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charisstomaTexas boy suspended for saying he could make classmate ‘disappear’ with ‘Lord of the Rings’ sorcery
The ring little Aiden brought to school may not have been the true ring of power, but it had enough controversy to get him suspended from a Kermit, Texas, school.
BY NICOLE HENSLEY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, January 31, 2015, 9:19 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-boy-suspended-bringing-ring-power-school-article-1.2099103?fb_ref=Default
Tolkien lore led a Texas boy to suspension after he brought his “one ring” to school.
Kermit Elementary School officials called it a threat when the 9-year-old boy, Aiden Steward, in a playful act of make-believe, told a classmate he could make him disappear with a ring forged in fictional Middle Earth’s Mount Doom.
“It sounded unbelievable,” the boy’s father, Jason Steward, told the Daily News. He insists his son “didn’t mean anything by it.”
The Stewards had just watched “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies” days earlier, inspiring Aiden’s imagination and leading him to proclaim that he had in his possession the one ring to rule them all.
“Kids act out movies that they see. When I watched Superman as a kid, I went outside and tried to fly,” Steward said.
Aiden claimed Thursday he could put a ring on his friend's head and make him invisible like Bilbo Baggins, who stole Gollum’s "precious" in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings.”
“I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend’s existence,” the boy's father later wrote in an email. "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back."
Principal Roxanne Greer declined to comment on the fourth-grader’s suspension, citing confidentiality policies, according to the Odessa American, who first reported Aiden’s troubles Friday.
The family moved to the Kermit Independent School District only six months ago, but it’s been nothing but headaches for Aiden. He’s already been suspended three times this school year.
Two of the disciplinary actions this year were in-school suspensions for referring to a classmate as black and bringing his favorite book to school: "The Big Book of Knowledge."
“He loves that book. They were studying the solar system and he took it to school. He thought his teacher would be impressed,” Steward said.
But the teacher learned the popular children’s encyclopedia had a section on pregnancy, depicting a pregnant woman in an illustration, he explained.
The ring little Aiden brought to school may not have been the true ring of power, but it had enough controversy to get him suspended from a Kermit, Texas, school.
BY NICOLE HENSLEY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, January 31, 2015, 9:19 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-boy-suspended-bringing-ring-power-school-article-1.2099103?fb_ref=Default
Tolkien lore led a Texas boy to suspension after he brought his “one ring” to school.
Kermit Elementary School officials called it a threat when the 9-year-old boy, Aiden Steward, in a playful act of make-believe, told a classmate he could make him disappear with a ring forged in fictional Middle Earth’s Mount Doom.
“It sounded unbelievable,” the boy’s father, Jason Steward, told the Daily News. He insists his son “didn’t mean anything by it.”
The Stewards had just watched “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies” days earlier, inspiring Aiden’s imagination and leading him to proclaim that he had in his possession the one ring to rule them all.
“Kids act out movies that they see. When I watched Superman as a kid, I went outside and tried to fly,” Steward said.
Aiden claimed Thursday he could put a ring on his friend's head and make him invisible like Bilbo Baggins, who stole Gollum’s "precious" in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings.”
“I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend’s existence,” the boy's father later wrote in an email. "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back."
Principal Roxanne Greer declined to comment on the fourth-grader’s suspension, citing confidentiality policies, according to the Odessa American, who first reported Aiden’s troubles Friday.
The family moved to the Kermit Independent School District only six months ago, but it’s been nothing but headaches for Aiden. He’s already been suspended three times this school year.
Two of the disciplinary actions this year were in-school suspensions for referring to a classmate as black and bringing his favorite book to school: "The Big Book of Knowledge."
“He loves that book. They were studying the solar system and he took it to school. He thought his teacher would be impressed,” Steward said.
But the teacher learned the popular children’s encyclopedia had a section on pregnancy, depicting a pregnant woman in an illustration, he explained.
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no subject
Date: 2015-02-03 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-03 11:32 pm (UTC)Labelling, It leads to all kinds of interesting hmmm.
We had a new immigrant student, who was born in South Africa and looked like both parents were full Chinese, was labelled African American. She wasn't born in the U.S., wasn't a U.S. citizen yet as she was too young for application, wasn't of genetic African descent; yet she was labelled African American. *head desk*
The teacher lost a teaching moment by not explaining the correct current labelling terminology.
Personally, I think the principal/teacher is locked in a battle that makes the school district look stupid.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-03 11:47 pm (UTC)Take my family. My dad is from Germany but considers himself Canadian (he has full citizenship and has been here since he was 15ish and he married a Canadian woman). His siblings who were older when they immigrated and didn't go to school here, married other German-Canadians and speak German at home. When asked they and my cousins (who were all born in Canada) say they are German. I guess my ramblings are trying to explain that it's more important what the person themselves think, not what others want to call them.
Has anyone asked the young girl what she is?
no subject
Date: 2015-02-04 01:59 am (UTC)Many times the enrolling parent is marginally English speaking and sometimes even for us English speakers those forms are confusing. Add to that that as far as ethnicity there's only so many labels officially available. African isn't one of them. Asian is though. Citizenship can be confused with ethnicity too.
*GRINS* My father was born of German ethnicity in the U.S. His father came over at very young and never did naturalize though two of his sons fought in WW2 for the U.S. Grandma was born of German parents in the U.S. and when she found out during the war about Grandpa's non-naturalized state she went and declared her allegiance. The area they lived was mainly German immigrants so *shrugs* Don't think Grandpa ever did naturalize.