When are we going to let kids be kids??? When I was young, adults didn't interfere in every aspect of my life, allowing me to make my own mistakes and also allowing me to suffer the consequences. When my girlfriends and I would get into an argument, the parents stayed out of it knowing that we'd be friends again by the end of the day. We weren't appeased at every turn which I believe helps kids learn to deal with the disappointments they'll eventually suffer in the real world.
Today, too many people want to "protect" kids from life's problems and disappointments and as a result, we're raising a society of spoiled rotten brats. This story banning the Legos takes the cake though!

Why We Banned Legos - Volume 21 No. 2 - Winter 2006 - Rethinking Schools Online

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

Just some silly people that PROBABLY wanted to take the legos away from he kids and play with them THEMSELVES.

How asinine.

They were discussing this in more detail on FOX. Yea, the teachers claimed it taught capitalism and property ownership: the children were building their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys — assumptions that mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society — a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive. As we watched the children build, we became increasingly concerned.
Under condition that every student build the same size structure and every structure belong to the community (Communism.) they will allow limited supervised play (I think the 8 year olds should be supervising the teachers…).

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Only a liberal would know how hard it is to get a nicotine patch to stick to a monkey.

Communism? Capitalism? What a twisted vision of reality. It's about a society of CHILDREN, Hank. Not free men. If "communism" is indeed better for children, I could see that as a potential argument in favor of capitalism for adults...

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(Beckett)

This is why kids grow up to be so fucking stupid these days.

When I was a kid, we didn't have Legos in the classroom. We had things like books, science projects, and teachers. Somehow, without the benefit of Legos, I've become successful in a second career, after a successful first career, and I have no desire for my own plastic landing strip.

Here's a thought: Take the fucking Legos out of the classroom and start fucking teaching...

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Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

This wasn't the actual classroom but rather an after-school childcare program.

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

If you'd read the article, you would have seen that the legos were removed from a program that cares for kids with working parents from 3:30 to 6:00 PM (i.e. "after school care" and not "school")

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

And, FWIW, if the odd bartering system that emerged surrounding the legos proved to be disruptive I see no issue, per se, with removing it. All the socialist/capitalist overtones in the explanation of the removal seemed a little silly to me, but I think that keeping all of the children happy is the primary goal of such a program.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

I hear stories about how principals used to referee fights instead of suspending or expelling both sides. Things have become so regulated, so tightened. No one trusts kids anymore, thinking that they don't know any better. My favorite expression for this is: 'Protect the easily offended! Ban Everything!' Honestly, as a kid, I didn't need protecting then more than I do now. Protecting the kids really just hinders them, like you said.

I played with legos as a kid. Even when I was only a few years old, my cousins and I played with them. And at daycare. They were my favorite toy. I still sometimes play with them. (Last week, I found myself in a room that had a lego chest in it...and curiosity got the better of me. I missed lunch, and almost dinner.)

It's great! You get to play pretend, build your imagination, learn about improvisation, fixing things, and experimentation. As kids everywhere said, and continue to say, 'the instruction manual? Oh, that went into the trash with the wrapper.' You're absolutely right that disappointments are a part of life, and a part of legos too. (Yes, I just drew an analogy between the two.) For me, there weren't enough wall pieces, or someone else had the treasure chest I wanted for my castle. I shrugged (though I was still kinda upset) and made my own out of regular bricks.

These teachers are evil!

They're kids. The mere fact that there are toys around at all will become disruptive because sharing skills are not refined enough anyways. If it isn't legos it will be whatever else they now have to play with. If there are no toys there will be cliques that will claim a certain corner of the room or a certain part of the playground. Part of preschool is to help kids work through these social interactions that they will be dealing with for their entire life.

That's a fair point. I guess all I'm really trying to say is a big "who cares?"

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

There teaching against the very fiber of our society. Freedom dictates your potential to make airports or Mc Nuggets, not ass-clowns.

We have enough brainwashed idiots left over from the 60’s. We don’t need them conditioning another generation.

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Only a liberal would know how hard it is to get a nicotine patch to stick to a monkey.

When I was a kid I'd spend hours building things with legos. Damn they are great toys. Too bad for the kids.

I have to question this, and you:

Do you honestlty think this isn't a continuation of School????

i think the problem is that it became a community project with commercial leanings, rather than simple play.

The Game of monopoly is fine, as long as there is a time limit where the players start over.