This is not the first time something like this has happened, but the Oklahoma City Friday paper reports that two students will be disciplined for making their very own fake Death Notes. The two students from Andrew Johnson Elementary were caught writing down the names of two other students in a notebook, complete with causes of death like "(student's name) shot by a sniper." Shot by a sniper? If you were pretending that you had a Death Note, wouldn't you be a tad more creative in devising the cause of death for your most hated classmate? If you're just going to write that your enemy gets shot, why not just write "(student's name) should die by virtue of ceasing to be alive?"

I do find it slightly disturbing that this is going on at the elementary school level, because kids that age are really too young to be watching Death Note in any of it's incarnations. At the high school or even middle school level, unfortunately the concept of killing someone you hate is no longer new to you. Anyway, you have to give these homemade Death Notes credit for being at least partially effective; sure, they can't kill anyone, but they can apparently fill people with an abundance of irrational fear. Just like in the anime, power-tripping will commence.

Okay, I want to use this piece of news as an excuse to share a relevant story: I happen to know a teacher who had to deal with this in his class. It went something like this:

Teacher: What are you doing, Bob?

Bob: I'm writing your name in my Death Note, Mr. ______.

*kids snicker*

Teacher: (matter-of-factly) Then I still have forty seconds, so you had better learn how to do this problem really fast.

*dead silence as realization slowly dawns that yes, he did actually say that*

And THAT, my friends, is how you handle Death Notes in the classroom.

[Via Anime News Network]