The Difference Between Right and Wrong

A kid brought a knife to school today.

If we were to follow the letter of school policy, then the kid would face a mandatory one to two day suspension. That would be the right thing to do.

But is it really?

The only reason I know the kid brought the knife to school today is because he left his pencil bag behind in a desk and another kid found it. Being a curious 6th grader (well, being a 6th grader), he of course rummaged through to see what he could find. Inside the pencil bag was a small pocket knife. The boy brought the bag to me and I took the bag to the Principal.

The knife belongs to a boy who has a long history of getting in to trouble at school. everything from petty larceny to angry outbursts and open defiance. He has never been violent. He has never made threats. And, for the record, the knife was never shown to anyone else. for all we know, he could have been bringing the knife to school every day.

A little more about the boy. Or, more importantly, his home life. His mother is on and off meth. She and her boyfriend live paycheck to paycheck, or off the charity of others. The boy in question gets himself and his little sister up each morning and makes sure they are dressed and out the door in time to catch the bus. He has next to no possessions. Anything he leaves at home vanishes to pay for gas, groceries, or a hit. Both mom and boyfriend are in and out of jail. This year the boy and his sister had to spend two weeks with Grandma while both mom and boyfriend were in jail at the same time.

I should note that the boy is, for the first time all year, passing my class. He is the most literate child you could imagine. Talk about reading for an escape. He regularly reads three or four books a week. The first time I ever caught him stealing, he was trying to take my hardcover copy of Eldedst. He has finally mastered the concept of a library and has special borrowing privileges due to his voracious reading.

So, what to do with this child? The "right" thing to do is to suspend him. To send him home. To have his parents come and claim the knife (worth at least $10 at the local pawn shop). To have him miss out on a day of school. To have him suffer the shame and stigma of being sent home for a weapons violation.

So the Principal did the wrong thing. He took the knife. He told the kid to get it after school, to take it home, to put it someplace safe, and to never do it again. What he had done was wrong. He would spend the rest of the day in in-school suspension. He would be given a chance to work. To study. To improve his grades and pass more of his classes. The kid understood. He knew he was being given another chance. He knew he was getting a break. He was grateful.

So, the kid did something wrong. The Principal did something wrong. And, it turned out all right.

Or so I thought. I was ready to press "publish". I had to stop in at the office for something unrelated. The secretary was upset. Apparently, when the Principal called to tell the boyfriend what had happened and how it was being handled, the boyfriend insisted that the boy must be sent home.