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| Britain |
| Britain: Officials tell nurseries to allow boys to play with toy weapons |
| 2007-12-29 |
| And it's blue-on-blue on the playing fields of Blighty. Boys should be allowed to play with toy weapons at nursery, according to government advice that contradicts guidance from police and teachers. Police and teachers - what do they have in common? Ministers do not mention toy guns specifically but they claim that some form of “weapons play” could help to engage boys in education. However, teachers said that the guidance, published today, had no basis in educational practice, could encourage aggression among pupils and would anger and confuse parents. Children have been suspended from school previously, or even arrested, when caught playing with toy guns. The advice, from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, says that nursery staff should ignore their “natural instinct” to stop young boys playing games with weapons. It says that such activities can help to engage them. Boys begin falling behind girls in education before they have even started school and the Government is desperate to tackle this pattern. Its guidance says: “Images and ideas gleaned from the media are common starting points in boys’ play and may involve characters with special powers or weapons. Adults can find this type of play particularly challenging and have a natural instinct to stop it. “Creating situations so that boys’ interests in these forms of play can be fostered through healthy and safe risk-taking will enhance every aspect of their learning and development.” The advice, Confident, Capable and Creative: Supporting Boys’ Achievements, was drawn up to help to raise boys’ educational achievement by “creating the right conditions for boys’ learning” before they start primary school. The document says: “Sometimes practitioners find the chosen play of boys more difficult to understand and value than that of girls. “[Stopping it] is not necessary as long as practitioners help the boys to understand and respect the rights of other children and to take responsibility for the resources and environment.” Two years ago one chief constable called for a ban on parents buying toy guns for their children. Michael Todd said that 70 per cent of incidents attended by Greater Manchester Police’s armed response unit turned out to be children with replica guns. Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union, said that parents could be confused or annoyed if their children were allowed to play with toy guns at school or nursery. She said: “There could be concern that it goes against the values they want to establish in the home. It doesn’t seem to have any basis in educational practice.” Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The real problem with weapons is that they symbolise aggression. The toy gun is often accompanied by aggression. We do need to ensure, whether the playing is rumbustious or not, that there is a respect for your peers, however young they are.” Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, defended the advice, saying that it did not refer specifically to toy guns. She said: “It takes a common-sense approach to the fact that many children, and perhaps particularly many boys, like boisterous physical activity. The guidance also impresses upon staff the need to teach children that they must respect one another and that harming another person in the real world is not acceptable.” |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #5 Word, JFM. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2007-12-29 13:33 |
| #4 The problem is not toy weapons. Boys of my generation had alot if respect for their peers and played a lot with toy waepns. ... But we had positive models: cowboys who confronted bullies, cops (who were still not the cyniacl corrupt ones from the movies you favour) aressting criminals and last but not least allied soldiers fighting that incarnation of antechrist who was Nazism. We learned that man must fight evil, that this will not just go away if you shut your eyes and to hope one day we would be lucky enough to fight for the widow and the orphan ... Simply outstanding, JFM. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-12-29 12:29 |
| #3 Police and teachers - what do they have in common? Besides hating guns [in other people's hands]. Generally, a fascist's mentality of a dominating central government imposed paradise determined by their peers. POWER, but only in the hands of the "right" people. SUBSERVIENT fellow 'citizens' that act robotic in response to their declarations. You serve the state, the state doesn't serve you. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-12-29 09:00 |
| #2 JFM, you rule. I wish I could add to that, but I can't. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2007-12-29 07:31 |
| #1 Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of The problem is not toy weapons. Boys of my generation had alot if respect for their peers and played a lot with toy waepns. I still remember the pair of real-sized revolvers I won at a raffle (515 was the winning number). But we had positive models: cowboys who confronted bullies, cops (who were still not the cyniacl corrupt ones from the movies you favour) aressting criminals and last but not least allied soldiers fighting that incarnation of antechrist who was Nazism. We learned that man must fight evil, that thios will noty just go away if you shut your eyes and to hope one day we would be lucky enough to fight for the widow and the orphan while you the oh so; enlightened british teachers and the oh so enlightened British police teach to your pupils and your citizens that they should cooperate with burglas to avoid angering tem, tell them where is the money, opmen the safe and, you didn't dare to tell it explicitly but I am sure you were tempted, the victim should help them opening the legs of his wife in case they want to have a bit of fun. And you instilled in your pupils, you gave them as role models who would help destroying their sense of decency: pot-smoking actors, punk and rap values and criminals were no longer considered repulsive but poor victims of the eeeeeeevil western society while the sufering of the victims were either ignored or you told they had it coming. In order to make better more decent men of British boys the solution is not to ban toy weapons, the solution is to massively fire British teachers. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-12-29 06:36 |