danny

1st of Danny T we where not talking about pencil, pens and belts, the subject is knives, after being a teacher for 11 years and being stabbed myself from breaking up a fight, I believe knives should be left at home also my wife is still a teacher and kids today are not like it was 30 -40 years ago, they use them as weapons, thye do not relize how to just fight like we did back then some of my closes friends are people I used to beat up in school. Wow the way the world turn things around, back in the seventies I too carried a knive but my father and grandfather took the time to explain how a knive was a weapon and not used. Today alot of parent don't even do a good job being a parent they just do not care about this things.

Lastly in my 11 years of teaching I saw 49 kids get stabbed and 4 out of those 49 are in a wheel chair today and one was put to rest after being stabbed by three teens over him saying hello to a girl in school so I stand by my statement no kind of knives should be in school or guns in the back of a truck now adays, we are not back in the sixty and seventies this is 2006 and people have little to no respect towards each other anymore.

Terry

 

[Phil Elmore]

Cultural hysteria over knives has, unfortunately, transformed simple tools into deadly weapons regardless of context and provenance. Simultaneously, however, the coarsening of our culture has increased the chances that a knife possessed by a child will be misused.

When I was in high school, I carried a small jackknife. It wasn't a weapon by any stretch, nor was it carried as such; it was a penknife I got at a garage sale when I was a boy. (The term "penknife" comes from the use of small pocket blades to sharpen quill pens, if I'm not mistaken.) I don't remember if there was a school policy on the topic, but it never really came up. Any of us could have obtained a knife and brought it to school, but there was never an incident of any kind.

It's a shame we cannot go back to those days. The change is a cultural shift. "Exposing kids to knives" isn't the issue; exposing them to a coarse, violent culture that does not value human life and that does not transmit moral values is the issue. You'll talk to adults today who are old enough to remember when their schools had rifle teams and rifle clubs, particularly those who came from rural areas. They'll remember a time when kids regularly carried pocketknives of all kinds.

It's a different world today, and that's sad.

 

[Jonathan Randall]

1st of Danny T we where not talking about pencil, pens and belts, the subject is knives, after being a teacher for 11 years and being stabbed myself from breaking up a fight, I believe knives should be left at home also my wife is still a teacher and kids today are not like it was 30 -40 years ago, they use them as weapons, thye do not relize how to just fight like we did back then some of my closes friends are people I used to beat up in school. Wow the way the world turn things around, back in the seventies I too carried a knive but my father and grandfather took the time to explain how a knive was a weapon and not used. Today alot of parent don't even do a good job being a parent they just do not care about this things.

Lastly in my 11 years of teaching i saw 49 kids get stabbed and4 out of those 49 are ina wheel chair today and one was barried after being stabbed by three teens over him saying hello to a girl in school so I stand by my statement no kind of knives should be in school or guns in the back of a truck mow adays, we are not back inthe sixty and seventies this is 2006 and people have little to no respect towards each other anymore.

Terry

Great post! I was going to chime in earlier in your defence but thought better of it - you've done a better job than I could have, anyway. Times ARE different than they were 30 years ago and, while my generation generally did NOT see their pocket knives as anything other than whittling tools, todays kids more often than not see them as weapons. That is OUR failure as much as theirs, IMO, but, nevertheless, it is a reality. I couldn't agree more with your post. Great job!

 

[terryl965]

Great post! I was going to chime in earlier in your defence but thought better of it - you've done a better job than I could have. Times ARE different than they were 30 years ago and, while my generation generally did NOT see their pocket knives as anything other than whittling tools, todays kids more often than not see them as weapons. That is OUR failure as much as theirs, IMO, but, nevertheless, it is a reality. I couldn't agree more with your post.

Thank you Jonathon Randall.
Terry

 

[Makalakumu]

Terry's post is right on. I'm a teacher in a small inner city school and we've has similar issues with knives. Violence in our culture is increasing exponentially in certain places and some of those places really do need no-tolerance policies. Other places, IMO, do not.

It isn't appropriate for every school in the nation to adopt no-tolerance policies. Life in certain areas of this country certainly isn't the blissful 1950's Andy Griffith show, but that isn't every place. I think the local people should be able to make this decision.

 

[CuongNhuka]

kids in middle & elemetary school haveing to deal with lethal weapons = haveing to deal with massivly more violent high schooers and adults.

John

 

[Bigshadow]

"Exposing kids to knives" isn't the issue; exposing them to a coarse, violent culture that does not value human life and that does not transmit moral values is the issue. You'll talk to adults today who are old enough to remember when their schools had rifle teams and rifle clubs, particularly those who came from rural areas. They'll remember a time when kids regularly carried pocketknives of all kinds.

It's a different world today, and that's sad.

I think your spot on! Reading that brought to memory what my father was telling me one day, how he as 13 year old boy could walk down main street in his town carrying a 12 ga shotgun and nobody would even think anything of it (it was unloaded of course, he knew gun safety). It was not uncommon to see kids with guns and pocket knives. Just imagine if that 13 yo kid was carrying a 12 ga shotgun today.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Kenpotex,

After reading some of your posts similar to this one, I am very intrigued by your lifestyle. You sometimes leave me with my jaw on my lap because things like this I had heard of but often thought weren't true. Boy do I live a sheltered life up here in Canada.

I read your response to my husband, he reaction was "Wow, I wanna live there, he had the best childhood"

A friend of mine was working and being trained at a naval facility in Idaho. No weapons allowed on base, unless issued by the US Government.

He got pulled over more than once until each local police officer got to know him. His truck did not have a gun rack. This was in the early 90's.

 

[Blindside]

A friend of mine was working and being trained at a naval facility in Idaho.

Now that is something I wasn't expecting. Must be tough to launch the ships....

 

[Rich Parsons]

Now that is something I wasn't expecting. Must be tough to launch the ships....

Trust me it is not about the ship itself but how they move the ship. :lol:

All I am going to say unless a local confirms.

 

[MJS]

Every single girl at a seminar I taught recently, much to the horror of the adults nearby, have seen another student at school carrying a knife of some kind. These are 7th graders.

Let's discuss the impact on young teens of being exposed to knives early on and the preconceptions it may bring about from this.

There are quite a few schools in some of the bigger cities in CT., that have installed metal detectors, have increased security, etc., due to the fact that kids are bringing weapons into school. This of course could be due to many reasons, such as gangs and protection.

Mike

 

[shesulsa]

I also tend to think that youngsters this age don't understand the impact that knives have - indeed, on another thread there are graphic fotos of the victim of a bladed weapon attack and I think a lot of adults don't realize how bad it can get.

I wonder if they become a bit numbed to knives as potential weapons ... that is, of course, until/unless they find themselves on the wrong side of one.

So ... do you think our kids are going to school in fear for their lives? or numb to the fact that weapons are, indeed, at school? or both?

 

[Jonathan Randall]

So ... do you think our kids are going to school in fear for their lives? or numb to the fact that weapons are, indeed, at school? or both?

Both. They (most, at least) lack the real-world experience to understand either the ramifications and risks of pulling a weapon (or having one pulled on them) and the long-term consequences of serious injury or death to themselves or others. Also, most school staff, IMO, is more concerned with protecting themselves legally than with seriously tackling the problem of school bullying. If it doesn't threaten them, safetywise or legally, many will take the path of least resistence and ignore it, or worse, treat both sides equally - perpetrator AND victim.

 

[Hand Sword]

Your right there! Last high school football season one of the students that was in the audience was fooling around and a good sized knife fell out of his pocket, in front of everyone. He laughed it off, as if nothing wrong happened. When asked by a teacher there if he had it scool (obviously he did) he said no, and went on his way. The teacher then said to me, when I made a comment, "Well, he's a good student. He doesn't cause any problems. I know where he lives and how he has to travel there, I can understand why he needs to carry it". Other people in the audience agreed, that heard it, and pretty much forgot about it.

 

[Makalakumu]

IMO, this begs the question...should children in a MA class be taught how to use a knife and how to defend against one (IMO both of these go hand in hand)?

My initial answer has always been "no" because I don't want to take the chance of teaching something really dangerous to someone immature. However, if the posability exists that they could very well face edged weapons at a young age, couldn't my protectionism lead to tragedy?

 

[shesulsa]

Exactly. Now, none of the teens I spoke to had seen anyone use a knife in a threatening manner, but they are at the jr. high / middle school level. When I was in high school in Orange Cnty, CA, a gang girl took a knife out when we were in the restroom in order to get me out. I left all right - fast.

And teaching weapons defense ... a general theory is that understanding how to use a weapon is a good element to learning how to defend against it. But how responsible is it to teach a 13-14-15 year old how to use a knife?

Thoughts?