Knives at School

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bobpickle

Joined
Dec 24, 2015
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Hey guys, what are your opinions on bringing small folding knives to school. Whether it be College, High School, Middle School, or even elementary.
 
As a kid, I always carried a knife to school. But that was many many years ago.
All my friends also carried knives.
 
in the 1960s I carried a pocket knife occasionally to elementary school - not every day. I also carried pocket knives to school occasionally in middle school and high school, in the 1970s. No one ever questioned it, and we didn't have to hide them. In study hall or at lunch, the teachers would occasionally see us checking out a friend's knife and they didn't freak out. The most I ever remember them saying was "Be careful with that!" or "Put that back in your pocket." And sometimes: "Nice knife."

In today's environment, it's probably reform school for the child and prison for the parents. :rolleyes:
 
Just play along with their silly anti knife rules, if they have them. Its better than having a mark on your record and/or having the blade confiscated.
 
For home school, PE sometimes consists of throwing knives and blowguns at the backyard range. :cool:

So yeah, knife friendly.
 
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rje58 said:
in the 1960s I carried a pocket knife occasionally to elementary school - not every day. I also carried pocket knives to school occasionally in middle school and high school, in the 1970s. No one ever questioned it, and we didn't have to hide them. In study hall or at lunch, the teachers would occasionally see us checking out a friend's knife and they didn't freak out. The most I ever remember them saying was "Be careful with that!" or "Put that back in your pocket." And sometimes: "Nice knife."

In today's environment, it's probably reform school for the child and prison for the parents. :rolleyes:
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Would love to have that in today's society.
 
I would've loved to be able to have a leatherman micra with me at school ( luckily I was able to have as many knives on me that I wanted in highschool, because I was in independent studies where my teacher dropped off 2 weeks of work that it was up to me to figure out and do before she came back )
I can think of a few times where I could've used the tweezers , or used the screwdriver to tighten the blade on my little pencil sharpener, use the small driver to fix a kids glasses, or last but not least use the knife to open a stubborn snack package at lunch.

I feel like a kid could definitely have a use for a micra or sak classic at school, but most people would disagree .

I guess I'm just so much of a knife person that I can't bare to be without a knife/ multitool and can always think of a hundred reasons why I should be able to have them in any situation, even if they're unlikely.
 
I carried a knife every day in high school and college. Now I do the same at Law School. The only time I do not have a knife on me is when I work at the Court (no knives allowed in the courtrooms here).

My normal carry is my Lionsteel TRE. Sometimes I carry a different one, up to a Benchmade Barrage.
 
I was lucky to catch the tail end of the Era of common sense. Columbine is what really changed it nationally for everyone.

I graduated high school the same year that tragedy happened. While pocket knives were not exactly preferred in school, those of us that carried a knife and we're "good kids" were generally left alone or sometimes asked to cut something by a teacher without a knife:D

I grew up in a pretty rural area. Lots of agriculture and farming families, so tools in your pockets weren't out of place.

When I went to college, there was supposedly a "no weapons" policy. I generally wore a leatherman tool on my belt most every day. One of my psych professors actually commented on being a fan of what Tim Leatherman had built.

Once again, I tried to always present myself as a "good kid", and I was never bothered about it.

Now, in today's climate, I wouldnt risk it. It's not worth the hassle.
Indiana has a pretty straightforward "no knives on school properties" law. As a dad with a daughter in grade school, I try to comply.

I walk my daughter to school, but I drop her off in the sports yard. I generally don't worry about leaving my work knife at home. However, when I go into the building, it stays in the truck. Her school seems pretty high on common sense, but I still try to comply as I can.
 
rje58's experience was mine as well, although I came along about 10 years earlier. In the 50's and early 60's, almost everybody I went to school with, including the girls and the teachers, carried a pocketknife. I lived in "old" Florida (dirt roads, heavily wooded, Spanish Moss on every tree) before Disney and retirees overran the state. Most of the boys were in FFA during school and had jobs after school. The girls were usually in 4-H and even used their knives in Home Economics classes. It was just something you carried then because you used it for legitimate purposes almost daily. I got in the habit then of making it a part of my daily kit and it has been ever since... goin' on 62 years now.
 
Know the rules/laws. Should you decide to break them be comfortable with the consequences. If you are student K-12 I think it would be extremely stupid to carry a knife at school.
 
Hi. Interesting topic, also on the other thread. Missed that. I regularly carried a small SAK at school, starting from the 1st grade :). It was pretty normal during the late 70ies and 80ies. It was a small town (closed to Monza – Lombardy Region) and, as kids, we usually met in groups and ride bicycles together to/from school, on our own. During the recess, mid-morning or mid-afternoon, it was common for us to bring fruits, bread, croissants, ham or cheese as snacks. At least one pupil out of three had a penknife, a slip-joint of sorts or a SAK in their pocket, girls included. We were sitting in the school garden or in the recess areas, cutting and sharing our food. Older ones were normally helping the little ones :cool:. Never had an issue. On the other hand, in those times, we wear uniforms until the end of secondary school (13 years old - boys a black blouse with a blue ribbon and girls a white one with a pink ribbon :D), Italian flag was in every classroom together with a wooden cross; we were standing up and greet the teachers when they were coming and leaving and we had a common prayer before and at the end of the lessons. Freedom came with respect and responsibility, we coped with our successes and our failures and learned how to deal with those; the differences between good and bad and right or wrong were taught and were crystal clear back then. Today, as father of three kids (13,9,2), I am more worried about the damages smart-phones and stuff are causing (with all the cyber-bullying and the rest), rather than the hypothetical ones an Opinel in the pocket, on a school ground, could cause :(. All the schools are today "knives-free" but worse things than a bad cut happen...
 
If it's legal then sure.

If it isnt then it's your own risk.

I always carry one when I can.
 
I graduated in 93, and carried a knife throughout my entire school years as did most guys, even teachers wore the occasional buck 110. No one ever got threatened, cut or stabbed. There was even a wet stone we could borrow off our shop teacher so we could sharpen in class. I also remember taking plastic guns to school as a kid and having great battles at recess. Most of the guys in highschool had a gun in their truck on any given day, no one ever got shot or threatened. Now a kid faces criminal charges if he brings a butter knife to cut his sandwich or a gi joe holding a 1 " plastic gun. ??????????? what has happened and why have we let this happen? I took hunter safety in school, they taught kids about guns and safety in class, no one got shot in the face at my school, now you here about it every day in the news.
 
bobpickle said:
Hey guys, what are your opinions on bringing small folding knives to school. Whether it be College, High School, Middle School, or even elementary.
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Felony here on all educational levels, even college, though hardly ever enforced on that level.

- OS
 
As a knife nut and former administrator, I'll way in. I graduated mid 90's in a rural tx town. I carried a pocket knife every day. Cut stuff for teachers. College...no problem.

Now, I work at a high school & knives aren't leagal to carry. If I see it, it's an issue. I pick them up and call parents. I just tell the boys to leave them in their truck. I explain my love of knives and teach common sense. If I don't see it, it's a non issue. So be smart. Don't pull it out in class to show your buddy.

I also sharpened our culinary's teams knifes so they could do better at competition.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OhShoot said:
Felony here on all educational levels, even college, though hardly ever enforced on that level.

- OS
Click to expand...

Same here. There is only one direction one can go if something bad happens. Getting arrested for a felony isn't on my bucket list, not by a long shot.
 
there is "school policy", and then there is THE LAW. And they are two very different things.

"School policy" applies to students and faculty. A violation of school policy by a student can result in suspension, expulsion, and an unfavorable school record. Violation of school policy by faculty can result in suspension and/or termination. And good luck getting another teaching job after that.

"THE LAW", is the penal/criminal code, and it applies to EVERYONE. Violating the law can result in arrest, jail time, criminal record, thousands of dollars in fines, years of probation, etc.

Here in California, in regards to schools k-12, THE LAW says "any person...who brings or possesses any dirk, dagger, ice pick, knife having a blade longer than 2 1/2 inches, folding knife with a blade that locks into place, razor with an unguarded blade..." on school property is guilty of a violation of California penal code 626.10 (a). So, under California law, a person can legally carry a slipjoint onto school property as long as the blade is 2 1/2 inches long or shorter. But no locking folders, and no fixed-blades.

In regards to college campuses, THE LAW says "any person...who brings or possess any dirk, dagger, ice pick, or knife having a fixed-blade longer than 2 1/2 inches... is guilty of violating CA pc 626.10 (b). So, under California law, a person can legally carry any manual folding knife, of any size, open or concealed, or an openly carried fixed-blade with a blade no longer than 2 1/2 inches on college property. There is also an exception in the law for carrying/possessing fixed-blades with blades longer than 2 1/2 inches as long as they are being used for food prep.

Naturally any school has the ability to set their own policies that are more restrictive than the law, but again, those policies only apply to students and personnel. If my kids school has a policy that says "NO KNIVES PERIOD", that policy doesn't apply to me, and I cannot be punished if I violate that policy. But THE LAW does apply to me. That's why I only carry a slipjoint with a blade under 2 1/2 inches when I go to my kids school.

As far as kids carrying knives at school, I like knives about as much as anybody (more or less), but I don't think my kids, or any kids, need knives at school. The way many kids are today, with all the "behavioral problems", I don't want kids bringing knives to school, and I want school personnel to be able to intervene and temporarily confiscate any knives they see, as well as find out why the child brought a knife to school. I've been at school functions (elementary) where I've seen first hand what little monsters kids can be when they're playing, or when they get angry, and it can be pretty scary.

Children often possess little to no self-control, over themselves, or their emotions. They often have poor impulse control. And they often have no understanding regarding the consequences of their actions. So HELL NO, I don't want kids to be allowed to bring knives to school.

College however is a different matter. I'll worry about college when the time comes.
 
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