What do you think about knives on school grounds?

I think I wouldn't blanket allow them or disallow them, but if I were a principal of a school K-12, I'd set clear boundaries:
  • Adults/staff may have and carry any knife that is legal per state and local law. However they should have control over it (carried on their person or nearby) and not simply left laying around or in unlocked drawers.
  • Knives for specific class purposes are kept in that classroom. Knives provided by the school of course are preferred, but I'd allow students to bring their own so long as they are turned in to the teacher when they arrive at school. The teacher would keep them locked up until the student is leaving the campus and wants it back, either when they leave for the day or at the end of the semester. I'd also allow a parent to handle the drop-off and reclaiming at any time of the day.
  • Students who voluntarily turn in knives they brought, without any sign they intended something unlawful, are never to be punished. This includes students who accidentally bring knives in and do the right thing. They are not the type of student I should be worried about, and their honesty should be respected. They can claim the knife when they leave or it can be released to a parent.
  • Students that are caught with knives outside of classroom use and having failed to turn them in, I'd treat it based on the circumstances. If it looks like the student just forgot about it and another student just noticed it and ratted on them, I'd just confiscate it and release it later to a parent, probably with a chide to more careful. If I caught them showing it to people or using it for something non-class related, this means they intentionally ignored the rules, I'd probably just give detention or similar. I have to do something because they need to have a consequence, or there's no reason to turn in the knife like above.
  • Naturally, any student using a knife to perpetrate vandalism, as a threat, or any act of violence would be treated harshly according to whatever rules apply to property destruction or assault. Though I should add if the knife was used as a threat to prevent assault by other students, I'd do a pretty thorough investigation. I don't take bullying lightly and fully believe in self-defense, though the threatening student would still face some consequences for having obviously brought a knife ahead of time and thinking this was a good method of conflict resolution.
 
I don't know about knives in schools now . I carried one ,but times were different , I also worked after school and didn't carry a knife as something to show my friends I carried it because I used one .

Whatever the legal age is to buy a knife then you should be allowed to carry it if you can buy it .

The overprotective father in me was yelling as I wrote that though . As a parent the thought of a kid having a potential weapon around my kid makes me think twice .

I dunno age and maturity as well as the type of knife would all need to come into play for me it's just more complicated than a yes or no answer.
 
How different was it in the 60's- one of my 1st knives was a points reward for either selling seeds or magazine subscriptions(they had us peddling both at different times of the year). They would have the prizes behind a glass case in the main hall to entice us. There would always be a couple knives among the prizes, which included everything from pens to Cleveland Browns bobble head dolls(good days for the Browns). Each had it's own points needed with knives at the top of the points needed. I biked many a mile for that knife. Believe it or not I was out of sight of my parents also(always able to follow the bread crumbs home). That was early 60's in rural Ohio.
(this is a continuation from post 26)
 
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When I was in elementary school, lots of us had knives.
They were not allowed, and the teacher would take them away if seen...of course, when the teacher wasn't looking, one of us would sneak into his/her desk and take them back. :D

In university now, I always have a few knives on me.
They are not allowed in dorms, but I don't live in a dorm. There are no rules regarding them on campus grounds in general.
I have used them for tasks such as sharpening pencils during exams in the past and no one cared; they're on the lookout for cheating, not knives.
 
I remember in the 80s when I was 6 and only the second week or so of 1st grade (Kindergarten in the US)
Stephan Müller brought a rusty Russian pistol (probably WW2 relic) to show and tell. He had found it on the way to school. He was 8 and had already repeated 1st grade. He looked like he knew it wasn't the right thing to do.
Fun times.
 
Jens Schuetz said:
I remember in the 80s when I was 6 and only the second week or so of 1st grade (Kindergarten in the US)
Stephan Müller brought a rusty Russian pistol (probably WW2 relic) to show and tell. He had found it on the way to school. He was 8 and had already repeated 1st grade. He looked like he knew it wasn't the right thing to do.
Fun times.
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The same thing happened with my grandfather in rural Colorado. The teacher and all the students jumped out the windows of the one room schoolhouse.
 
Some of us carried knives while in high school in the 80's, but you never wanted to be caught with it. I had a lock-back that I ordered through the mail. It was an Italian switchblade style, with a stiletto shape, but not a spring loaded knife. I think mine had a 2 1/2 inch blade, but you could order them in multiple sizes/scales. Saw the ad in a magazine, and thought it looked cool. I remember pulling it out of my pocket during an assembly, to cut gum out of my hair that someone threw. Used my index finger to cover the blade and make it less conspicuous. That was pretty stupid of me, and I was lucky no teachers noticed.

Some of the other kids in the school had bought knock-offs of the Buck 110 style, but those knives had huge blades and were really flat. As I recall, the locks on them were practically worthless. I never feared anyone pulling one to attack someone, but we were not really taught to respect knives in a detailed way. It was the time when both parents had to work to support the family, and some skills were not imparted to us, as they were with my grandparents to parents.

Kids now are too unpredictable, and I don't think they can be trusted with a knife in school in this day an age. Our society has evolved in ways where we have transferred even fewer knife respecting skills down through each generation, because there has not been a need to do so. As an example, I rarely see someone walking around at work with a pocket clip in view to even bring up knives in conversation. We have engineered many things to not require cutting any more, so we don't have a need to teach kids about using or maintaining a knife.
 
When I was in elementary school (especially in the early grades) we were often required to bring knives to school to work on class porojects. I often had one and I actively started trading knives, baseball cards, yo-yos, hotwheels, comics and other stuff in class during 5th grade. The Vietnam war was still on and the big difference then was that we did discriminate, and those who acted out were quickly thrown out of school and referred to the authorities (potential Juvenile Delinquents). This was in the middle of New York City and guns in class happened as well, either as a boy scout exercise or brought in by a parent for show and tell. We never had a problem and no one was ever injured or threaten; but, that was before political correctness had turned us into a dysfuctional society.

n2s
 
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In 2000 I wanna say it was our final exam in metal fabrication was making a fixed blade knife . We got to cut it out of blank steel sand it grind it . Make a handle and sharpen it .

They did away with it a year or 2 later but man it was fun. Our teacher was on a wheel chair and he had modified his wheelchair to hold all kinds of knives and guns . Even nodded another chair to hold him upright so he could basically stand up in the chair .

How we were graded on the knife was pretty cool as well . Teacher checked it for straightness and checked our blade grinds . If it passed we got to go to handle phase. Then he inspected the scales and our sanding and if it passed you could stain your handle and pin it to the blade. Final test was teacher sliced an orange up from the 4h fruit sale we had going on. Man I loved that class
 
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Once upon a time for a very brief moment in human history, there were only laws against things that actually caused harm to other people. Would be nice to go back there.
 
Spartan00 said:
The overprotective father in me was yelling as I wrote that though . As a parent the thought of a kid having a potential weapon around my kid makes me think twice .
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That's funny, I could have sworn that the school actually sanctions the possession of baseball bats. Is a baseball bat more or less of a weapon than a swiss army knife?
 
I never had a baseball bat in my school not doubting you . Those baseball bats are accounted for and not concealed on a students person where the teacher may or may not be aware that they have one .

Sorry friend there's no argument in the world that is going to make me think a child should be able to have a knife at school. If you can legally buy it that's a different story ,but kids no way.
 
Spartan00 said:
I never had a baseball bat in my school not doubting you . Those baseball bats are accounted for and not concealed on a students person where the teacher may or may not be aware that they have one .

Sorry friend there's no argument in the world that is going to make me think a child should be able to have a knife at school. If you can legally buy it that's a different story ,but kids no way.
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I agree Spartan00.....Times have changed, just watch the nightly news. Even though I grew up carrying a pocket knife, I never thought of it as a weapon; It was to whittle, peel something, cut some rope, and play mumblety-peg. My kids and grand kids had and have knives and I trust them with them but I don't know all the other kids at school.

I would say no knives, guns,razors,baseball bats, lip and nose rings or sharp pointed scissors in the classroom.
 
taichungman said:
I agree Spartan00.....Times have changed, just watch the nightly news. Even though I grew up carrying a pocket knife, I never thought of it as a weapon; It was to whittle, peel something, cut some rope, and play mumblety-peg. My kids and grand kids had and have knives and I trust them with them but I don't know all the other kids at school.

I would say no knives, guns,razors,baseball bats, lip and nose rings or sharp pointed scissors in the classroom.
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I'm pro 2nd amendment, pro knife laws . Don't want that twisted .

Times have changed and the world is not the same place it was when I was a kid . I grew up carrying knives , hunting all that as a kid. I don't pretend to know how or why things are getting worse but they are .

We have laws in place because children's minds aren't mature enough to make certain decisions for themselves . Like I said as a kid I hunted .

I'm not going to get into politics and like I said I do not have an explanation as to why things are the way they are. Same reason why kids cant drive cars or drink applies to guns and knives .

I'm not talking older kids here I'm talking younger kids . If a kid can buy a knife let him carry it where he pleases . My issue is if they can't walk in a store and legally buy it themselves then IMHO they have no business with it . Hell even older kids at school need a reason to have it at school. If they need it after school then by all means keep it in a car .

Parents and teachers have enough on their plates as is with kids in school no need in adding one more thing to it IMO.

Thing is though and the argument can be made anything can be used as a weapon . Hell throw a desk or a chair , even a book . In my school a kid went after someone with an insulin needle . I get it and it's a valid point anything can be used as a weapon. Just because anything can be used as a weapon is no excuse to allow immature children to have a knife in their pocket. If I'm ruffling feathers here not my intentions and had you asked me this same question before I had kids I'd probably be in the pro knife camp. Having a kid though changed my outlook on a lot of things.
 
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I'm actually looking to send my son to an elementary school partially because they allow slip joints 2"and under.
It's also a non-standard class environment for gifted kids so maybe that plays into it? I just like that they don't see a small pocket knife as a weapon either so he doesn't get taught to fear them.
Bad kids can always find a way to sneak things in, why do we feel the need to police the good kids and make them fear tools?
 
Neko2 said:
I'm actually looking to send my son to an elementary school partially because they allow slip joints 2"and under.
It's also a non-standard class environment for gifted kids so maybe that plays into it? I just like that they don't see a small pocket knife as a weapon either so he doesn't get taught to fear them.
Bad kids can always find a way to sneak things in, why do we feel the need to police the good kids and make them fear tools?
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It doesn't make sense at all. In high school you are allowed to drive your car onto school grounds. So, we allow kids to have a 3000lb projectile that can travel 100mph on school property, but not a pocket knife. It doesn't make sense. When I was in high school, only 10 years ago, we have a shop class. We had access to arc/mig/tig/oxy-acet torches, with only one teacher supervising 30 kids. Miraculously nobody murdered anybody. We also, as I mentioned, had baseball offered as a class an an extra cirricular. Most kids had their own bat that they took with them
 
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