# Idiot Teacher Strikes Again **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 24, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449 "2006-01-24T21:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/21 "2006-01-24T23:10:37Z")
But **Casey** , should it be a _teacher_ that initiates and encourages such a thing? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/22 "2006-01-24T23:19:59Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Because they want to give that money to the Catholic School System, which invented this crap. Seriously, this was SOP back in the Good Old Days. At least he didn’t hit the kid. Well, fuck you, too. I’m so glad you approve of this ancient idea. In that case, I’d like to charge you of being a witch. I hope you enjoy your fucking venerable goddamed tests. Asshat. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/23 "2006-01-24T23:21:27Z")
I’ve had teachers bust my ass all the time. But if the kid is so damn sensitive that he can’t let it go, and loses concentration to the point where he failed to answer 1/3 of the test, then there are some maturity issues at play. Yeah, for the teacher as well, but mostly Little Josh. I wonder how many of the mean rotten students who were throwing all that nasty hard paper at him completed the test. Where could they possibly have found the time? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/24 "2006-01-24T23:21:47Z")
> [@](#): > > “When you are joking and everyone’s laughing, it’s obvious,” Kelly told the Denver Post Someone should teach him the difference between “laughing with” and “laughing at”. Preferably by handing his ass to him and laughing while they do it :mad: OK, I don’t really condone violence against him. But bullies make me so mad, particularly when they are in a position of authority. And when they are adults, and should know better, dammit! > [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Tell me again why school vouchers, as a means of punishing school districts that can defend this kind of filth, are such a bad idea? Because bullies (and that’s what this teacher is) can teach in private schools, too, and a student would have even less recourse against them than they would against a public school teacher. Unless, of course, they wanted to transfer to another school in the middle of a term. And transferring in the middle of a term is a problem, even if there’s not an issue of paying for the new school. I’m not saying school vouchers are a bad idea; I’m just saying they’re not the solution to problems like this. Damned if I know what is, though. > [@Casey1505](#): > > Suck it up, Josh No. People sucking it up is why bullies start to get away with this sort of thing. They should be punished and punished hard the _first_ time they bully someone else. We should never tolerate bullying like this, under any circumstances. Now, if it were verbally ribbing on him a little bit before class, that might be different. But it shouldn’t include encouraging other students to do so, and it certainly shouldn’t include any sort of deliberate humiliation like making him sit on the floor in the center of a circle of desks, or throwing anything at him. Especially not during a midterm. We’ve got a thing called freedom of speech in this country, that allows me to wear my Broncos jersey it in the middle of Steeler Nation, on the weekend before the game against the Broncos to decide who goes to the Super Bowl, _with no retaliation allowed from those in authority_. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/25 "2006-01-24T23:27:56Z")
But Anne, he wore a Broncos jersey in Steelers country!!! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/26 "2006-01-24T23:29:59Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > Suck it up, Josh, being the self described honor student that you are, surely you know that there’s a time and a place. The jersey is fine and dandy, everyone has their heroes. But to wear it in the middle of Steeler Nation, on the weekend before the game against the Broncos to decide who goes to the Super Bowl? Are you fucking high?? > > And it’s not like they were throwing dog turds at you, you pussy! It was wadded up paper for crying out loud. Fuck you, asshole. Did it escape your pea-brained attention that it was a fucking _teacher_ that was leading this abuse? If it had been a bunch of his peers doing this on their own outside of class, I’d absolutely agree with you, but it wasn’t. It was a fucking _teacher_ **during** a goddamn _midterm_ exam. This was no lighthearted ribbing, this was out-and-out abuse. It’s inexcusable, and I hope they fire that so-called “teacher”. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/27 "2006-01-24T23:30:00Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Well, fuck you, too. > > I’m so glad you approve of this ancient idea. In that case, I’d like to charge you of being a witch. I hope you enjoy your fucking venerable goddamed tests. Asshat. I guess you took the wrong meaning from what I said. I was saying that vouchers would encourage this behavior, by supporting the organization that has demonstrated a willingness to practice it. I was hit by Catholic school teachers, through my senior year in high school, and do not send my children to Catholic schools or services. They are Unitarians, as I am. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/28 "2006-01-24T23:33:21Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > The humiliation only gets worse when you allow yourself to be photographed pouting like a 5 year old and [the](http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20060124rrvannoy2_450.jpg) [photographs](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/football/nfl/01/24/jersey.lesson.ap/index.html?cnn=yes) [run](http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2006/0122/20060122_122656_0122broncjersey.jpg) in the national media. > > Seems to me that everything is being blown way out of proportion and probably more than a little exaggerated. If this kids skin is this thin, than maybe he should think twice before wearing the other team’s jersey to school the Friday before the Big Game. Somewhere in Seattle, I bet there was a kid who wore his Steve Smith jersey to school last Friday and got ripped to shreds (figuratively) for doing so, but didn’t curl up into the fetal position and begin sucking his thumb over it. > > Suck it up, Josh, being the self described honor student that you are, surely you know that there’s a time and a place. The jersey is fine and dandy, everyone has their heroes. But to wear it in the middle of Steeler Nation, on the weekend before the game against the Broncos to decide who goes to the Super Bowl? Are you fucking high?? > > And it’s not like they were throwing dog turds at you, you pussy! It was wadded up paper for crying out loud. Wow! You’re an asshole! ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/29 "2006-01-24T23:35:51Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > This was no lighthearted ribbing, this was out-and-out abuse. Abuse? Serously? Getting hit with a wad of paper, even several wads of paper, is not abuse. My pea brain has a sense of perspective. Had they punched him, or thrown their text books at him, then I’d see it a little differently. They threw crumpled up paper at him. I see it as ribbing, not assault. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/30 "2006-01-24T23:35:51Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > I’ve had teachers bust my ass all the time. But if the kid is so damn sensitive that he can’t let it go, and loses concentration to the point where he failed to answer 1/3 of the test, then there are some maturity issues at play. Yeah, for the teacher as well, but mostly Little Josh. I wonder how many of the mean rotten students who were throwing all that nasty hard paper at him completed the test. Where could they possibly have found the time? Ya know, I had a teacher or two bust my ass back in the day (and at college, it stayed a bright red), but I don’t ever recall one that had the class join in. I’ve seen stuff like that happen, although it’s usually only been in the movies. I dunno, maybe different strokes and all that. And I’m not saying he shouldn’t learn to have a bit of a thicker skin. We can all benefit from that. However, if whatever you’re doing as a teacher prevents any of the kids from the actual goal of class in the first place, IE: learning, than one would suppose you’d need to rethink your strategy. As to the other kids, I’m sure it took much less time to was up a piece of paper and toss it than to be embarrassed beyond belief and worried about everyone’s opinion of you, _while_ you take a mid-term essay test, on the floor, after being possibly man-handled, told where you normally set wasn’t your desk and endured taunts and physical (albeit almost non-existent – I think that would only qualify in the humiliation department) abuse. I don’t believe I’d be able to think straight. I’d undoubtedly be so pissed I’d be shaking, crying and not seeing straight. Hell, I’m surprised he took it at all. If all that was truly unheard of, he should have been out the door filing a complaint with the principle immediately. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/31 "2006-01-24T23:43:58Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > Because bullies (and that’s what this teacher is) can teach in private schools, too, and a student would have even less recourse against them than they would against a public school teacher. Unless, of course, they wanted to transfer to another school in the middle of a term. And transferring in the middle of a term is a problem, even if there’s not an issue of paying for the new school. > > I’m not saying school vouchers are a bad idea; I’m just saying they’re not the solution to problems like this. Damned if I know what is, though. I agree that vouchers aren’t a cure-all. But, in the case you posit, the student’s family can _hurt_ the school protecting the bully, by costing it money, when they take their student out of the school. As it is, they can do dick-all but sue to hurt this school district. And that _takes_ money to do. **saorise** , sorry. I over-reacted. I realize now you didn’t mean it that way. I’m not entirely rational on the topic of teacher’s abusing their authority. (Nor anyone else, but especially teachers in public schools, having been a victim of it.) Not an excuse for over-reacting to your comments, which are obviously just as dearly paid for as my own comments about public schools, just a word of explaination. I didn’t go to a Catholic high school, but I considered one after the public schools forced me out. I saw, and heard, nothing about that during my time interviewing there (Massachusetts in the mid-80’s) but I can’t say it didn’t happen. But, again, as I said to **Anne Neville** if the parents of the student so affected didn’t feel that the school was safe or proper, they could hurt it by removing their tuition. Which gives even a Catholic school a bit more of a reason to be responsive to such complaints than most public schools seem to be. I just feel that having some means, any means, really, to punish a public school system for defending this crap would be better than the system as it exists, now. Where, even if a family has to take a student out of the public schools because the teachers have helped to create an environment of humiliation for a student that left them no other choice for the health of their child, the school system still gets the same monies as if they were still teaching that student. Did your parents expect that behavior from your school? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/32 "2006-01-24T23:45:44Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > Abuse? Serously? Getting hit with a wad of paper, even several wads of paper, is not abuse. Not in and of itself. But, in the context of a midterm exam when a student can be expected to be under some stress to begin with, AND he is forced to sit on the floor AND the “teacher” instructs the students to arrange their desks in a circle around him AND they are directed to pelt him with paper wads while he’s trying to take the test, then, yes, it’s abuse. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/33 "2006-01-24T23:47:45Z")
I’ve been saying for years that by and large Steeler fans are thugs, looks like it’s because they are raised that way. “Now Jethro, yoo dun good wit that little Bruncko faggot, I think ahle let yoo fuck yer sister first tonight, jus’ don be touching my Arn City beeah, y’hear?” And people wonder why some cities have to _double_ the police presence at their football stadiums when the Steelers come to town. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/34 "2006-01-24T23:49:41Z")
The only reason the school district will hold this moronic insult to teaching responsible for his breach of educator ethics is if Josh and his parents threaten suit. Screw taking it to the school board. Take it to the state board of educator certification. This man should not be in the classroom, and he should not have charge over one hundred different students through the course of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/35 "2006-01-25T00:11:13Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > What’s more disgusting is that the school district is circling wagons around this filth. Tell me again why school vouchers, as a means of punishing school districts that can defend this kind of filth, are such a bad idea? Yeah, because private schools have _no_ history of mistreating students… ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/36 "2006-01-25T00:11:27Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > I agree that vouchers aren’t a cure-all. But, in the case you posit, the student’s family can _hurt_ the school protecting the bully, by costing it money, when they take their student out of the school. As it is, they can do dick-all but sue to hurt this school district. And that _takes_ money to do. Transferring to a new school mid-semester is not easy to do. And it makes life more difficult for the kid, when the one whose life should be being made difficult is this asswipe of a bullying “teacher”. What if even more parents think this is a good way to treat non-conforming students, so they transfer their kids _to_ this school? The school would be rewarded for doing something that, however popular, is **wrong**. I think that would be unlikely to happen in this particular case, since what the teacher did was particularly egregious, but it might happen in more borderline cases. Not everybody likes a nonconformist, as I learned all too well in school. And some people don’t seem to understand why people they dislike should be protected from harassment. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/37 "2006-01-25T00:23:49Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > I’ve had teachers bust my ass all the time. But if the kid is so damn sensitive that he can’t let it go, and loses concentration to the point where he failed to answer 1/3 of the test, then there are some maturity issues at play. Yeah, for the teacher as well, but mostly Little Josh. I wonder how many of the mean rotten students who were throwing all that nasty hard paper at him completed the test. Where could they possibly have found the time? You’re a fucking moron. Don’t suppose you’re a Steeler fan, by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/38 "2006-01-25T00:25:45Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Yeah, because private schools have _no_ history of mistreating students… I’ve never said that private schools are perfect. I said they’re more responsive than public schools to concerns raised by families. Do you really think that an asshat of a teacher who does this shit should still be teaching when he’s admitted that he’s done the same thing to other students, too? Now, **Anne Neville** and **saoirse** , both raise the disturbing point that some parents will approve of this sort of bullshit. That’s a valid concern, and one for which I don’t have an answer. Realizing that abuses happen is not a reason to continue to give public schools a monopoly on education monies, when they prove recalcitrant to police their teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/39 "2006-01-25T00:32:27Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Don’t suppose you’re a Steeler fan, by any chance? Not to the point where I’d wear a Franco Harris jersey to my midterm exam at Tacoma High next Friday, but yes. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449/40 "2006-01-25T00:48:04Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > I’ve never said that private schools are perfect. Nor are public schools. > [@](#): > > I said they’re more responsive than public schools to concerns raised by families. That’s a two-edged sword, though. They’d be more responsive to concerns raised by families about teachers abusing children, yes, but they might also be more responsive to concerns raised by families who don’t want evolution taught to their children, or who don’t want their children being taught to tolerate gays and lesbians. > [@](#): > > Do you really think that an asshat of a teacher who does this shit should still be teaching when he’s admitted that he’s done the same thing to other students, too? Of course not. I think his teaching license should be permanently revoked. > [@](#): > > Now, **Anne Neville** and **saoirse** , both raise the disturbing point that some parents will approve of this sort of bullshit. That’s a valid concern, and one for which I don’t have an answer. It’s happened. When public schools were desegregated in Mississippi, a lot of white parents sent their kids to private schools that, while they were no better academically than the public schools, were all-white. They had to pay to do that, and they still did it. I really don’t want my taxes going towards schools that cater to that kind of troglodytes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiot-teacher-strikes-again/341449.md?page=3)