Lets Play Hangman . . . Oops, I'm Handcuffed

Common sense and unicorns. Both of these seem to be works of fiction, especially among our nations educators.

A 13 year old student was doodling the game "Hangman" and the school (being calm and rational stewards of children) suspended him and turned him over to the police. Apparently, playing a game constitutes a "threat of harm". Read about it here.

Are you freaking kidding me? Can as student be arrested for buttering bread because he is wielding a weapon? Or can children no longer play "cops and robbers" at recess (unless the cops illegally strip search the robbers because that would make it ok)?

Let's just consider that a threat must be directed somewhere. If I draw a hanged person and write someone's name underneath then I have made a threat. The only threat in the game is that the puzzle might not be solved. Or perhaps the greater threat is that the schools vision of a politically correct world has been challenged by a simple pencil drawing! We can all agree that protecting our children is important. But the national push toward forcible conformity to a single ideal threatens the freedom that this country was built upon. Schools are supposed to educate, not act as self deputized thought police.

Here is a question for those administrators. At what point did handcuffing a child for playing a game become a good idea? That is the point where the fiction of protecting our children was exposed. That is the point where your politically correct agenda was revealed as the true threat of harm to our children. That is the point where your utopian ideal went up in flames and common sense died. Now, go and figure out how to educate. Or better yet, go play with your unicorns and leave the children alone.