Student suspended for paper clip

[Anti Federalist]

I have nothing on this, other than the picture.

No names, places, nothing.

Maybe somebody had read it or can post some details.

[Spikender]

A picture of the weapon in question:



This originated on Reddit from a poster called FatmanManfat and it was about his friend's kid brother being suspended. Here's an article:

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/06/1472...-staples-jail/

America has suspended kids for allegedly biting Pop-Tarts in the shape of firearms, shooting Hello Kitty bubble guns at the bus stop, and now, we’ve come to the point of no return: A young boy has been punished for bending paperclips.

Obviously, those disciplining the child did not consider the possibility of a kid just being a kid and simply bending the alleged “assault paper clip” – because he was bored. Maybe the class was working on a confusing Common Core math lesson and he simply wanted to amuse himself. Who knows?

We all might understand disciplinary action if the circumstances of the incident reported he had been acting aggressively towards other kids, but the thing is – they don’t.

On Thursday, Reddit member FatManManFat shared this image of a reason for suspension taken against his friend’s son by school officials (click picture to see larger image):

If you can’t read what’s in the image, here is what it says:

Sean was brought to the office by a staff member who reported that Sean had a sharp object on him in his right pocket. When asked what he had in his pocket he reported he did not have anything. When asked to empty his pockets he refused. After several minutes Sean emptied his pockets. The contents of his pockets included a cell phone, pen cap, and paper clip. The paperclip was bent in a manner that could allow for use as a weapon.

Just for the record, a bent paperclip looks like this:

Observe that such a thing can be done just by a kid who is, I don’t know, just playing with a paperclip, or it can be used to reset electronics.

Note at this point that every single student in the entire school has an object that could “allow for use as a weapon” – a sharpened pencil.

Assuming this kid is the second coming of Hannibal Lector like this school official obviously does, then his bent paper clip is no more dangerous than the pen cap that could be chewed into a nasty rubber band projectile!

Then there’s the potential of kids using straws duing lunchtime as deadly blowdart guns!

Let’s not forget about these bad boys, which can put an eye out…

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

I once knew a woman who was secretary in a public school. We got on the subject and she said students were not allowed to open up paper clips for that very weapon reason.

[Spikender]

I once knew a woman who was secretary in a public school. We got on the subject and she said students were not allowed to open up paper clips for that very weapon reason.

So no open carry of paper clips?

Start them young.

[cjm]

Bent paperclips are what you use to eject a floppy disk when it's stuck. The world is apparently on crazy pills. Weapon? Event the TSA wouldn't call that a weapon -- and they're afraid of bottled water!

[amy31416]

Bent paperclips are what you use to eject a floppy disk when it's stuck. The world is apparently on crazy pills. Weapon? Event the TSA wouldn't call that a weapon -- and they're afraid of bottled water!

Hell, there are people here who are afraid of rain.

[cjm]

if a bent paperclip is considered a weapon, so should a mouth full of teeth. Suspend everyone!

[alucard13mm]

Back when I was a kid, we had these cheap mechanical pencils.

We used it as a toy and shoot each other with staples. We bend the staple straight on one end and leave the other end bent for safety (lol) and insert it into the tip of the mechanical pencil and you can fire it. It'd go pretty far actually.. surprisingly. I forgot what you had to do, but it works like a spring loaded bb gun I suppose.

It does sting and I was surprised no one's eyes were poked out.

[DamianTV]

School is teaching all these students and would-be criminals exactly what it is supposed to teach: Fear of Reprisal from Authority.

[Spikender]

School is teaching all these students and would-be criminals exactly what it is supposed to teach: Fear of Reprisal from Authority.

You reminded me of an interesting thing that some friends and I observed at the middle school we attended...

All the fences around the school had barbed wire on them. And the barbed wire was pointed inwards.

I'm just going to leave it at that.

[Zippyjuan]

I used to bend paper clips into darts I could shoot into a bulletin board with a rubberband. Generally fold it in half so you have a loop and bend out one of the ends so it points away from the loop.

[Danke]

I once defused a bomb with a just a paper clip.

[Suzanimal]

Sean was brought to the office by a staff member who reported that Sean had a sharp object on him in his right pocket. When asked what he had in his pocket he reported he did not have anything. When asked to empty his pockets he refused.

I like that kid.

After several minutes Sean emptied his pockets. The contents of his pockets included a cell phone, pen cap, and paper clip. The paperclip was bent in a manner that could allow for use as a weapon.

Poor Sean, I wonder how they got him to empty his pockets. Probably some bull$#@! line about how they would go easier on him.

[Mani]

BAN PAPERCLIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

how do kids in art class cut paper now? with their teeth? surely not scissors, those are deadly weapons

[Mani]

how do kids in art class cut paper now? with their teeth? surely not scissors, those are deadly weapons

I wonder if these are banned:

We had them in every classroom back in my day.

[MRK]

You reminded me of an interesting thing that some friends and I observed at the middle school we attended...

All the fences around the school had barbed wire on them. And the barbed wire was pointed inwards.

I'm just going to leave it at that.

Interesting. Perhaps the paper clip is banned to keep you in. You can't macguyver your way out of prison without a paperclip. For good measure, they should expel students named Mac or Guy should they ever join forces and become a megazordmacguyver.

[DamianTV]

BAN PAPERCLIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ooooh oooh! I think I can top that: Ban Students!

[specsaregood]

Bent paperclips are what you use to eject a floppy disk when it's stuck.

wtf is a floppy disk?

[osan]

if a bent paperclip is considered a weapon, so should a mouth full of teeth. Suspend everyone!

America's average IQ would double in a matter of minutes.

[jbauer]

A bent paperclip? What about all those paper cuts?

I bet they banded paperclips because it has the word "clip" in it.

[jbauer]

by the way, the news had a piece on 20 ducks that died. Why aren't they covering their incompetent school administrators.

[Philhelm]

if a bent paperclip is considered a weapon, so should a mouth full of teeth. Suspend everyone!

You don't need a 32-round mouth.

[ZENemy]

I used to bend paper clips into darts I could shoot into a bulletin board with a rubberband. Generally fold it in half so you have a loop and bend out one of the ends so it points away from the loop.

Also we used to bend them into a little triangle and make them jump!

[presence]

http://downtrend.com/robertgehl/chil...mble-a-weapon/

Remember, in the right hands, anything can be a weapon. Just ask most pinhead school officials.
In the past, we’ve reported about all sorts of things that school officials have considered dangerous weapons, including squirt guns, a hand, Legos, a pencil and a shirt. Here’s a new one.
For bending a paperclip, a boy was suspended from school because officials said it could be used as a “weapon.”
A reddit user posted an image of a disciplinary form sent home that tells parents the child committed the heinous act of bending a paperclip.
Presumably, the child bent the paperclip to look like this:

If you can’t read it, the “circumstances of the incident” reads:

Sean was brought to the office by a staff member who reported that Sean had a sharp object on him in his right pocket. When asked what he had in his pocket he reported he did not have anything. When asked to empty his pockets he refused. After several minutes Sean emptied his pockets. The contents of his pockets included a cell phone, pen cap, and paper clip. The paperclip was bent in a manner that could allow for use as a weapon.

Have you ever bent a paperclip? We all have. Clearly these administrators didn’t consider that the kid was merely bending the paperclip. But then again, our schools today are worried about Common Core, not common sense.

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

A bent paperclip? What about all those paper cuts?

I bet they banded paperclips because it has the word "clip" in it.

Magazines are no longer allowed in school!

[jbauer]

Also we used to bend them into a little triangle and make them jump!

Terrorist!!!

[sam1952]

I wonder if he was cleaning his "dug-out" with it... Maybe they should test it. Could be quite the haul, deadly weapon and drug charges.

[kahless]

There is no background information on this. Why do I have the feeling that when more information comes out it will make the people on the "right" look ridiculous.

If it is a normal kid with a bent paperclip then of course it is ridiculous but we have not heard the other side. We do not know if this was a problem kid that as described "was walking around with a sharp object in his pocket" acting weird. Maybe there was history with this kid and therefore some concerns he would use it as a weapon.

I remember when I was in school many years ago there were always a couple of kids in the big public school with a screw lose that the teachers and students had to look out for. Any normal kid walking around with a bent paper clip or pencils no big deal. But the wacky kid walking around with crazy eyes looking like he is going to stab someone is of course a different story.

Had a minor stab wound in the hand from one of these lunatics in the public school system. Worst case was one kid was thwarted in an attempt to find me alone and stab me in the back without me knowing using multiple knife like sharpened pencils in his fist. That would have been a serious stab wound and he was suspended.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

Back when I was a kid, we had these cheap mechanical pencils.

We used it as a toy and shoot each other with staples. We bend the staple straight on one end and leave the other end bent for safety (lol) and insert it into the tip of the mechanical pencil and you can fire it. It'd go pretty far actually.. surprisingly. I forgot what you had to do, but it works like a spring loaded bb gun I suppose.

It does sting and I was surprised no one's eyes were poked out.

I see some kids actually made use out of their time in state schools.