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Taunton second-grader suspended over drawing of Jesus


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A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.



The father said he got a call earlier this month from Maxham Elementary School informing him that his son, a second-grade student, had created a violent drawing. The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus with Xs covering his eyes to signify that he had died on the cross. The boy wrote his name above the cross.....


http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1903566059/Taunton-second-grader-suspended-over-drawing-of-Jesus

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I think the prOBlem in this case was that the child put himself on the cross and also his father is lying about some things about the drawing too. They are saying now the child didn't even draw it at school...the school was worried about the child drawing himself dead on a cross.

While I don't agree with schools doing psyche evaluations without parental involvement, I don't think this is solely a religious case.

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Reminds me of the time one of the kids I babysat for was out raking leaves with his dad. The boy (5 years old) laid down and told his dad to bury him in the leaves, cuz he was dead. I have no idea what he was thinking, but, buddy! That dad stormed over to me the next time he brought the child to my house and demanded to know just what that (ahem) school (he was in kindergarten at our Christian school) was teaching his boy. Of course, he wasn't being taught anything like that at school. But kids come up with some strange things sometimes. And any teacher worth his/her salt knows this.

According to the article, the child drew Jesus on the cross, not himself. He put his own name on top, but could it not be that he did this with the idea of Christ dying for him? I know he was influenced by a Catholic shrine, but still, the Catholics do teach that Jesus died for our sins (among other things, I know, for salvation).

I didn't get the impression that the dad lied, nor that the child drew the picture somewhere else. According to the article, he drew the picture in class after the class was told to draw something that made them think of Christmas. Christ on the cross isn't usually the first thing people think of at Christmas, but as Christians, we do teach that He was born to die, right? So, perhaps that is what his father has (rightly) taught him. [Kita - are you perhaps getting other information outside this article that is pointing to the father possibly lying?]

If something like this happened to my child, he'd be homeschooled from that point on! I sure wouldn't let the school district have another go at him.

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I think the prOBlem in this case was that the child put himself on the cross and also his father is lying about some things about the drawing too. They are saying now the child didn't even draw it at school...the school was worried about the child drawing himself dead on a cross.

While I don't agree with schools doing psyche evaluations without parental involvement, I don't think this is solely a religious case.


I know when I was a kid we used to act out scenes from the Bible. In my opinion I believe they are reading too much into this one.
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580336,00.html?test=latestnewsj

According this this article the son had said he drew himself on the cross....and also according to the article there is alot of conflicting information going on.

I'm the first one to get upset with public schools meddling into the religious beliefs of a family, but this case is fishy.

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It doesn't matter. The teacher should sat beside him and ask about the picture. From what I understand, they were suppose to draw a picture about Christmas and it what he drew.

I think the father knows they are making a big issue out of this, He would know what his son is trying to draw because what he taught him at home (religion) . and I think it is up to the father to have his son evaluated or not if he have concerns.

some people think he is drawing against Christ with the broken cross stick body and the "x" on his eyes. Again, the father could be against religion and his son could be expressing that. Either he was expressing how he feels himself, his religion or anti-religion, the boy's freedom of expression was violated when they made him go home and forced a psychology evaluation on him.

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It doesn't matter. The teacher should sat beside him and ask about the picture. From what I understand, they were suppose to draw a picture about Christmas and it what he drew.

I think the father knows they are making a big issue out of this, He would know what his son is trying to draw because what he taught him at home (religion) . and I think it is up to the father to have his son evaluated or not if he have concerns.

some people think he is drawing against Christ with the broken cross stick body and the "x" on his eyes. Again, the father could be against religion and his son could be expressing that. Either he was expressing how he feels himself, his religion or anti-religion, the boy's freedom of expression was violated when they made him go home and forced a psychology evaluation on him.


Angie - in the second article, the school is claiming that the students were not asked to draw a picture, and that the one being circulated is not the one the child drew. Yes, it is up to the father to have the child evaluated, but there are two stories circulating, so all of the facts are not known yet.
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I've heard that other kids were getting in the same type of trouble for a non-religion drawing . So apparently, they did let kids draw in their school and making a big deal out of them. It may not be about Christmas, but just drawings itself around Christmas time.

When I was little, we could draw anything. Sometimes they use a child's drawing for signs of trouble at home and such. Like if a child witness abuse, He would express it on his drawing. But children should never get in trouble for drawing no matter what.

Still, the teacher should have a school counselor to have the drawing checked out. If he said it was a picture of Jesus dying on the cross, then they should let it drop.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580282,00.html

There's still weird stuff going on.

I am starting to think the dad wants a little extra attention and maybe some money out of this. Or sounds like possibly they wanted to figure out a way to transfer to a new school district.

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Hmm....I see John Whitehead has gotten involved. That makes me wonder if maybe there is something to this story!

If the school is completely innocent, as they are claiming, then why did they approve transferring the child to another school? Maybe to avoid controversy, but I don't know...

As to his asking for a transfer - I can't say that is indicative, to me, of his trying to get money. It could just be that he sincerely feels they cut his hours because of this (we all know that kind of thing happens) and wants a fresh start. Of course, with this going national, there prOBably won't be any such thing.

Interesting, though, that he dropped the race card and stuck to the religion one. This'll be an interesting story to watch.

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