US Teachers ban playground cops-and-robbers games
US teachers have banned children from playing cops and robbers as part of a zero-tolerance crackdown on any signs of violence at school, it was reported today.
Youngsters at several schools across America have been punished for pretending to be policemen or criminals, according to the Washington Times.
A nine-year-old boy in California was threatened with suspension after being caught playing the game. The boy’s father took his son out of the school to prevent the headmaster from removing him.
Other incidents include two New York pupils were suspended for pointing paper guns and saying,
"I’m going to kill you.’’
An eight-year-old boy in Arkansas was punished for pointing a finger at a teacher and saying ‘‘pow, pow,’’ while four children at kindergarten in New Jersey were suspended after they pretended their fingers were guns and said they wanted to shoot one another.
The move has been criticised by civil rights activists.
‘‘I think the schools are paranoid, and the policies just don’t work,’’ John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, an international legal and educational organisation, told the newspaper.
Kent Willis, from the American Civil Liberties Union, said the policies infringed on the students’ rights to free expression.
‘‘Zero-tolerance policies are narrow, unreasonable rules with extraordinary punishments, and that’s where the constitutional issues come in. Schools should be careful about banning student expression.’’
But a spokesman for California’s Silver Valley School District, where one of the incidents took place, said officials just want to establish guidelines for the game.
‘‘We have suspended play when they’re using imaginary weapons until guidelines can be developed to help the staff differentiate between dangerous and imaginary play.’’
