"Stupid should hurt" is what came to my mind when I read this story:
Massey considers Harris her "son" and has been his advocate since early 2014 when he was struggling to finish his senior year at Columbus High.Make excuses for the man all you want--who could possibly think it's ok to surreptitiously take pictures of someone in the restroom?
Massey also began looking for a way to get Harris into college. She discovered a $70,000 Georgia National Guard scholarship to the University of North Georgia that paid for everything,
All that could end this week because of a photo Harris took on Nov. 3, 2016 of one of his instructors, Maj. Richard Neikirk, in an on-campus bathroom, according to a recent report on ajc.com. Neikirk was at a urinal but had his shorts pulled below his buttocks, ajc.com reported.
Harris then sent the photo to three friends, who shared it with hundreds of people on the messaging platform GroupMe, according to ajc.com
A university investigation has recommended that Harris be suspended for two years and lose his scholarship, Massey said. He also faces criminal charges. He was arrested and charged with unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance, a felony, and transmission of photography depicting nudity, a misdemeanor. He faces up to six years in prison and a fine of more than $50,000 if convicted in Lumpkin County Superior Court.
Now, reasonable people could disagree on whether or not this particular offense merits the maximum penalty, but I lean for more penalty rather than less. The younger generation may have grown up with phones in their hands, but they need to learn when it's appropriate to record (audio, video, picture) someone and when it's not. Is it our job to teach them? Maybe--and perhaps this is how we teach them. Again, I just can't imagine what kind of person would think, "I'm going to take a picture of this guy taking a leak, it'll be so cool to show this to people, haha." Maybe that kind of person isn't smart enough to be in college.
Stupid should hurt. I get the impression this guy's gonna hurt a bit. Hopefully he won't be so stupid in the future.
2 comments:
A quote from the article which shows the mindset of society: "He's a good kid who made a bad decision. This is a teachable moment everyone has learned from."
I would think a senior in college would want to be considered an adult and own up to their stupidity.
Our society has imposed social media and the means to access it on children that have no business using either. As a result we have more distraction, more bullying, more illicit behavior, more controversy and more general discontent. I have parents calling their kids on their phones during class. I have students watching movies and television during class. I have parents who don't understand how cell phone use mitigates grades. We have not done the heavy lifting on even such obvious things as charging people who are texting and driving in the same way we would someone high when they cause an accident. In the last five years I am seeing more immature behavior on the part of students. Luckily I will be retired by the time the next five years pass. But on a larger scale when we safety net kids at every level from the consequences of their own dumbass behavior, we are giving freedom for them to continue. I suggest all PTA's read "Primary Education of the Camiroi" by R. A. Lafferty for guidance. It sure makes as much sense as what we're doing now.
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