Carl...it isn't the same as it was when we were kids. I'm 52 (well, I will be in August, God willing), and aside from Charles Whitman picking off folks from the clock tower at UT Austin in 1966, folks could send their kids to school without having to worry about them being shot up, blown up, stabbed, or otherwise mangled.
Oddly enough, I was stabbed in the head by one of those giant red pencils by another kid just for introducing myself to him! I had a mark on my head for 15 years!
Anyway, aside from whatever punishment the boys received, lets not be too hard on the teachers. I was one for many years. They have too much to deal with these days, and have to wear too many hats. If they let things like this go, they get fussed at, if they get on the boys for using pencils as toy guns, they get fussed at...they simply can't win.
Being honest, kids CAN get hurt playing with pencils, as I'm living proof of this fact...let's just not get carried away punishing them when proper instruction about safety would suffice!
