School Won't "Endorse" Guns

That's ridiculous. Guns are totally sweet and all kidding aside, necessary for the preservation of liberty. That sounds laughable as hyperbole but it's not. As long as there are psycho mutants roaming around the Earth, we'll all need some means of protecting ourselves and our property. To not put the picture in the yearbook is stupid. What happened to freedom of expression?

Unless of course you work across the street from the Clinton Library, then you can't bring your gun to work durring the opening ceremonies.

Wait a sec you can bring your gun to work?

What the principal means is he doesn't want to endorse the idea of students possessing shotguns.

And any idea that gun ownership builds more character than playing ball is laughable. Actually, cryable...

Barry - After years in the Scouts, I would disagree with you over your view of the value to character of gun ownership.

We complain that education has gone downhill, and yet there is an uproar when a school makes a decision that someone doesn't like.

I think it is sad that this student is filing a lawsuit against the school. I'm sure he has other wonderful senior pictures.

The school's offer to let him publish the picture in the senior's "hobbies" section was more than reasonable. This is just another case highlighting how American it has become to sue when you don't get your way.

I'm glad his picture is worth drawing funds away from an already overburdened and underfunded school system. I mean, after all, he's graduating so he won't notice if there are less field trips, labs, or supplies for future classes.

And no, I am not anti-gun. ;)

The premise that gun ownership is necessary to preserve our liberty is interesting.

By that logic, people should be able to own and use rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, nuclear weapons, and just about every other weapon our armed services use.... to preserve liberty. Every citizen would be arguably free to determine what the scope of this liberty is. It would make bombings of Planned Parenthood offices and the varying mischief of the Animal Liberation Front look like an old English tea party.

I don't care if people own guns. I don't even care if a high school student wants to hold one in his senior picture.

Barry: Yeah, because playing ball is so relevant to real life... unlike guns. Please. You live in a serious bubble there, my friend.

Steph: Education is going downhill because of these sorts of stupid decisions.

Mark: Gun ownership is certainly a protector of liberty. Does everything have to be an absolute? All weapons allowed, or none? Perhaps there's some middle zone that optimizes safety and liberty? That said, I wouldn't be against people owning tanks or artillery. Rocket launchers and bombs would probably be not ok with me. I doubt there would be much occasion for using those heavy weapons to fight crime, but if one were seriously worried about governmental tyranny then go ahead.

MW: I'm not saying there isn't a middle ground. I'm saying that gun ownership as a protector of liberty is not the most solid of relationships.

I'm all for finding middle ground... on lots of things... including the whole civil union thing.

MW: "Education is going downhill because of these sorts of stupid decisions."

How little you understand public education and the things that are wrong with it.

In the end, minutia like this is little more than an indication of a slow news day.

There are many problems with public education. Many have to do with the financial stress they're put under by greedy unions. I think we have to pay good teachers enough to retain them... but district administrators need more leverage to fire bad ones. The proportion of the district's money that goes to salaries leaves less and less money for infrastructure expansion and maintenance as well as reduced supply budgets.

The district I work for has done a pretty good job keeping costs down. Our tax levy and cost-per-student is among the lowest in the area and our students are performing well. The problem is that there are many other districts that aren't doing so well... with very high cost-per-student figures and poor student performance. Many of these districts are in urban areas.. where teachers fear for their lives. What do you think the chances are of keeping good teachers in places like that? The Milwaukee school district, for example, offers expanded benefits packages just so they can attract people to work for them.

This is also just the tip of the iceberg. I'll bet dollars to donuts, though, that the problems with public education have NOTHING to do with the refusal to allow a gun in a student's senior photo.

Mark: The gun/photo problem and the union problem are both symptoms of the same underlying disease that cripples our public education system.

What underlying disease?

How is the gun/photo thing which.. I can assure you.. would not occur in every or even most school districts... a symptom of this larger disease?

The union problem is systemic. Students taking senior photos with guns and having them denied publication in the yearbook is not.

Mark: The people. The people who organize and manipulate the unions are the same people who are trying their best to undermine our culture and replace it with politically correct goo. Bureaufacists and anti-gun nuts go hand-in-hand, which should be pretty obvious.

MW: On the contrary. Many strong union supporters (and much of the "dead weight" that the school has to support because of the union) are as culturally and socially conservative as you are.

Mark: It has not been my experience that the public school system is awash in conservatives, but YMMV.

Yes, my experience is quite different. We have a tendency to paint all schools with the broad brushes we see and hear about in the news... and stories like this one.

The reality is:

- Many schools are NOT the "liberal cesspools" you think they are.

and

- Many schools don't get taken to court over students wanting to hold a gun in their senior photo.

Many schools do, however, have problems that largely stem from unions. The union members who create problems for these school districts are not necessarily culturally and socially liberal, however.

Michael, I like your blog and read it all the time. I also respect your opinions and you do know how I feel about guns.

That said...did you ever play ball? I mean, seriously play baseball? Football? Basketball? Games in which you rely on your teammates to succeed? Games in which you learn to depend also on yourself and your abilities, and learn perseverance, stamina, courage and fair play?

I don't live in a bubble, but I have serious reservations about people who perceive guns - instruments whose only use is to injure or kill - as a useful tool in illustrating life values.

Tell me one useful life lesson that comes from using a gun.

I guess for some people the ability to hold a tool that is specifically designed for killing might instill some sort of personal sense of reponsibility.

After all, they have to refrain from pulling the trigger, don't they? That's pretty responsible.

Sarcasm aside, I stand by my statement that the school has every right to say what goes in their yearbook. Their compromise was more than reasonable. And yes, a frivolous lawsuit takes time and money away from the schools. A school telling a senior that they have to pick a different picture to put in the yearbook that the school is under no obligation to even publish does not hurt the curriculum, force layoffs of good teachers, or take money away from field trips and labs. Oh wait I guess it does if the kid sues. ;)