Ironic, Ain't It?

Two Massachusetts teens who spent seven months on a science project demonstrating the dangers of BB guns were told at the last minute their work was not allowed in a science fair because it might set a bad example, according to the Springfield Republican.

Amherst Regional Middle School eighth-graders Nathan C. Woodard and Nathaniel A. Gorlin-Crenshaw tested and proved three hypotheses: BB guns can penetrate a human to cause a fatal injury; pellets can penetrate further than BBs; and clothing affects how far a BB and pellet will penetrate.

"We had everything ready except gluing the poster," said Nathan. "We got an e-mail that the project was hazardous, and it couldn't be shown because they didn't want to encourage kids to use ballistics."

In a way I guess you can't blame the school administration for these stupid decisions. They live in terror of some idiot complaining about anything they might do or allow to be done. It only takes one loudmouth to cause a big flap, which the media loves to jump into it and blow it up out of proportion. The result, of course is that anyone in a public position has to become like a presidential candidate, never do or say anything that is anything but platitudes and ritualized pap, certified
politically correct. Anyone who works with youth nowadays knows that you dare not deviate from the approved program in any way lest the higher-ups shut you down. Some friends of mine who were teaching a hunter safety class last year removed a kid from the class after repeated disruptions and disobedience. His parents went to the local DNR warden and complained, telling all kinds of lies, and the next thing you know, the four instructors are on the carpet at state headquarters
defending themselves. They are still on probation as I understand it.

Gasbag hello, sounds like your friends need to start tape recording their classes, then if something like this happened again, there would be irrefutable proof of what happened.
My wife and I use to teach Sunday School class, 5-10 year olds. Not a good thing, when the one brat would constantly cause trouble. He was one of MY schoolteachers kids. I graduated highschool in 83.
Finally we would not allow him in class, made his mother deal with "it".
Halfbreed

I hope the teacher saw fit to give the two boys high marks for all the work they went to. It just shows that there are responsible youngsters out there with the initiative to look for danger, and to let others know that they have a responsibility to handle any firearm with respect even if it is only a BB gun. My hat is off to those youngsters.

I think the teachers should have looked at the project as a lesson in safety rather than a lesson in ballistics.

Lee L.

I hope the teacher saw fit to give the two boys high marks for all the work they went to. It just shows that there are responsible youngsters out there with the initiative to look for danger, and to let others know that they have a responsibility to handle any firearm with respect even if it is only a BB gun. My hat is off to those youngsters.

I think the teachers should have looked at the project as a lesson in safety rather than a lesson in ballistics.

Lee L.

As I remember science projects, the subject matter needs to be appoved by the teacher befor any work is started....so the fault would lie with the teacher. IF they appoved it in voilation of school policy, then it's the teacher's fault...if they failed to appove it ahead of time, then it's still the teacher's fault....if the principal changed the rules at the last second, then it's the principal's fault.

Ballistics is a very real application of the sciences and can't see that a properly supervised and constructed project would be anything more than a great application of taking the classroom to the real world. Kind of silly when the school system is so paranoid they won't let kids create a very real application of science type project that could only improve safety training for other students.

I think a great project for an introductory physics course would be to physically determine the ballistic coefficient of various bullet makes by shooting through a number of calibrated chronographs out several hundred yards. Suppose that would be frowned on also.

As I remember science projects, the subject matter needs to be appoved by the teacher befor any work is started....so the fault would lie with the teacher. IF they appoved it in voilation of school policy, then it's the teacher's fault...if they failed to appove it ahead of time, then it's still the teacher's fault....if the principal changed the rules at the last second, then it's the principal's fault.

I'm assuming that someone approved the project, prior to them spending so many hours on it. All of our science projects had to have a progress report at least once a week when I went to school. Assuming that theirs had the same rules, then someone let those young men go to a lot of work, prior to the E-Mail notification.

Throw Football, Ballistics. Hit ,or throw Baseball, Ballistics. Shoot Basket in Basketball, Ballistics. Golf, Ballistics. Poole, Ballistics.

I wonder why the School didn't want Ballistics studdied.

Lee L.

After taking a second look at the location of the incident, I think I am beginning to understand it all.
It's not a politically correct thing to do.

Lee L.

It's just like the NRA's "Eddie Eagle" campaign, used to educate kids about the dangers of guns and ammunition. Once the school administrators find out the NRA sponsors it, they turn a blind eye and ban it, period. Yet in places where the NRA has put the program on, gun/ammo accidents always drop significantly. It's that whole "Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is already made up" thing. Kinda like "feel-good" legislation. It's not what a bill does or doesn't do, it's what it "appears" to do that matters!

I am really tired of people with closed minds. And why do they call them "Liberals", when they are so dead-set in their ways? I just don't get it. I guess I'm just too narrow-minded!

Papajohn the Perplexed Pundit