Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
In an era when students are being suspended for having a gun-shaped pop tart in school, why is an elementary school in a Seattle suburb allowing a Sikh student to carry a ceremonial double-edged dagger to school?
According to King5.com, parents of students at the Gildo Rey Elementary School in Auburn, Washington are furious that the school is allowing a Sikh student to carry a kirpan, a ceremonial two-edged dagger, to school in spite of its zero tolerance policy.
School officials claim state and federal law allow such a religious exemption and are permitting the student to carry the dagger.
“The knife can’t come out. It can’t be shown around. It needs to be underneath their clothing,” Auburn Assistant Superintendent Ryan Foster told King 5. “That allows them to express their religion without jeopardizing anyone’s feeling of safety. If there are any problems, we will take it to the family, but we don’t expect any.”
According to Truth Revolt, Dori Monson, a radio host on KIRO 97.3 FMwas furious about the double-standard being applied in this case. “If you leave a butter knife in your son or daughter’s lunch bag, they get expelled – they get kicked out of school,” Dori said. “But this kid is going to be able to bring a sword into the classroom?”
She added: “When you expel kids for leaving a folding knife in their purse …, but you let the Sikh kid bring a dagger into the classroom every day, I would say political correctness has gotten completely out of control. Our schools have gone insane.”
Parents are justifiably concerned.
As one parent told Truth Revolt: “They can’t take that thing into the airport. … Why is a school any different?”
Another said she intends to quit volunteering at the school in protest of the policy.
Even if the kirpan is just a harmless ceremonial object, if a pop-tart can get a kid suspended, no one should be allowed to bring a dagger to school regardless of its religious value.
With public anxiety over the ISIS situation and the attacks by radical Islamists occurring all over the world, coupled with another school shooting in Washington state on Friday that left three people dead, the decision to allow this dagger in an elementary school – for whatever reason – reflects remarkably poor judgment on the part of these administrators.
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