Magic Hobbit Ring Suspension - A fourth grader from Texas named Aiden Steward was recently suspended for reportedly "threatening" a classmate with a magic ring Thursday. The "magic" ring is based on the "one ring" from the movie "The Hobbit."
The magic hobbit ring suspension incident happened as the 9-year-old boy brought his "one ring" to Kermit Elementary School and told his classmate that he could make him disappear by putting the ring forged in fictional Middle Earth's Mount Doom on his friend's head and make him invisible like Bilbo Baggins. As a result, the school's officials called the playful act of make-believe a threat, according to The New York Daily News.
Apparently, days prior to the magic hobbit ring suspension incident, the young boy and his family watched "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies." The film appeared to have inspired Aiden's imagination, which led him to play and make believe that he had the one ring to rule them all in his possession.
In defense of his son, Aiden's father provided a sufficient argument.
"It sounded unbelievable," the Jason Steward told the Daily News. "My son didn't mean anything by it."
"I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend's existence," he said via email. "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back."
"Kids act out movies that they see. When I watched Superman as a kid, I went outside and tried to fly," he added.
Meanwhile, Principal Roxanne Greer of Kermit Elementary School declined to comment on the magic hobbit ring suspension incident. She cited confidentiality policies, according to the Odessa American, which first reported on the incident Friday.
The Stewards moved to the Kermit Independent School District six months prior to the magic hobbit ring suspension incident. However, it appeared the move has been nothing but trouble for the little boy. The 9-year-old had reportedly been suspended three times this school year already.
Two of the disciplinary actions the young boy experienced this year were in-school suspensions. One was for referring to a classmate as black and another was for bringing his favorite book to school: "The Big Book of Knowledge."
"He loves that book. They were studying the solar system and he took it to school. He thought his teacher would be impressed," his father said.
However, Steward said that the teacher later learned that the popular children's encyclopedia had a section on pregnancy, depicting a pregnant woman in an illustration, which was the reason for the suspension.
As the Washington Post says, ridiculous zero tolerance policies such as the magic hobbit ring suspension incident pose a far greater threat to our children's education than mere imaginary magic rings.
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