Sons of a Gun
When we discourage children from applying their creativity, their concern for others and their intelligence, it is ugly.
An obvious question is, "are the kids sincere, are were they just playing around?"
So, adult supervision, professional equipment, and a desire to raise awareness of what they believe to be a dangerous situation.
And, of course, the irony of being denied because their project is judged dangerous.
When kids reach to push the limits of what we've asked them to do, we shouldn't reject them. We should find ways to accommodate them. They didn't ask to bring in a shotgun or a handgun. It's a BB gun which children are allowed to own if they receive them as gifts. And that is the point of the exercise: that these items are quite dangerous, and can kill.
Instead, they have been handed a lesson. If you don't conform, expect friction, no matter how important you think your idea is, no matter how you present it and no matter how careful you are.
The full story here. (Hat tip to Jim C.)
Two middle school students who spent months working on a science project to prove how dangerous BB guns can be were disqualified from the state middle school science fair -- because BB guns are too dangerous.
An obvious question is, "are the kids sincere, are were they just playing around?"
The students said they proved that BB guns can penetrate a human to cause a fatal injury; pellets can penetrate farther than BBs; and clothing affects how far a BB and pellet will penetrate.
The boys spent about $200 on ballistics gelatin, which has the same density and consistency as human flesh, to use during their ballistic tests, which were done under the supervision of science teacher Jennifer D. Welborn and Nathan's mother, Sharon L. Downs.
So, adult supervision, professional equipment, and a desire to raise awareness of what they believe to be a dangerous situation.
And, of course, the irony of being denied because their project is judged dangerous.
When kids reach to push the limits of what we've asked them to do, we shouldn't reject them. We should find ways to accommodate them. They didn't ask to bring in a shotgun or a handgun. It's a BB gun which children are allowed to own if they receive them as gifts. And that is the point of the exercise: that these items are quite dangerous, and can kill.
Instead, they have been handed a lesson. If you don't conform, expect friction, no matter how important you think your idea is, no matter how you present it and no matter how careful you are.
The full story here. (Hat tip to Jim C.)
posted by Dr. Momentum at 6/20/2005 07:59:00 AM
2 Comments:
Won't someone please think of the children...
Meh. Stupidity abounds.
That pisses me off. It sounds like some real science was being done here. They probably would have done well as they sounded knowledgeable on the issue and the physics behind it. Instead, they learned that science projects suck.
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