I almost got in huge trouble at work the other day for telling kids how dangerous knife fighting is.

I work at a middle school and was doing a "hang out session" type intervention thing with a group of at risk 7th & 8th graders (13 and 14 yo).

The topic someone came up of carrying pocket knives around town for protection. They didn't say anything about carrying them in school, so I didn't think it was anything too bad, but rather than freaking out and saying "you can't talk about knives in school!!!!1!" which they would've just dismissed as a stupid rule, I started telling them how dangerous knife fighting is and how the person who pulls the knife usually ends up getting hurt (I'm a black belt in martial arts and teach things like this to the students at the dojo). I thought it'd give them more practical life advice they could use to make better decisions before just shutting down the conversation.

One of the kids' teaching assistants had other thoughts about the conversation. She jumped in with the "you can't talk about knives in school!!!!!1!" and we ended the conversation. Later the vice principal came to me and said she went to her and said we were having a "violent conversation" and she was worried. I walked the vice principal through the entire conversation and she said "that's it?" and rolled her eyes.

So I was fine in the end, but it's scary how even acknowledging the existence of pocket knives and trying to help kids make safer decisions regarding them could potentially lose you your job. This is why teachers seem to drop all common sense when the topic of weapons comes up. They're protecting their jobs and themselves.