OT: "Student Shamed over NFL Jersey"

[Patsfanin Philly]

The kid should stop whining and just be glad he doesn't go to school in Philly.....

Actually my 11 year old wore his Tom Brady shirt to a school in Suburban Philly
on the Friday before SB XXXIX which was Eagles Pride Day( 300 Eagles fans and 1 Pats fan). I told him beforehand that if any teacher gave him abuse, he should reply that it was his constitutional right to free speech to wear the shirt.
One teacher started to give him crap but stopped when he asserted his rights....

 

[FSUPatsFan]

Seriously, the "lesson" idea was just the teacher's lame-ass excuse after the fact. If he had genuinely intended this as a classroom exercise the kid would have been a confederate who knew beforehand what was going to happen. And the lesson would have been about how easily we can get talked into picking on a minority group member, not "look at how we reduced your classmate to trembling misery and made him fail his test!"

As is, it's the equivalent of teaching a "lesson" in a class on on non-violence by beating a kid up. The teacher was wildly out of line.

I agree 100%. That was just an excuse the teacher made. You don't teach class lessons during midterm exams. When I was in high school last year, we would walk in, sit, the teacher hands the exam, and we take it. Its not like he had a lesson prepared during a MIDTERM exam. How could he have known the kid was going to wear a Denver Broncos Jersey. If he really wanted to teach the kid a lesson, he would have talked to the kid before he prepared the lesson and see if he would mind participating in a skit.

Also, its wasn't uncommon for some teachers to poke fun at students when I was in high school. However, usually the teachers that did poke fun knew their students really well and knew how they would respond. If this guy was any kind of teacher, he would know his students better.

 

[edgecy]

The teacher should've been fired. And the kid should sue, for mental abuse. And, if he can, probably go for assault too for getting hit by the crumpled up papers.

The classroom is a teaching environment, and you don't make an example out of anybody because they wear something different. There's a fine line between teaching "ethnicity" and downright humiliation.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Ok, so it was a "Ethnicity" class - the teacher seems to have used an allegory of some kind, using Sports Fanaticism in place of Racism, to give his class a lesson on irrational hatred and dicrimination. Hopefully the kids learned some valuable life lessons due to this exercise, in the way some minorities in this country have treated in the past, and in some instances still are - whether it's black-on-white discrimination, white-on-black discrimination, white-on-asian discrimination, black-on-asian, etc...

Sounds like a pretty decent teacher to me. Unfortunatly it sounds as if the student missed the point completely because he's a whiny little b**tch...

You know, I could almost buy that sort of story--except that this happened during a test. That's another matter altogether (you don't teach a lesson during a test), and, in my book, unforgiveable. I don't know if it rises to an outright firing offense, but he definitely deserves to be punished in some non-trivial manner.

 

[Na_polian]

Seriously, the "lesson" idea was just the teacher's lame-ass excuse after the fact. If he had genuinely intended this as a classroom exercise the kid would have been a confederate who knew beforehand what was going to happen.

Umm... I don't see how any lesson could have been learned. When I faced it when I started school (the only American Indian in a small town school full of white kids) I didn't expect it... I think the kid learned a great lesson, and should be thanking the teacher - as should every other kid in the class...

 

[Na_polian]

You know, I could almost buy that sort of story--except that this happened during a test. That's another matter altogether (you don't teach a lesson during a test), and, in my book, unforgiveable. I don't know if it rises to an outright firing offense, but he definitely deserves to be punished in some non-trivial manner.

I don't think he deserves being fired, either. If he DID indeed fail the test, that's a problem. But, maybe, just maybe, the teacher counted the experience as pat of the test and graded him accordingly? I'd like to know, because it seems some stuff is missing from the story, IMHO...

 

[FSUPatsFan]

Umm... I don't see how any lesson could have been learned. When I faced it when I started school (the only American Indian in a small town school full of white kids) I didn't expect it... I think the kid learned a great lesson, and should be thanking the teacher - as should every other kid in the class...

There is a difference between learning a lesson and being outright humiliated. There are much better ways to get through to students and teach a lesson rather than having them sit on the floor and having the class throw paper at him. You must admit that the whole "lesson" thing was an excuse. Aren't teachers supposed to have "lesson plans". I don't think he had one prepared on midterm exam day nor knew that the kid was gonna wear a broncos jersey. Now, the kid will probably get picked on for the rest of the year because this incident go to the media.

 

[PATSNUTme]

The teachers big mistake was not taking the kid aside and telling him what he had in mind, and get the kid to go along with it. If he could get the kid on board, then his experiment would have been fine.

But, if he didn't, the teacher is not very bright.

 

[PatsRI]

If the teacher wanted to "teach a lesson" he should have been the one to wear the Broncos jersey and after about half the class asked what the kids thought about him wearing it. Should he have humiliated an African American or Asian to "teach" since it was an ethnicity class? That would have been OK? The teacher thought he was being funny plain and simple. The kid probably got enough crap from other students and didn't expect the teachers to be part of it too. He shouldn't be fired but a suspension (without pay) and a mark on his record would be appropriate. If another student was caught by the principal doing this to another student they would be reprimanded in most school systems. Shouldn't we hold our teachers to a higher standard? If the teacher wanted to make a comment he could have just made some kind of tasteful joke and left it at that. There are plenty of example of real bias and bigotry in the world that the teacher, as he claims, doesn't need to manufacture more over football.

 

[patchick]

Somehow this has turned into a debate about the limits of "sensitivity training." But IT WAS NOT SENSITIVITY TRAINING. It was never intended as a lesson. It was not part of the curriculum. It was simply the teacher's idea of a joke.


Kelly defended his actions, saying he had warned students not to wear a team jersey other than the Steelers to class. The teacher claims he was "just messing around" with the boy.
...
"It was silly fun. I can't believe he was upset."


Does that sound like a guy who intended to teach a painful lesson about racism? Not to mention that this was during a midterm exam. Which the student, not surprisingly, failed.

Here's a description of the event. Keep in mind that the teacher said "It was silly fun. I can't believe he was upset." Then contemplate...this man teaches courses in prejudice and tolerance?

Vannoy claimed Kelly grabbed him by the neck of his jersey when he tried to sit in his chair and told him he would give him a zero on the exam if he didn't sit on the floor. Kelly told the 12 other students that part of their midterm was that they had to throw paper at "the stinking Denver fan" – or lose points.

 

[aabtec]

That kid need to grow up and stop whining. I don't where the teacher did anything wrong.

Thats f*&^% stupid. The teacher is there to teach..If he did to my son. I would give him a few lessons. Lets see how how likes sitting in a bamboo cage. Not big enough to stand in and not wide long enough to stretch out in.

I hope the kid sues and then revoke his teaching certificate.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Thats f*&^% stupid. The teacher is there to teach..If he did to my son. I would give him a few lessons. Lets see how how likes sitting in a bamboo cage. Not big enough to stand in and not wide long enough to stretch out in.

I hope the kid sues and then revoke his teaching certificate.

I was joking around- then. Everyone seems to have known it except you.

I suggest that you reach behind and pull that bug out of your ass.

Read what I said in a later post.

 

[mgteich]

I continue to be amazed by political correctness of folk from the PRMA (People's Republic of MA), and how everyones want to fire and sue at any offense. And our poor kids and their free speech rights!! Our schools are 27th in the world because of such nonsense. And I do believe you guys, you hockey dads would make sure the teacher didn't forget his aweful offense!

Get a life! These games are hugely important to the community of Pittsburgh and certainly to high school kids. I think back to what might have happened if a student decided to wear a Marino shirt the Friday before the Squish the Fish game. I suspect the teacher might have simply left the room for awhile.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The kids parents were nuts to allow the kid to wear his Elway shirt. Oh I forget, the parents probably didn't see the kid before school.
2. The teacher was wrong. Teachers shouldn't play practical jokes. There was no lesson planned, just abuse of a smart aleck kid. This event should be in the teacher's file, with the appropriate light-hearted reprimand.
3. There should be a lesson learned by the kids and the "abused" child. Perhaps the DEN fan might think of the consequences of his actions from now on. And the kids shouldn't take orders from an adult when he is clearly wrong. But the minority issue is offbase. We should be able to make fun of others because of their CHOICES, especially those that they flaunt.
4. And most importantly, we should understand that we are a village, and living together involves forgiving occasional misbehaviors, and not whining and firing and suing people at the drop of the hat.
-----------------------
BOTTOM LINE
1. The poor "child" got to retake the test.
2 There was no real harm done.
3. The entire country has a diversion to discuss

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I continue to be amazed by political correctness of folk from the PRMA (People's Republic of MA), and how everyones want to fire and sue at any offense. And our poor kids and their free speech rights!! Our schools are 27th in the world because of such nonsense. And I do believe you guys, you hockey dads would make sure the teacher didn't forget his aweful offense!

Get a life! These games are hugely important to the community of Pittsburgh and certainly to high school kids. I think back to what might have happened if a student decided to wear a Marino shirt the Friday before the Squish the Fish game. I suspect the teacher might have simply left the room for awhile.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The kids parents were nuts to allow the kid to wear his Elway shirt. Oh I forget, the parents probably didn't see the kid before school.
2. The teacher was wrong. Teachers shouldn't play practical jokes. There was no lesson planned, just abuse of a smart aleck kid. This event should be in the teacher's file, with the appropriate light-hearted reprimand.

Yes, it has to be considered in context. That said, though, we are talking about a high school teacher to one of his own students, which--from a legal standpoint--creates different expectations as to what behavior can be considered "proper."

As I said above, I don't think this is an offense for which he should get fired, but some sort of rebuke--though, for the reasons I've mentioned above, more than a slap on the wrist--is in order.

 

[LIDeadHead]

Ahh man, thats just wrong. Kids is 1 thing, but an adult, and a teacher none the less.

 

[patchick]

He said Kelly began sliding the desks into a circle. Then he told Joshua to sit on the floor in the center of the circle. While Kelly passed out the tests, he dropped Joshua's test papers, scattering them on the floor so that he had to crawl around and pick them up, Joshua said.

"As I started to write my name on the papers and number them, I noticed he went to the cupboard and grabbed a handful of notebook paper and handed it to all the kids and said, 'This is part two of your test. You'll get points for this. Take the paper and ball it up with two hands and throw it at the Denver fan,' " Joshua said.

Joshua said there were "papers flying everywhere towards me. At one point, a girl refused to do it and he (Kelly) took the paper off her desk and threw it into the back of my head."
...
Kelly had little to say on the subject. "We won the game (Sunday) night, didn't we?" he said. "That's all I was worried about."

 

[aabtec]

I was joking around- then. Everyone seems to have known it except you.

I suggest that you reach behind and pull that bug out of your ass.

Read what I said in a later post.

I read what u first posted..I don't sit here waiting on all of your posts...

 

[aabtec]

He said Kelly began sliding the desks into a circle. Then he told Joshua to sit on the floor in the center of the circle. While Kelly passed out the tests, he dropped Joshua's test papers, scattering them on the floor so that he had to crawl around and pick them up, Joshua said.

"As I started to write my name on the papers and number them, I noticed he went to the cupboard and grabbed a handful of notebook paper and handed it to all the kids and said, 'This is part two of your test. You'll get points for this. Take the paper and ball it up with two hands and throw it at the Denver fan,' " Joshua said.

Joshua said there were "papers flying everywhere towards me. At one point, a girl refused to do it and he (Kelly) took the paper off her desk and threw it into the back of my head."
...
Kelly had little to say on the subject. "We won the game (Sunday) night, didn't we?" he said. "That's all I was worried about."

Fire the teacher...and revoke his ability to teach..he is tough guy when its a kid..I wonder what he would do if I wore my Harrison shirt to his school...

 

[Na_polian]

There is a difference between learning a lesson and being outright humiliated. There are much better ways to get through to students and teach a lesson rather than having them sit on the floor and having the class throw paper at him. You must admit that the whole "lesson" thing was an excuse. Aren't teachers supposed to have "lesson plans". I don't think he had one prepared on midterm exam day nor knew that the kid was gonna wear a broncos jersey. Now, the kid will probably get picked on for the rest of the year because this incident go to the media.

Personally, I think it's a whole lotta to-do about nothin'... But then, I guess I'm jaded based on my own childhood. I mean, damn, I bet most of the people here went through far worse in their youth, and yet, somehow, we all managed to get along with our lives just fine...

 

[PATSNUTme]

I read what u first posted..I don't sit here waiting on all of your posts...

I don't assume that you do. However I would assume the you read al of the other post since you were so fired up about this.