Thursday, May 13, 2010

Teacher Fired For Beating A Student

I'm anticipating some arrows' coming my way for this post, as some will misunderstand my point and others will intentionally misunderstand my point.

OK, let's get some "of course" statements about this story and video out of the way.

Of course no child should be beaten like that at school.
Of course the teacher is out of control.
Of course she was rightly fired for this.
Of course her actions are indefensible.

Let's assume there's no indication of mental illness on the part of the teacher, and now change course.

We're talking about a 13-year-old boy here. Is it so out of bounds to think that the kid shot off his mouth one time too many? Come on, that's what 13-year-old boys do. I'm not condoning the teacher's actions, but am I the only one who thinks the kid might now think twice before mouthing off at school?

9 comments:

maxutils said...

Yes, it's that out of bounds. I can't think of anything that would cause me to hit my own 13 year old, much less someone else's. Maybe if she feared for her life after being attacked . . . but he's smaller, on the ground, and balling up to avoid the blows. Seriously, Darren . . .

Darren said...

Nothing you say is false.

Barring mental illness, what do you think set her off?

maxutils said...

Why do I have to bar mental illness?

My guess? Probably just what you said, combined with her probably not being a very good teacher, or of very good character.

In related news, the student who filmed the beating was suspended for 5 days for having a cell phone on campus.

W.R. Chandler said...

Articles I have read say that the student, Isaiah Johnson was teasing another student and was "behaving badly."

Another thing I noticed is that Johnson is 13 years old, yet the articles say that he is a 6th grader.

OF COURSE he didn't deserve a beating from a teacher, but I get the feeling he is the kind of student that gives teachers conniptions on a day to day basis.

Anonymous said...

Well, of course rape is wrong.. but ladies and gentlemen of the jury... she was asking for it.

Seriously.. this is a vile, vile, vile piece of writing and you should be deeply ashamed of even thinking it, let alone publishing it.

Darren said...

As I said, some will choose to misinterpret my point.

Anonymous said...

I read that he was making fun of a special needs student at the time. Which does fire me up a bit. Combine with a couple months of similar behavior plus some personal problems and maybe... I wouldn't do it, but I could see it happening.

No excuse to not fire her though.

maxutils said...

I believe he was making fun of a classmate, and both were in a special needs class . . . which might also explain his age. Not laudable behavior, but not nearly as contemptible, either.

mrelliott said...

Personally, I think some of these horrid behaviors, cocky attitudes, and smart-mouthed responses we have all endured from teenagers would change significantly if they were routinely taken out back and beaten the crap out of.

However, it's not the teachers responsibility to do this. Respect is formed in the home, and is a responsibility of the parents to discipline their child when lack of respect is shown.

So in the words of Bill Cosby....

"The beatings will now commence!"