School "nanny-ism" gone too far...

Timid, quivering and ineffective management is all I can think of when I read this story from the Boston Herald:

Science project involving BB gun too dangerous
Two middle school students who spent months working on a science project to prove how dangerous BB guns can be were disqualified from the state middle school science fair - because BB guns are too dangerous.

Amherst Regional Middle School eighth-graders Nathan C. Woodard and Nathaniel A. Gorlin-Crenshaw spent seven months researching and testing their hypothesis that BB guns can be deadly and shouldn't be used by children. Minors can't purchase BB guns, but they can receive them as gifts.

The students said they proved that BB guns can penetrate a human to cause a fatal injury; pellets can penetrate farther than BBs; and clothing affects how far a BB and pellet will penetrate.

The boys spent about $200 on ballistics gelatin, which has the same density and consistency as human flesh, to use during their ballistic tests, which were done under the supervision of science teacher Jennifer D. Welborn and Nathan's mother, Sharon L. Downs.

"We put a lot of time into this - every Monday and Thursday since November," Gorlin-Crenshaw told The Republican of Springfield. "We devoted a weekend to the actual testing."

But 10 days before the June 4 event at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, they were told not to bother attending.

"We had everything ready except gluing the poster," Woodard said. "We got an e-mail that the project was hazardous and it couldn't be shown because they didn't want to encourage kids to use ballistics."

That is just plain rude -- a slap on the face. They could have allowed the exhibit but required that the guns displayed there be models or be rendered unusable. These kids sent in the plan and spent seven months plus $200 bucks. The article closes with the kids decision:

They boys were invited to present their findings to some judges and receive a certificate of accomplishment, but they rejected the offer because they weren't allowed to compete.

Woodard and Gorlin-Crenshaw said they were insulted by the invitation.

"I see their point of view. I don't agree with it," said Woodard, who used his father's BB gun for the testing. "I was really disappointed. We had a good point to prove."

The pupils said they're going to send their findings to the Amherst Police Department for review, which in recent years has had to deal with the use of BB guns more frequently during the commission of crimes.

Good on them -- they had the stones to not settle for appeasement and are still more than happy to release their data to people who can actually use it.