Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Middle School opinions?

Unofficial poll:

My (then) 6th grade son says he and friends played cards (TX Hold 'em, poker) at school recess with chips for fun. One day the staff confiscated the chips and said they couldn't do that anymore because it was gambling. Do you agree?

Technically speaking, yes.

We used to play cards at lunch in middle school, we kept tabs on paper so as not to draw attention from the lunch ladies.

Were they exchanging the chips for cash? If not, it seems like the school staff was over-reacting. Haven't they heard of bingo games at church?

I think it is within the discretion of the school to stop that sort of thing, though I very much doubt it would be considered "gambling" under any law.

When I was a kid we used to play for toothpicks.

From Wikipedia "Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods."
I would say NO because because the chips have no material value and they are not playing for keeps.
Schools can get picky about stuff like that, & sometimes we have to choose our battles.

In my high school we were only allowed to play Uno because any other card game (Spades) "might" be gambling. So we had Uno decks sorted out to work as regular decks (each color was a suit and each of the non-number cards represented a face card) and played Spades anyway. I personally think they were overreacting (both with this and a lot of other things) but I'm sure they were allowed to have that rule, legally. It's not like it was infringing on our rights to have certain card games restricted. But if they had picked their battles we might have been more compliant students instead of more creative little hooligans

I guess I'm just disappointed with narrow-mindedness of staff. I expected more. No, they're not exchanging chips for $...it was just something fun to do.

I get why schools would ban it since gambling is now considered a disease. (Or is it still just an addition?) Does anyone remember candy cigarettes and bubble gum cigars?

I think it would be better idea to ban the soda and chip machines.