What ever happened to "Sticks & Stones..." - should mere WORDS be given so much "power"?

Question

A boy on my son's baseball team is suspended from school and he was also suspended for SEVEN baseball games for calling a fellow student a NAME ---AFTER the boy threw a carton of milk at the other boy's FACE at lunchtime on purpose. ONLY the boy who called the NAME was punished!

The boy THROWING the milk was NOT punished AT ALL.

Any thoughts on WHY he was not punished and why only the boy who said the NAME was? What name do you think he called the boy?

This is a TRUE story. We have a game at 5 o'clock today and Andy will not be playing 1st base.

This VERY MUCH relates to the PC tone our country has taken.

I will let you know tomorrow what they boy said to be SO severely punished when the first boy was CLEARLY at fault...AND...2nd boys ADMITS to throwing the milk "because he felt like it"

Andy is not my son. My son is PLAYING today. Andy's mom is my friend.

My middle son is one of the JV coaches and was briefed by the Athletic Director (a former coach of his) as to what went on. The Principal handed down the punishment. YOU ARE ALL LOSING FOCUS OF MY QUESTION BY GETTING BOGGED DOWN IN DETAILS!!!

Answer 1

well, I can promise you if you children had been at my dad's school when he was a superintendent (he's retired from education and is in politics now) that wouldn't have been the case.. and he is very much a Democrat.. always has been. I know you didn't say Democrats.. but with the PC reference some people will jump on that band wagon I'm sure. Unless there has been a death threat you shouldn't punish a child by taking away physical activity.. our children are already overweight as it is.. they should have been more creative and punished both children.. if they are very young most likely just a good talking too would have been enough for such a minor incident..

You should call the principal.. I'm sure that is who leveed the punishment, and let them know how you feel.. if that doesn't get things changed or at the very least explained in a way that makes more since.. then call the superintendent. In the end... I don't know the whole situation.. and maybe I would disagree with you if I knew more.. but with the info I have it looks like the principal messed up... but hey, he/she is only human.

Answer 2

I'm thinking that the name he called the boy was a racist term. And that Andy is white and the other boy is not. Why else would the punishment be so extreme for one and no punishment for the other? Andy's mother should press charges against the boy who threw milk at her son 'because he felt like it'. If she doesn't then she might as well take her son out of that school because this will not end here. What will the boy 'feel like' doing next time? What will Andy feel like doing if he has to tolerate more unprovoked attacks by people who go unpunished? This needs to be stopped before it gets out of hand.

Answer 3

Would you be so upset if both boys were equally punished?
What if they were unequally punished?

You don't give ages but I am also a parent. I have also witnessed my kids doing bad things to each other. When I ask about the incident, each paints the other as wrong and himself as saint- even though I watched the scuffle from the park bench.

I would be very careful about how "truthful" the boys are. I doubt that the "milk throwerer" simply tossed the carton at the boy w/o provocation (rightly or not) or w/o history between them.

If your post is hearsay from your son/daughter...I would take it with a grain of salt.

And what name did he utter? Must have been offensive. And I admire his restraint...after suffering an unprovoked assault with a milk carton (only in school!) and all he did was call a name in return. Such discipline - or cowardice - to not retaliate physically (by fighting or tossing his own milk).

Answer 4

I'm kind of surprised that you hadn't already blamed it on Clinton or some other Liberal.

You might want to make SURE that you are getting ALL the facts in your story. With teenagers, even the best, that doesn't always happen.

We could also take this time to look at this as a metaphor. George Bush threw a milk carton and hit Iraq in the face. Iraq called George Bush a name. Iraq got punished and George Bush didn't.

**Today We Are All Virginia Tech" might have made a good point inadvertently. Maybe even on purpose. What if I had answered say "RLP none of us care what your weak little boy said. Did you say he was the manager of the baseball team because he wasn't man enough to make the team as a player. That figures. From the looks of you, he couldn't possible be an athelete."

The point is, I don't know you , so I wouldn't say that. Even If I knew you and even if your son wasn't athletic enough to make the team , I wouldn't say anything mean about it. There is a NEED for PC in this country and elsewhere. PC is another way of saying "polite".

What happened at your son's school is life. Nothing more , nothing less. Sometimes sh** happens, sometimes it doesn't.

**RLP - the truth is often in the details.

Answer 5

As stated, the boy throwing the milk should have been suspended for the physical violence, even if the name caller provoked the milk thrower in the first place.

In Arizona and California, if a white kid drops the 'N-bomb', he's likely to be put down by other white kids. Maybe the next generation will be better than mine at putting a stop to racial intolerance.

Answer 6

well. that old saying is crap. words hurt so much more than if u hit me with a stick or a stone. s&s only hurt the skin. words cut at the heart.

i think both boys should be punished, but im guessing that ur the mom of the little boy who is a potty mouth. i dont feels sorry 4 him. he obviously did something he wasnt supposed to, and hes getting punished for it. i do think the little milk-thrower deserves to be punished as well.


so what name did he call him???i have an idea, but dont want to say it.

Answer 7

I would say that Andy probably said the other kid "throws like a sissy" or something to that effect. The milk thrower probably had a parent working at the school which is why he wasn't punished.

Answer 8

I don't and never will understand how only one person in a problem like this is punished. As a teacher, I've always punished both the person who "started it" and the person who reacted the way he shouldn't have, usually by hitting but depending on the name, that too. The one who reacted poorly needs to realize that there are other ways of taking care of things than hitting or nasty names. It's obvious why the causer would be punished. When those who cause trouble aren't punished, they don't realize they have done anything wrong and they will, inevitably, do it again.

Answer 9

Obviously, they shouldn't, but, just as obviously, they have been. There have been a few such oddities in the new lately. Don Imus makes a comment implying that a certain group of young women make thier living plying the 'oldest proffession,' and describing thier hair as difficult to manage. The comment about the hair got him fired. Isiah Washington made a derrogatory comment while throttling Patrick Dempsey, the comment alluding to a person not present. No assault charges (even though he committed assault /and/ battery), but the comment will likely cost him his carreer.

I'm sure that's just the celebrity tip of the PC iceberg.

Answer 10

They both should be punished equally. Obviously, it was a racial, ethnic or gender slur, doesn't matter, both should suffer the same consequence and I'd be in the principals office quick like for setting a poor example of equality. A physical attack, whether it be a milk carton or a brick...unacceptable on both counts.