Not to be sentimental about ‘the good old days’ (high school for me was anything but), but I shared your experiences with guns at school. I went to high school in a rural area, and gun racks (with guns) were not uncommon in the student parking lot. One student ran a muskrat trapline before class. The horror that would cause today.

When I was in the fifth grade I built a working model of a catapult. Praise all around. For my junior project in Chemistry I built a still, and produced a small batch of alcohol (under supervision) to prove it worked. I got an A. As you noted, American society used to be much freer and safer. I have more in common with my parents who grew up in the 40’s and 50’s than kids today have with my generation who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s.

No one was afraid.

When I went to school we had a student copy and build, piece by piece, a 38spl revolver in metal shop. All except the barrel and crane which he bought by catalog.
He was not suspended, fined, arrested, or anything of that nature. When it was finished the instructor confiscated it and handed it over to the local police who eventually destroyed it. But not until after they tested it out with a few hundred rounds and told the instructor it worked.
The student got an A for the year and was asked by the police to not do that again until after he was 21.

No one got nervous.

Today my friend would have been in a federal prison for even asking the instructor if he could do a project like that.

I really do feel sad for my son. He will never get a chance to live in a world that free and safe.

Just when I think it is safe to hit “Submit Comment”, I come across more supporting evidence of the lack of psychological training and the idiocy of zero tolerance:

http://www.truthrevolt.org//news/school-forces-psych-eval-child-accused-making-gun-motions-pencil
“We never know what’s percolating in the mind of children, okay, and when they demonstrate behaviors that raise red flags, we must do our duty.”

What didn’t they tolerate? Twirling a pencil.

Plus, they assisted a bully in bullying another student.

He doesn’t know what’s percolating there because he lacks child psychology training AND the common sense to understand who is the bully and who is the bullied.

So, school administrators: 1) are idiots, 2) lack common sense, 3) lack child psychology training, 4) are increasing in number like a cancer in the education system’s body, 5) are intolerant, 6) are paranoid, 7) lack knowledge of what is being taught in their own schools, 8) , and N) are bullies; bullying not just the students, but the teachers, too.

An adult tackled the disturbed young man and stopped his rampage, it probably would have ended sooner and with less damage done to innocent school children if a trained adult had a concealed firearm and was able to back him down or if need be to shoot him. How many parents would opt to have a trained adult somewhere in the school be able to protect their child from harm in such an extreme situation?

You all know that the answer to that question is not the slam dunk as many might assume.

Unfortunately, when you are dealing with school administrators, being the smartest person in the room does not always help, you can still end up suspended for months.

Ever since junior high, I have realized that administrators have no clue how to handle kids or stop bullying. I thought that they were idiots then, and I haven’t changed that opinion. Apparently, child psychology is not even on the ‘desired skills’ list for these positions.
http://www.schoolspring.com/find/administrator_jobs.cfm

And there was no hint of needing any knowledge of science, or even common sense, for that matter. Our schools are being run by idiots. We spend more and more for administrators, but we aren’t getting value for our money.
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/a-new-study-has-found-that-there-is-zero-correlation-between-increased-spending-and-improvements-in-education#comments

“Zero tolerance” is a concept that is needed in order for idiots to be able to handle common sense situations, such as a student who makes a tiny marshmallow thrower or unintentionally bites a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun (somebody might get hurt?).
http://www.storyleak.com/school-suspends-child-biting-pop-tart-gun/

Are these administrators and unidentified school employees merely projecting their own violent thoughts onto others?

It is a sad, sorry day when the students are smarter than the administrators and unidentified school employees. It is too bad that being smart is detrimental to attending — or teaching — school.