Encouraging children to be less violent =/= encouraging children to throw away their constitutional rights.

Encouraging children to be less violent is disgusting? Trading any kind of toys for used books is cool, guns as well.

The only thing that is concerning about his is the issue of wasteful spending and misappropriation of tax dollars.



Textbook strawman lol. I'm sure the principle was thinking about violent crime and literacy.

Maybe you would have benefited from an educator who cared at some point.

...the better trade in would be violent video games .

Yeah that is really likely..

Instead of coming up with whimsical scenarios we can look at the evidence and quotes provided and come to a pretty obvious conclusion that he is trying to curb gun ownership and usage and that he views guns as a negative thing.
Using public funds to trade for toy guns is a pretty ridiculous way of going about his anti-gun agenda too, in my opinion.

This post was edited by cambovenzi on Jun 10 2013 10:48am

So that's what you call this?

You really are going to say that and then say HE is using a strawman?

Please tell, what does one do with toy guns? And would that time be better spent reading a book?

That is a pretty rational thought.

Saying that the principle is getting kids to turn in toy guns for used books to undermine constitutional liberties twenty years from now is kind of dumb



More time reading less time playing cops and robbers? Yes. People who are educated are considerably less likely to commit violent crimes. Encouraging kids to read instead of pretending to be in a violent movie or video game is a pretty solid move on behalf of the principle.

Please tell me though why you disagree?



Not a bad idea but comparatively you need something better than books to offer for those

Because you're mixing up being violent and kids having fun playing make-believe games. I agree that reading books and education is a good thing obviously, but kids should be kids as well, which includes playing cops and robbers!

Oh, absolutely, that is true. Fortunately my children have both books and toy guns, so they can read about geography or astronomy and other things about the world behind them, and they can act out their violent fantasies with their many toys (of which I bought).

But lets look at this principle, this school, with its neighborhood and socioeconomic status: http://www.greatschools.org/california/castro-valley/136-Strobridge-Elementary-School/
Great School rating: 2/10
Ethnic Makeup: 52% Hispanic, 21% Black, 16% White, 7% Asian, ~% other
This school's API score 700, target is 800 for all schools
API Statewide Rank (2011) 1 / 10
API Similar Schools Rank (2011) 2 / 10
Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program: This School: 62% State Average:54%
English language learners 2 language This School: 31% State Average 24%

Castro Valley, located just south of Oakland, CA.

It doesn't take a degree in sociology to put the picture together from there. This is an elementary school located in what would be considered by many to be a very dangerous neighborhood in a predominately Spanish speaking area where 62% of the children qualify for subsidized lunch, meaning their family lives below the poverty line. The school is struggling academically, because not only is it considerably below average (700 api where 800 is average) but their rating has dropped for the past two years. As for their ranking they are in the bottom 10% of all the schools in California, USA.

So we have many poor children living in a crime plagued neighborhood. They are living with underemployed or unemployed parents, many of whom only speak Spanish, who probably don't have the money or drive to buy their children books they can't themselves quite read, if they're ever at a bookstore anyway.

While Castro Valley itself isn't a bad place to be (did some research, they are below average across the board on state and national level crime rates, except property crimes) this school in particular cares for and educates some of the most vulnerable children in California to delinquency and just falling through the cracks in general. Prisons and morgues are filled with the products of places like this, yet despite all this people are posting things like: http://ethicsalarms.com/2013/06/09/unethical-quote-of-the-week-strobridge-elementary-principal-charles-hill/



It is great how anybody can register a site called ethicsalarms and put anything they want on it without the least bit of research or critical thinking. People read these half-baked editorial pieces and bob their heads like parrots and repeat the same tires rhetoric to each other without the slightest idea of what is even going on to begin with.

They should get this principle a medal and all those deriding him should feel like fools for being duped so easily.

This post was edited by Skinned on Jun 10 2013 11:53am

I have absolutely no problem with the kids being given books, or given other help to boost their education, I just think they're going about it the wrong way, especially given the statements of the principal which seem to be in question given the ending of your post, can you clarify that? Did he not say that, or what? I think it's ok to think guns are cool, but it's not ok to think crime is cool. It's ok to help children, but it's not ok to have them turn in their evil toys to get that help. Now if the toys are being donated to other children who cannot afford toys, I'd be all for it and support this cause, but if they're going to be destroyed by the state for safety reasons, then that should be opposed.

This post was edited by DieTryin' on Jun 10 2013 12:29pm

It sounds to me like the principal is conflating an interest in firearms with crime.

Being a firearms enthusiast /=/ Being a criminal