Attack of the 3rd-Graders?
The shocking headlines out of Waycross, Georgia— 3rd-graders plotted to attack teacher, brought knife, handcuffs —lowered the bar on school violence and raised the alarm among parents, teachers, psychologists and just about anyone with an opinion about the country’s future.
The third grade plotters—nine students between the ages of 8 and 10—were allegedly readying a revenge assault against a teacher who had given one of the children a time-out for standing on a chair.
Tipped off by a student, police seized the kids’ menacing arsenal at school, including a steak knife, duct tape, handcuffs, and a heavy paperweight. The teacher specialized in learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, though it’s not known if any of the plotters had those diagnoses.
The sophistication of the plan—with kid-assigned jobs of covering classroom windows and cleaning up after the attack—stunned even the police.
“We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her,” the police chief said, “but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely.”
The big question—who or what was responsible for the children’s shocking behavior?—was debated across the U.S. on message boards and Main Street.
The culprits ranged from peer pressure to parenting, with violent video games and television getting much of the blame. “Kids naturally think now that the solution to everything is to shoot someone like they see on TV,” one comment read. “I weep for the future of America.”
For the present, local authorities are uncertain exactly how to proceed. In Georgia, children under 13 can’t be charged with a crime. Being declared “delinquent” by a judge may be the only legal penalty, but the state doesn’t have detention facilities for third-graders.
Tell us what you think. Given the restrictions with the law, how do you make punishment for third graders fit the crime? How much responsibility do their parents bear? And what about the rest of us—should we also be accountable as members of society?
Add Comment Share This
Comments
As my friend said:
“I think I just lost faith in all of humanity.”
Well, maybe not all of it, on my part. But…from the sounds of it, they had a pretty good grasp on what they were doing. Maybe not the true consequences of what would happen had they gone through with it, but at least that they knew what they were up to. That in itself is a scary thought.
And it comes from a million different sources. Parents letting their kids play rated R games (happens more often than we’d like to admit), parents letting their kids watch whatever on TV…They really do see all those things and soak it in and want to have their own adventure, just like that cool guy on TV. Even though they know it’s not real, they know that it could be real, in a sense. So they go off and want their own bad guy, to be their own heroes.
They probably thought they’d get some sort of glory for it.
It’s a pity, really. They sound like fairly smart kids, being able to conduct a plan that detailed. Now they’re going to have this negative thing to look back on for the rest of their lives.
Whoever said community service had the right idea.
Cam Flynn | 8 months, 1 week ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
tecaher
The teacher could have done something bad to the kids….just because the kids really got caught doesn’t mean the teacher is innocent.
Darlisa T.Scott | 8 months, 1 week ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
Parent
Self-defense!
The very instrument that has kept us free, self-defense is becoming an illegal act because of our own rules. If you are attacked and fight back you could be arrested and face the same crime as your attacker.
A young man in our local school saved ten dollars a week for fifteen weeks to buy a coat. His parents were proud that he was learning to work for what he wanted. Another boy, a bully, took the coat away from the boy and wore it around the school. The parents were told it might be dangerous for their son if the police were called or if they demanded the coat back.
Years ago my youngest daughter was given three days off from school for fighting. Even at face value that is just a vacation.
The principal informed me that my daughter did not start the fight. The boy grabbed her earring swinging her around and tearing it out. Then her grabbed the chain around her neck and started to choke her and then she struck him. For that they both got three days off. Where is the philosophy that says you don’t put your hands on a girl and if you do, you will be in trouble? I guess it is that new teaching, no-tolerance. How is that working out? Many parents and students have gone through this to their horror.
The work of any enemy is to tie the hands and prevent self-defense in any area that they can control. Blame the innocent is the tactic. Schools are a great place because when the rules come down most of those teachers are not going to protect your child at the expense of their job. They work for the system and many bow to the state right or wrong. It is a terrible situation to be in.
I do understand the delicate situation of the teachers. However the message is clear. If you don’t let the next boy beat you while you act like a “good little girl” we will punish you again. These same people who check your child for a bruise are letting future women beaters bruise them in school.
No one person can force any child to be like Ghandi, it comes from within. And he took a beating for political reasons. He was clear on this, if someone comes to harm or kill your family and you stand by and let it happen, then you are not a pacifist, you are a coward!
We stand by and let the school system abuse our daughters all the time because we think we can’t do anything. Our enemies want to tie our hands and our minds against the very thought that we have the right to self-defense.
Automation man is here with humans frozen inside because someone with a higher degree gives them a rule to obey even if it doesn’t contain one ounce of common sense. Great new ideas of educational deception.
One student told me how he fought off a school bully and he was thrown out. He protested on the grounds of self-defense. He was told there is no such thing as self-defense there was only self-control.
This statement suggests that people defending against violent attacks are “out of control.” This entire rule is all about control. Mind control. If you can feel the “tie” you may be right for the part. Shouldn’t we embody the philosophy of freedom? Shouldn’t we look for, ever new and greater challenges? Well, here is the challenge, try to keep your freedom from being punished for something someone else did.
Perhaps the activist-minded young coming up will help figure a way out of this. It is one of many serious problems in a world that is mad with power.
Today innocent people are losing the right to bear arms because the state feels threatened. Tomorrow the state may object to you having a belt because you could use it as a weapon against the state. The role of the activist is not for the future, they are needed now!
No-tolerance is not a policy that does anything except free the school staff from having to stand up for what is right. No-tolerance equals tolerance of the bully over their victims. It is a policy that hurts people who did not want a confrontation and did nothing wrong. They were attacked. Schools are caving in over these issues and experimenting with your children every day. If they would stand up, then the policy could have some effect. When a child is attacked, do not punish them.
If you see the fight stick up for the person who did not start it, fight the system. Do not tolerate innocent people getting into trouble with the troublemaker without exposure of the whole incident.
Treating everyone the same doesn’t mean punishing the innocent. That is what is wrong. Do not take the blame for something you did not do without a fight for the truth.
I asked this question of our local school board about my daughter’s attack. How far could a boy go before a girl could defend herself and not be punished? Would rape do it? I was then told, “no-tolerance means just what it says.”
It is true as some in Congress say, “We are in for the fight of our lives.”
Norman G. Bigelow
Norman Bigelow | 8 months ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
counselor
I think these children would benefit from a reality check as to how serious this was. What if they were put up infront of the school with the teacher and the parents and apologize to the teacher for putting fear in her life, the parents for disappointing and imbarassing them, and their class mates for setting such a bad example to them. Intervention to this degree is not done enough. Children don’t know the depth of what they have done. These things are done on TV and dosen’t seem real and the incident can be resolved and seemingly made right in 30 minutes. There is a detachment of emotions and how people suffer. Really suffer. On a larger scale….. in our courtrooms the victimizers never meet there victims or their families so there is any chance of identifying with the depth of emotion that they are responsible for. My opinion we need to make a big deal about these things and they will become less frequent.
Rhonda Guerra | 7 months, 1 week ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
wow
man if a teacher was paying attion they would know and personly i think that vidioe games and tv taking that away might make them mad my friend was like this his parents took that away and then he killed his mom with a shot gun his dad had 4 animals then now hes a crimal and i think
the teacher desued it if it was my frend he would have killed them
randy kevin james | 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
punish
one day of community service four a third grader
Molly d | 6 months, 1 week ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
Olympic Games
I love shool
Lauren Lizz Brown | 6 months, 1 week ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
Black River
Hello I have a question
annie | 6 months ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
the kid's are responsible
I am quite sure that most readers will adamantly object to putting the responsibility on the kids. But what is responsibility anyway. If we lay the blame on someone who did not commit the act, aren’t we teaching irresponsibility. Rather make it clear that the children are responsible for what they did, the educational system is responsible for teaching about acceptable behavior in the classroom, and the parents are responsible for teaching right behavior, and following through with appropriate consequences for inappropriate behavior. Parents are also responsible for what the children are exposed to and for loving their children and empowering them to make right choices in a multitude of situations and circumstance. This all takes time and just discussing who to blame when children do make wrong choices is a waist of time. Just move forward with applying appropriate consequences (such as the community service mentioned above). While reviewing the events leading up to an event such as this may help understand the reason for the choices made and possible help to fine tune future teaching, it should in no way shift the blame for those choices that were made.
clelia | 6 months ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
i think that they will learn.
those kids didnt know what they were still young. the parents should be the one punished cuase the kids look up 2 thier parents when they see parents doing acts of violence the kids do acts of violence they will think its right and if not told otherwise they will not know
ajay nicolaou | 5 months, 4 weeks ago
Add Comment | Post Reply
« First < 23 24 25 26 27 > Last » (29 pages)