You seem to know an awful lot about the teacher’s motivations. Were you there to witness things? Do you know the teacher? Do you know the student?
Sunday night, a young man from my first period class shot and killed another young man. It wasn’t, by any means, the first time one of my students has murdered (or attempted to murder) someone either. If you think teenagers can’t be dangerous, you’re an idiot. If you think they always communicate their feelings and intentions in a clear and direct manner, you’re an even bigger idiot.
How much experience do you have with teenagers, especially those with a history of problems? I’m willing to bet little or none. You’ll excuse me, therefore, if I consider your input on this topic to be valueless. You’ll be my go-to guy, though, if I’m ever in need of tips on how to be an arrogant, stupid, jerk-off.
.44’s don’t fire “slugs”, a slug is a heavy rifled projectile fired from a shotgun, the rifling is on the slug, not the shotgun barrel, standard shotgun barrels are smoothbore, you can get special rifled “slug barrels” for shotguns, to impart a little more spin to the slug
.44’s and other handguns fire bullets, the projectile is smooth and the barrel of the firearm is rifled…
…jeez, kid, get your facts straight
as far as the “Glory, Glory Halleluia” song parody we sung?
“Glory, Glory Halleluia
Teacher hit me with a ruler
Met her at the bank with a U.S. Army Tank
Now she don’t teach no more…”
There was another article in the Atlanta Journal today. The more this teenage twit is quoted defending herself, the more I understand the teacher’s point of view. Not that she was threatening him, but that she probably did deserve to be suspended on grounds that she’s an ass. Today’s prize quote (which I paraphrase here) went something like “I won’t be back in his class after my suspension. The school says it’s because I threatened him, but I think it’s because he won’t admit he’s wrong”. Got any more gasoline to pour on the flames, Miss Innocence?
Reflect that schools rarely call the news to say “Hey, we just suspended a kid.”
That means that, whenever you see stories of unreasonable and unjust suspensions, they come from a parent’s description of what happened.
Because children have a right to privacy regarding their school records, school officials will very likely decline to explain what, specifically, a child has done.
So what you’re reading is what Mom says, which is going to be heavily biased.
If a student, while trying to argue with me, started singing a kill-the-teacher song to my face, you’d better believe I’d interpret that as an attempt to threaten me, and whether it’s a real danger to me or just a try at intimidation, I will most certainly be writing them up for disciplinary action.
Marley, I will at least agree that there has certainly been a difference in the rules and their enforcement since Columbine.
Personally, I abhor zero tolerance policies. They take away the discretion of the teachers and administrators and give no consideration to the circumstances and the individual student. That’s stupid and weak. Such a policy treats every student as if they are identical. They are not.
Zero tolerance policies are for cowardly teachers, school boards and administrations who are afraid of standing up to parents and their attorneys.
If the rule says, “Don’t curse the teacher,” then teachers and administrators should not have to explain to Student A why he was suspended for cursing a teacher and Student B was not. Suck it up.
Well what do you think should have happened? A 16-year-old woman is arguing with a teacher, doesn’t get satisfaction, and suddenly bursts into song. The song is about shooting the teacher. What do you think would be appropriate?
As I said, she either needs to be suspended for making veiled threats, or she needs to go to a special school where there are others with IQs as low as hers. She would really have to be a clinical moron to think of singing that song in 11th freaking grade. Either way, she should never set foot in that classroom again.
There are now two threads in the Pit about incidents in the Gwinnett County, Georgia school system (the other bing about the petition to ban Harry Potter).
For the record, although it’s pretty stupid here, we still lag behind nearby Cobb County. Tomorrow, any of the 50 dogs left unadopted in their pound will be killed. TYou see, they need to clear the floor so it can be coated with sealant.
The parents and students of the school have a right to ask about administrative action only as it involves themselves – not other students.
The students have a right to know the rules and the possible consequences of breaking those rules. They don’t have a right to know the details of administrative decisions regarding other students. That may not seem fair and I understand that. But it’s a matter of privacy. Teacher and principals have the right to use their discretion and weigh all factors without revealing them to a third party.
Ah, that isn’t quite how I interpreted your question. Okay. I’d say they have a right to ask, but the school is correct not to disclose much information regarding other students.
Overheard in a laundromat in Boise, ca. 1990. Child singing it was approx. 5th grade
(Tune: This land is your land)
This land is my land
It isn’t your land
I have a shotgun
Right here in my hand
If you don’t get off
I’ll blow your head off
This land is “private property”.
I laughed a lot. And have never forgotten it.
The version of the ‘Glory Hallelujah’ I learned went like this:
Glory, glory hallelujah,
Teacher hit me with the ruler
Caught her at the door with a loaded .44
And teacher don’t teach no more
…similar enough to other variants. I went to grade school in Las Vegas and a few places in California.
My goodness, that sounds like my Borderline Personality Disorder/Bipolar ex-girlfriend. She would frequently get loud and obnoxious and accuse me of being “passive”. Well geez, one of us had to be …
Anyhoo …
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school
We have tortured all the teachers, we have broken every rule
We have shot the secretary, we have hung the principal
The kids go marching on!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Teacher hit me with a ruler
Shot her in the attic with a German automatic
(orHit her in the bean with a rotten tangerine)
And the teacher don’t teach no more
And we always tagged the “five days later” thing onto the end:
Five days later, floatin’ down the Delaware
Chewin’ on her underwear
Couldn’t afford another pair
Five days later, farted on a grizzly bear
Poor old grizzly bear died
Now that I have taken a firm stand in favor of the teacher, I must confess…
The first time that I heard those words, they began with “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the teacher sick in bed…” That was in 1953 in rural West Tennessee. It was enormously cathartic to hear these words fall from the lips of the ten year old geniuses in my classroom. What fun to avenge our fifth grade teacher! (She seemed to take it all in stride!)
One of those squirts became a high school crush then moved away. Another became the Editor of the Law Review at Vanderbilt Law School. And another did still more.
Don’t tell me times haven’t changed. Our parents wouldn’t have challenged that teacher. We lent her money to build her home and buy a farm.
Times change, communities differ. Don’t project your ideal onto my reality.
