How administrators, parents, larger society reacts to any issues found on aforementioned recordings is the true problem; which the author illustrated with his examples, and commenters were 100% correct, there is no expectation of privacy in a public/school classroom for teachers.
When school started just shy of 2.5 months ago with it came with the standard tips, life hacks for getting back into family school routines, everything from quick healthy lunch ideas to effective approaches on how to talk to your kids about their school day and get something besides one word, monosyllable answers. In our increasing electronic, wired, connected age apps, tech choices for different aged children, books for reluctant readers, apps for teens, perspectives and outlines for screen time at home and at school, guidelines for parents on what to ask their child’s school regarding technology privacy and safety polices. Commentaries on the lower grade trend of no homework, the detrimental effect homework seems to have on younger children; apps causing trouble in schools, natural extension of nationwide school districts banning fidget spinners. A ‘toy’ designed by ADHD specialists to keep said students more focused in that classroom which turned out to be one giant distraction according to educators, and this little gem (first link after the paragraph) expressing a teacher’s clearly biased perspective on being recorded in the classroom. Once school began it was the usual shenanigans documented during this time of year; less focuses on hair, dress codes and uniforms in the 2017-2018 school year traded in for increased controversies around the pledge of allegiance, students under more pressure to stand for its recitation, a Louisiana high school barring football players taking a knee during the national anthem, direct violation of their constitutional rights districts mistakenly think don’t apply in a school setting. Classroom walkouts when president Trump announced his plan to rescind DACA within 6 months; sadly, profoundly negative hostility and violence found throughout adult political discourse trickling down to elementary school, beyond the mock election that had to be shut down paralleling voting season last year, children reporting to the new school year harassed, beat up, facing vitriol because they support Trump, they live in a decidedly red (conservative) area and are liberal/democrat or live in a decidedly blue (liberal/democrat) area and are conservative. But his bias, that he is a teacher and has a problem with unknown student recordings possibly getting him and fellow teachers across the country in trouble, isn’t the most disturbing part; that he works in the profession and sees such ‘secret’ recording as an assault on his work, the nearly sacred work all teacher perform, his ability to do his job, for which he, we know, doesn’t get paid nearly enough money, is in many ways perfectly normal, as is writing a think piece on it. It’s how he gets to his conclusions sending up major red flags; the idea recordings rob teachers of professional discretion is ludicrous on its face, if you’re doing something under the umbrella, guise of discretion you don’t want recorded, you know from the beginning won’t be well received if seen by citizen masses, you probably shouldn’t be doing it at all. If you are saying things along similar lines, using vulgar language or allowing students to behave out of control, appear so on a regular basis, you probably need to rethink and change your teaching methods before you lose your job; because, someone will report you, your bosses will find out and termination of your employment is inevitable video cameras, student smartphone recordings or no. Making this a privacy debate also adds up to nonsense, especially privacy for teachers, not other students doing nothing wrong, who didn’t know they were being filmed, immortalized in audio and may have a host of reasons behind avoiding going viral on the internet besides embarrassment. From abusive boyfriends, to abusive biological parents, predator/pedophile parents who are court order denied access to their victim, even if they are a blood relative, parents fleeing abusive relationships that don’t want pictures of their children posted on the school’s website, in an open student directory available for public access luring their domestic abuser to them, their child. On the opposite side, schools are by and large public places/spaces, public or private educational institution, or should be considered such for the purposes of the discussion topic at hand; we aren’t talking about a locker room, bathroom, changing area on school campuses where phones, electronic devices present too tempting an opportunity for nude/sexting photos, not even a teachers lounge where faculty and staff would have a reasonable expectation their words wouldn’t be overheard by students, where they can have more adult level conversations, use a wider variety of the English language, where rerecording devices are less likely to be expected unless snapping photos/video of a teacher’s retirement party, celebrating the end of cancer treatments, honoring a beloved janitor, other staff member, hardly surreptitious or secret. Therefore, we absolutely shouldn’t be creating a safe space for teachers, by common definition of the term, as opposed to an environment where students feel secure in their ability to express themselves, ask questions, both explore and formulate their own, individual opinions on critical, current issues. Additionally if you, as a teacher, are so jumpy you are constantly looking over your shoulder during class worried about who might be recording you, if it will end up on the internet and you will be lambasted in cyberspace, you’re either in the wrong job and need to quickly find a different career path. Or you are working for a bad school who’s as petty as students have been caught being in recent years, a school desperately needing to update, reorient its technology policies, employ critical thinking to transpiring situations. Things plainly not going to happen issuing a blanket ban saying students can’t tape their teachers, more aptly aren’t allowed to have their phones in class regardless what they are being used for. Continuing along his line of thinking, effectively countering it, an overwhelming majority of Jonathan Zimmerman’s examples are instances either where administrators needed to know what was happening in the characterized classroom, or how the administration reacted to the recordings’ content was the real problem. Problems highlighted before surrounding limp wristed, milquetoast officials who don’t want to have to stand behind, explain, never mind defend, a decision made; instead wanting to point an angry mob of parents and disgruntled students to the handbook on page 1,005 read ‘the policy’ close the tome equally calling the matter closed. Sidebar please get out of my office, take your anger, drama, protests off school grounds; we saw that when a little girl became national news for shaving her head supporting her friend with cancer. School suspending her citing a policy of no shaved heads and assumptions she would cause distraction, classroom disruption; teachable moment, life lessons on compassion, friendship, empathy and support thrown out the window for the love of ‘the rules.’ We’ve heard it in countless testimonials from both students and parents not singularly on the arbitrary nature of school dress code enforcement, outfits worn on multiple occasions with zero issues until— one day; the parent who put her foot down about her son’s tuxedo t-shirt senior photo recounting it was a tradition with him and his photo had better be included in his graduating class yearbook, both pictures and book she was incidentally paying to purchase. The creepy, borderline assault measures school officials will go to, to prove they’re right; putting their thumbs and fingers on the thighs of middle and high school girls, putting tape measures in the same place, telling them to grab their crotch while they measure skirt, shorts length, adding to utter humiliation caused by asinine dress codes, in hallways as fellow students pass by. An Oklahoma school superintendent purportedly asking female students to bend over during a first week of school dress code check going on to tell them if they were uncomfortable bending over “we might have a problem,” ewww. Stepping further out of the boundaries of decent behavior she wanted to represent/uphold, starting a school assembly on ‘slut shamming,’ appropriate attire asking attendees if they had seen any skanks and comments she doesn’t want to see anyone’s ass hanging out of their shorts; news commentator correctly asserting her actions beg to differ. Insanity doesn’t stop there, but enfolds situations where parents diligently bought their child’s clothing adhering to the dress code, took steps to show up at school, ruler in hand, to prove the width of tank top straps fits within outlined code and the child’s suspension still isn’t lifted. The endless stream of silly, stupid, to downright bizarre things students have gotten in trouble for, been handed suspensions, even expulsions over, audio/video, technology involved or not: elementary school student (kindergarten) whose Mohawk was deemed a distraction but a coach was allowed to sport one for school spirit, the boy who chewed his pop tart into the shape of a gun, second grader who pretended his pencil was a gun complete with sound effects. 5 year old accused of making a terrorist threat for ‘threatening’ to shoot classmates with a bubble gun, that shoots the type of bubble solution you usually blow to make bubbles, some may remember comes of out the toddler bubble mower toy, popular summer favorite; that it was pink and had a picture of hello kitty might have been a clue. Reminiscent of stories reaching back literally decades: student suspended under regulations on chains after bringing a tweedy wallet with added keychain to school. Elementary school student (8) circa1992 suspended for using a nail file like a nail file is supposed to be used, followed by the increasingly absurd story of same happening to a kindergartener who carried said file in her ‘big girl purse,’ dutifully attempted to file her nails showing off how grown up she was; could barely put her ‘signature’ on the typed letter home having just learned to write her name. Closer to present day, the student who ‘threatened’ to make his classmate disappear using the ‘magic’ of Bilbo Baggins ring from The Hobbit trilogy family reportedly just having watched The Battle of the Five Armies; death of common sense enveloping adults not students. College campuses right now remain a hotbed of debate over safe spaces, trigger warnings and free speech, most recently violent protests at Berkley. Pushback against conservative speakers who mistakenly believe freedom of speech affords them a right to paid, otherwise speaking engagements; however, before that several professors,’ college presidents’ response to student demands was “grow the hell up,” epitomized by the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan who told his students they were attending a university not a daycare. What his diatribe promptly exposed was his inappropriate linking, lumping in of his student’s reaction to essentially a sermon with serious issue protests on campuses nationwide regarding race, anti-Semitism, police brutality deriding all of them as immature whining. Exposed, who exactly wanted it to be a daycare and how the scenario he cited came about; where he never spoke face to face with the student who ‘complained’ post their weekly chapel service, instead was told details by the chaplain sparking his comments. Interesting, as pointed out by this blog featuring rebuttal to the story is, he must want to run a daycare tolerating, expecting such tattletale actions from staff. Judging by his definition of the word daycare, that’s exactly what schools should be imparting life lessons, helping students reach their full potential including in the areas of personal and emotional growth so they are ready for the larger world; which he seems unwilling and unprepared to do, indicating maybe he’s the one in the wrong place, not students. The distinct possibility he completely misunderstood, perhaps exaggerated crucial context of the conversation that might have been a question, series of them about how exampled student could alleviate his guilt evoked by chapel services described- oh. Dovetailing into previously ongoing conversations about colligate comedy and evolving lists of comedians who refuse to do the college circuit because current generation students, social justice warriors, used as a derogatory term, lack fundamental logic, don’t understand comedy; that all gay jokes aren’t homophobic, neither a comedic take on the sad life of a gay individual. 2 black friends, which could easily be a social media meme, isn’t meant to be, or taken by anyone, but especially their audience, as racist. Rather decidedly old school comedians failed communication 101 in knowing their audience, thinking they would be successful trying to convince religious kids there is no god, Europe’s junk food laws create healthier cowards; totally ignorant that students have gotten wise to society’s use of humor to make acceptable those things that otherwise would not be, should never be. Hints why one comedian’s “three minutes on giving his girlfriend herpes and banging his grandma” no longer gets a laugh; rape and race, child abuse, their consequences are so serious it’s no longer permissible to tell jokes about them. Missing entirely motivations behind choices made with what is their student activities money, they want a world that’s less cruel; they want to play a game that isn’t rigged in favor of the powerful, more importantly willing to go out and build it, one rejection of the status quo at a time. Or that what’s notably absent from notifications ‘there will be no safe spaces, trigger warnings used at insert name of campus/institution here’ is any consideration for the diverse plethora of students who attend, that they exist to serve; PTSD sufferers, sex assault, rape, incest survivors, war veterans, refugee, asylum seekers who aren’t snowflakes but people with horrors in their past college professors could scarcely imagine, and making their life a little easier, education a little more possible is an act of human decency not coddling. Dangerously glossed over in the student recording commentary piece is WHY everyone is so ok with ‘losing their privacy,’ scaling back from the concept of trying to identify terrorists, robbery suspects, kidnappers, child abductors, or blatant inconsistency on display, we’ve dealt with surveillance cameras in banks, outside, just inside convenience stores, steady uptick presence of street cameras in the name of fighting/preventing crime with less and less objection. WHY parents and students alike feel compelled to film the goings-on in school, because repeatedly teachers violate the trust Zimmerman demands we place in them and the responsibility he spent arguably his shortest paragraph composing his commentary talking about. Hypocrisy compounded, we were nanny-cam-ing our babysitters, coming to our home childcare providers well before his call to ‘restore’ teacher privacy while in the classroom, turns out with good reason. Yet he remains conspicuously silent on the history of the practice, legitimate concerns behind it; assuming student generated recordings are the latest incarnations of mean tweens, teens bent on getting their teacher needlessly reprimanded, better fired, the latest abstraction under a trend teacher known as teacher bating, provoking them to outbursts resulting in their unfair ouster. Almost delusional in believing it is the unfortunate outgrowth of helicopter parenting, misguided thoughts their child could do no wrong, couldn’t possibly be a bully, have behavior problems. Persons, society at large ascribing to the Zimmerman doctrine, school of thought shocked they view it as a tool of both self-protection and social justice. Students assuming they won’t be believed teacher X did thing Y if they don’t possess video evidence backing up their claim; circumstances borne out by real life scenarios. We, the public, didn’t treat police brutality of minority citizens, as early as post Rodney King, before that all bets were off, until we again saw continuous, recurring video of people being physically assaulted during traffic stops, gunned down with their hands up, piled onto and restrained while huffing out 11 times ‘I can’t breathe,’ because of minor legal infractions. Contradictory video footage proving no commands were given to stop, put your hands up before the person was shot i.e. 12 year old Tamir Rice; Michael Slagger the now former cop who shot Walter Scott 8 times was brought up on charges because someone filmed Scott running away prior to shots fired, showing he lied about giving CPR seen rifling his pockets instead. Spring 2015 saw motorist Floyd Dent brutally beaten on dash cam video after he was too slow following commands to get out of his car and police thought he was reaching for a gun; none found in or around his vehicle. They did allegedly find cocaine for which Dent was charged saying he was framed; fast forward to earlier in 2017 when the proliferation of body cameras showed credible evidence another state’s officers were indeed planting drugs because they forgot their body cams record about 20 seconds before lights indicate they are indeed on and operational, caught on 2 separate occasions. Wait Mr. Dent’s story isn’t over, further footage seems to show his arresting officer pulling drugs from his own person to put in Dent’s vehicle; and said officer faced prior charges for, you guessed it, planting evidence, though acquitted. Dent’s story part of a recurring pattern traced through the years; story from that same year in Philadelphia exposing racketeering and drug planting, also drug dealing by a half dozen officers. Cover-up of internal affairs investigations and exposure of decades long practices equaling cops planting drugs on African Americans in Alabama; spelling the wrongful incarceration of thousands, no that’s not a typo of young, black men who happened to be innocent. So who doesn’t think we can forgive our kids reaching identical conclusions on the believability of their stories minus, at minimum, audio? Parents are honestly left with no recourse when they are fed up with their child’s ceaseless complaints, instinctively know something isn’t right, have a special needs child who is non-verbal, limited verbal unable to tell them what’s happening at school, showing minor injuries incongruent with the stories given by school administration; everything from unsure if there is a significant problem to feeling there is but have nothing concrete to go to authorities or the schoolboard with. Utilizing all processes available to them, have directly been told their case cannot proceed sans solid evidence, strong conclusion visual representation of harm, wrongdoing, misconduct. Practically parents who can’t sit in on the class either to monitor their child or teacher’s behavior owing to they work, they understand whether the goal is seeing their child or teacher’s behavior their presence will change exhibited behavior making various forms of audio/video ideal for unraveling at least in part what is happening consistently day in day out during school, charting a path ahead in helping their child. Anchoring reader understanding these aren’t parents who are mean, malicious, vindictive, meddling, want special treatment for their ‘snowflake’ child; they genuinely are focused on their child’s welfare, educational needs, solving problems encompassing their kids even when that ultimately means disciplining them. Anger, outrage, calls for what school officials would label revenge, the parents’ justice, transpires post seeing and hearing what was really going on at school where their children were supposed to be safe, protected and learning not singularly the 3 R’s, peer to peer social skills but cementing fundamental ideas adults can be trusted, teachers like police officers, fire fighters, paramedics are people you can go to for help, tragically finding the opposite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqTC8lgNXUo
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95594&page=1
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/thats-not-funny/399335/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZFNQM7zdXc
Lo and behold never mind what they found when reviewing video/audio, scenes lightyears from teacher batting, helicopter parenting anxiousness, student oversensitivity; including but not limited to a 5 year old berated in front of his class for age typical mistakes, called selfish, self-absorbed, pathetic, making all the wrong choices, teacher bringing in the rest of the class with leading questions to get them to agree with her against their fellow classmate. Behavior reports whose biggest complaint is the child talks all day, talks nonstop; parents pulling him out of that particular school once they heard with their own ears what he had endured circa 2008. Nashville Tennessee parents made the decision to send their child to school post intensifying complaints, drastic changes in grades from A’s and B’s to D’s and F’s and the final straw, their 3rd grader told her father maybe I should just die; they received in return 3 hours of non-stop insults, name calling, demands kids insist their parents check their work, yelling at one student because their parents did not speak English and therefore couldn’t help with homework. Child’s heartbreaking response was to tell her parents today was the first day I wasn’t scared because I knew whatever was said you’d hear it; year 2010. An Ohio father concerned by his developmentally delayed daughter’s increasing complaints about school only to be left crying after listening to 7 hours of insults; comments about her weight, ‘don’t you want to do something about that belly,’ unfounded implications of lying, laziness, repeated questions of are you dumb, are you that damn dumb coming via her teacher and a teachers aid. When her parents went to school administration first, watching their interview with Today viewers learn bullying alongside attempts to get definitive answers went on for years; allegations she was hauled up by her shirt, the principals only ‘investigation’ involved talking to the teacher. Finally resorting to video once their daughter, who previously loved school, started self-harming to avoid attending; it mirrors exactly what they were told, she’s lying. Until video proved without a doubt otherwise; worse it spanned the gambit of special needs students served by the teacher and teacher’s aide, another student also belittled for their learning disability, both forced to run on a treadmill for wrong answers. That was 2011, by 2012 another father confronting his autistic son’s New Jersey school worried regarding his son’s purported violent outbursts and getting the run around from school personnel hints why he elected to record his son who can’t speak adequately for himself, can’t articulate coherently what is happening to him; to find predictably his child being yelled at for talking to himself, called names (bastard) and tormented because he’s autistic. Also in that report, an Alabama mother who, after being tipped off by her 10 year old son’s classmate something bad was happening to him at school, she attached a recording device to his wheelchair to hear a teacher chastising him for having to touch his drool; except he has cerebral palsy and can’t help the fact he drools, has a 10th the body control his teacher does, clearly isn’t doing it to irritate, annoy her. Same year 13 year old boy dragged around his classroom by fellow students while they filmed, teacher joining in on torment that saw a sock shoved into his mouth and innuendo laced comments to tormenters to keep his pants on location: Tacoma Washington, but it’s to be discounted because it was student recorded, is that it? Child can’t sleep at night, has been remitted to therapy and an adult is partially responsible, but it’s all tainted because the source, a student, might have an agenda; does Johnathan Zimmerman really expect readers to go along with such narrow lined thoughts? Does he truly believe we don’t, not exclusively as parents but as a society, as taxpayers, community members, need to know about the bus driver who hit and shoved a special needs student who threw an empty food wrapper at him, because horrified students took the video, just 2 years earlier than our increasingly absurd current discussion? Worth asking then is why, when students flagged down a sighted patrol car near the next stop and told the officer what happened, highlighted driver was promptly arrested, charged with assault and child endangerment? Everyone including the youngest student riding the bus that day understood what the driver was doing was wrong, the value of the video; exception, Mr. Zimmerman who doesn’t want students secretly recording their teachers in their work environment, because it encroaches on their privacy, their ability to do their job. Easily gleaned sentiment thank god someone is; perhaps here we’ll find inserted assertions busses, even school busses are markedly different to his eyes, who knows. Is it ok when the teacher’s variation on discipline, ‘innovative’ punishment can definitively cause injury, just watch the science teacher pull a student’s chair out from under him, him falling to the floor and what might have happened had the student been a little unluckier. What about extracurricular activities an alarming number of students have died during sports practice, don’t we think it’s valuable to know cheerleading coaches are forcing participants into painful splits? Coaches who should possess enough background in heath to know the damage you can do to muscles, ligaments, tendons cartilage and joints, especially of growing bodies; heightening the chances of injury, having fellow squad members, no background in health, sports medicine, athletics medicine ‘help’ pull legs apart, but students taking video are the wrong to be called out. Is he saying we didn’t need to know about 2015’s officer slam location: South Carolina because other students in the class filmed their classmate literally being thrown across the room; keeping in mind he already had a reputation among certain students, predictably minorities, as officer slam. No, not as in you’d better behave because he’s tough, he don’t play and not among the identified trouble makers as duly watching them, but for actually slamming students up against lockers, walls with little to no provocation, behavior that would warrant said reaction. Casting greater pallor on the officer’s actions isn’t just his prior excessive force claim, but that he challenged the student’s friend for asking if he needed to be so rough; coming back from escorting her out of class to ask the friend “you want some of this too,” placing her under arrest and also frog march her from the room. Readers may remember his own boss said the video made him sick, want to throw up; a retired school resource officer speaking to Nightline saying how incongruent officer Ben Field’s actions were with what was supposed to happen, their objective being to deescalate classroom conflict, never in his 25 years having to arrest a student on a disciplinary measure as displayed in video. Is he, Zimmerman, saying we don’t need to know about last year’s Milwaukee teacher’s aide who violently shoved then choked a student because the student got ‘mouthy,’ possibly issued a semi-serious threat, due to it being students who recorded the incident in part at least, or the California teacher’s aide beating up on a special needs student? Are we the public really supposed to buy that argument though witnesses freely told the truth filling in the blanks heated words were exchanged by both aide and student (example 1); held up against school personnel, and specifically school resource officers, who regularly lie to cover their tracks? Like the officer who body slammed a Texas middle schooler in the course of breaking up what he believed was a fight, though the girl he restrained then literally threw on her head leaving a large knot over her eye did no more than tap another student on the shoulder getting their attention in an effort to go somewhere and talk out their differences; after which he failed to report his physical contact with her and when confronted tried to play it off as an accident. Or facts North Carolina saw an officer body slam a 15 year old freshman to the ground unto a concussion because she sought to break up a fight between her sister and someone else January of 2017; the officer who body slammed another student in Philadelphia spring 2016 after an argument about going to the bathroom sans a hall pass. Yes the student threw an orange at the opposite wall in frustration the officer wouldn’t let him use the toilet, but negatively spotlighted officer held him in such a tight choke hold, felt like he couldn’t breathe, honestly thought he was going to die, suffered a concussion from ‘voluntarily’ banging his head on the floor in sheer panic or trying to get the officers attention. Next, here’s the kicker, a second officer brought on scene deleted partially recorded events from the lone witness’ phone; but, adults detailed are all above board and the kids are primarily in the wrong for recording what they saw. Equally important we don’t need to know, to see how school officials handle things when putting your hands on students is necessitated for the safety of them, others; we don’t need to see how school staff and resource officers work together to ensure it melds well for the betterment of students, footage that could well be used as training videos in what not to do? We don’t need to see the school assistant principal put a student into an ‘accidental’ sleeper hold until she passes out, chancing neck injury, possible stroke through 10 kinds of ineptitude. An inability to prevent fights before they happen, effectively break them up without injury occurring less due to the number of parties involved, ferociousness of fight happening, but owing to an assistant principal that doesn’t know how to do a proper restraint hold; and for all the complaining about the unruly behavior of students, ‘violent’ nature of their ‘outbursts,’ you don’t get yourself, your periphery staff trained in said holds? National chorus, I think we do need to see precisely that because it shows is sharp clarity why many officials working in school shouldn’t be. Granted his examples are a bit different; however, the problem with that dismissal is we see far more disturbingly violent, student humiliation, even threats emanating from teachers and staff video/audio content than we see teacher batting, oversensitivity or benign material leaving the lingering question ‘why has it gone viral?’ And doesn’t depict violence, foul language on the part of students, teachers, support staff is a pretty low bar for those mandated with teaching our children, imparting knowledge to the next generation, achieving the lowest common denominator for teachers—turning our functional citizens once they leave their classroom, adding the grade level appropriate tools to their citizenry tool box. Who attend years of schooling for the privilege to teach children ironically behaving as if they can’t stand children, in general; not specific neighborhood kids they’d had run-ins with, extremely difficult classroom cases where nothing they earnestly tired worked, things the best, most innovative, successful teachers swear by. Incorporating the political nature of his exampled firings, current climate of our national political discourse inevitably spilling into the classroom good or bad, public mood on key issues of politics, worth putting on record is, no it’s not ok to bully a student for their make America great again hat, tell them they must turn their make America great again shirts inside out. Any more than it was ok for students to be suspended for Duck Dynasty t-shirts, pro abstinence t-shirts, pro or anti-Obama t-shirts asked not to wear them, told to turn them inside out, sent home for wearing them. Pro NRA t-shirt unease is somewhat understandable taking into account school shooting plots and a growing number of mass shootings nationally, asking students to refrain from American flag shirts for a single day Cinco de Mayo perfectly reasonable; suspending them if they don’t not so much. Going after a teens Star Wars storm trooper t-shirt is absolutely not because it doesn’t depict a real gun rather the laser make believe variety; geez next they’ll be saying no Star Wars t-shirts because they picture light sabers too close to swords. It’s exactly because of our political climate we not singularly needed to know about but needed to hear the New Jersey teacher telling a student “military men and women not fighting for your right to speak Spanish they are fighting for your right to ‘speak American,’” either to conclude she is a foreigner herself unfamiliar with American verbiage, lingo, or so ill-educated, incensed she doesn’t know the term is speak English. Hearing it allows us to digest tone, thus meaning, sentiment behind it; teacher’s statement opposite soldiers commenting on the national anthem protests against police brutality, president Trump’s comments on how disrespectful it is to our nation, our military, our flag, who say they didn’t/don’t fight for a flag or anthem. Not too hard to extrapolate they would feel similar about forcing kids to stand for the pledge of allegiance; student 1,000% right in telling local news outlets soldiers fought and died so she could speak whatever language she wants. Recognizing it fits the growingly pervasive pattern of punishing kids who speak Spanish forgetting they’re immigrants, just learning English, grade schoolers just starting school living where English isn’t primarily spoken at home. Young woman in the garden state speaking fluent English, reporter remarked almost without an accent, simply speaks Spanish because she can; owing to her school’s sizable Spanish speaking population it would be easy to see her explaining something, clarifying instructions to a classmate in their native tongue, teacher obviously too uncomfortable with bilingual students. Patterns of punishing students who sit out the pledge of allegiance even to the point of attempts at lowering their grade; one horrible incident where a student who chose to sit out after an argument with her teacher had a guidance counselor step in saying she would need to sit in the hall if she didn’t stand, she next requested to see the school nurse and contact her mother, nurse refusing to serve her because of her pledge stance denied he access to calling her mother ‘until they had a long conversation.’ Medically dangerous, opposite of policy; both school individuals incorrect in their assessment of the situation pertaining to the girl’s ‘obligation’ to participate in the pledge despite a 1940’s court decision ruling you cannot force patriotism, stating students can sit out, abstain from the pledge of allegiance or national anthem without repercussions visited upon them. Sitting out, kneeling always aiming for a greater protest goal whether it was the native American girl protesting America’s long history of abuse toward their population, the young man who stood in solidarity of his classmate previously lectured for not standing, additional young man at his school protesting government taking advantage of people. Patterns lock step with the New Jersey middle school’s 2014 choice to ban a transitioning transgender student unless she came back dressed as and answering to her male birth name Brian; dustups over bathrooms leaving trans children caught in the middle, yet we wonder why president Obama put out federal guidelines for schools on how to effectively handle trans students’ needs. Patterns of teachers fired or publicly shamed for calling student’s racially charged names, the mixed heritage child allegedly called a mutt, teacher let go after referring to former first lady Michelle Obama as a gorilla, latest fiasco involving a high school football broadcaster’s racial slurs referring to the opposing team as “cougroes,” an apparent conflation of the school mascot Cougar and the word “Negro.” Broadening out to society as a whole, when commenting on controversial video showing violent teachers, staff resource officers in their shameful glory; how many Americans, public citizens call students who appear anything but white animals, porch monkeys, hood rats, thugs, type phases like ‘don’t call police call animal control,’ and those are just the ones able to be printed without an explicit warning attached to the article. Partly explaining why students are so trigger happy to reach for their phones in class even when it isn’t violence, threats they intend to record, they can’t believe the racist, discriminatory, biased, ignorant, inappropriate things coming out of their teacher’s mouths, people who are supposed to educate them, be a source of guidance for them. Striking is how many incidents predate the mass proliferation of the i-phone, cellphones with audio/video capability, people using micro recorders, whatever tool they could get their hands on, still how many don’t; reality we get a new growing number of videos depicting what unacceptable thing an educator, principal, school resource officer tried to do or succeeded in doing to a child, while they were meant to be learning, every year. Too readily overlooked the profound impact video has had since it’s widespread inception, from changing our views on wars like Vietnam to what they touched off with Rodney King; surpassing trying to imagine where we would be as a nation, a people if we hadn’t seen more current police brutality videos and other shocking footage, what benefit such videos serve as an awareness tool for both students and parents incidents like these could be happening in your child’s school, in the school you preside over, where you teach, coach, mentor. Student cellphone captured the bus monitor abuse and those kids were proportionately punished, as important their parents were thus made aware of their children’s problems bus monitor just as shocked as their guardians. Video aiding in settling the case of a 16 year old boy who had to have his leg amputated after a fight at school, building cameras clearly showing he could not walk, needed to be helped, carried around yet there was significant delay in dialing 9-1-1, getting an ambulance to the school, getting him to the hospital; likelihood they failed in accurately describing to EMT’s the injury itself so doctors could administer correct treatment, run relevant tests demonstrating blatant efforts to cover their behinds, reputations regarding events. Visual representation instrumental in likely winning a settlement for this family amounting to his medical bills, monies for his initial temporary prosthesis, perhaps his permanent one. Probability more money will be awarded to him, his family because the school tried to lie, cover their tracks, wiggle out of compensating him for their egregious mistake maiming an otherwise healthy, vibrant young man. Contrast everyone’s reaction to student videos, trying earnestly to convince the public it should be wrong for students to tape their teachers, the potentially wrong things they see in school, out in public, to the praise heaped on students seeing the last link’s video online and reporting it to school officials leading to the pictured bully’s arrest. Offering added missed insight into the intent versus effect of student shot/posted videos, they may have maliciously intended to brag about the ‘bad ass’ thing they did, how they humiliated someone, they also might have posted it to draw attention to what was going on. I.e. the bus monitor footage, the stated goal of the school bus driver’s assault of the special needs kid before they flagged down cops; either way, people become aware and things move toward positive change. Momentum that could work in the Zimmerman examples had he made the right argument, forgoing lengthy debate on is it ok to tape teachers, why he thinks it’s not, focusing instead on the content. Calling for the ouster of frightening bullies, decidedly political agenda pushers and the support of teachers expressing their opinion when responding to questions, using current events to enhance practical understanding of concepts, properly addressing student anxiety in times the cause adults nervousness. Leaving in freedom for students to tape, ask questions and report violence, threats, humiliation on the part of staff who give good teachers everywhere a bad name every time they engage in such unbecoming, criminal activity, making it that much harder for good teachers to do their immensely hard jobs well; a strategy better benefiting all teachers, all classrooms— his ultimate goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmPL1K9ucgQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ojyaB9tiw
http://abc13.com/education/teacher-tells-student-to-speak-american/2539382/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nmdPuOVoR0
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/racial-slurs-texas-high-school-football-broadcast-50765241
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkU0Dj2wIGc
Grossly ignored by the author is both the quantity of cameras currently installed in school hallways, lobbies, on busses; pulling back seemingly endless layers of yet more inconsistency, larger daycares have had cameras installed for roughly 25 odd years becoming standard signs of proper security for good, professional childcare, a must for parents who want their kids protected. And again WHY they were put there in the first place, because we know teachers, even very good ones on paper and in the classroom, producing solid results can’t be trusted on the level he suggests a miniscule fraction of the time. When staff shove 4 year olds down flights of stairs belatedly noticing cameras, relentlessly smack and shake preschool age children because they won’t stop messing with their hair and write a desired word; both tapes from spring this year, mere fraction of news videos available on YouTube. When we have to genuinely think long and hard about reconsidering their potential place in locker rooms, bathrooms, exc., particularly on school grounds in light of the rape Mike McQueary said he saw in that locker room at mentoring foundation Second Mile, as the world found out about Jerry Sandusky. Kids lured or dragged into public bathrooms and abused; latter netting searchers a deluge of videos available with a few keystrokes one from just 3 weeks ago. Memories of comedian Andy Richter recounting Dennis Hastert’s recliner positioned in the boys shower to prevent fights he said; turns out he was a sick twisted pedophile who when he wasn’t watching was molesting students. Video how an Illinois bus aide, hitting and molesting a 4 year old preschooler was caught while taking her out of the car seat harness, uncovered during the just started 2017-18 school year. Throwback to horrifying bus scenes in rural New York circa 2010 which saw middle or high school students trying to persuade their visibly drunk bus driver to pull over; rescuing themselves when they succeeded getting her to stop in the middle of nowhere and fleeing out the back emergency exit. Referenced footage taken from the buss’ dash cam style video unit, unfortunately hardly an isolated incident even almost 10 years ago. Elsewhere catching horrendous behavior by teachers, staff fully aware they are there, adjacent staff, support staff, fellow teachers pulling out their own cellphones and hitting record because they believe what is taking place, what they are witnessing is wrong. A principal dragging a 5 year old by the hood of her shirt, the collar/back of her shirt and her leg down a Bridgeport Connecticut elementary school hallway; occurring in 2012 video released on 2014, upon reporting she might be allowed to return to school from administrative leave. 2014 Ohio video picturing another school saw a teacher grab a student by the face, hoist him up and shove him against the wall; his crime, taking too long in the bathroom, using the bathroom without permission at the tender age of 6. Being unsure exactly where the film of an autistic 7 year old stuck in his chair came from doesn’t lessen the horror listening to teacher’s taunt and threaten to taser him if he doesn’t get up/sit up the right way; without seeing if he is truly stuck, as in need Vaseline, tools to take apart the chair to extract him, tell him how to maneuver his body so he can comply with their instructions. Classified special needs cognitive level unclear to viewers, fully seeing he’s panicking saying he doesn’t want to die, meaning the quickest way to end this situation is tell him how to get out of the predicament. 2 years ago one Kentucky school lobby tape capturing a teacher dragging a 7 year old to the front office teacher saying he was ‘disruptive;’ a brave teacher’s aide recording then reporting his k-8th grade principal of a special needs school post repeatedly seeing her “grab kids, push, kids…I’ve seen her throw kids.” After administration ignored his complaints of what he labeled constant bullying; last straw her documented meltdown walking students through graduation rehearsal where a scuffle broke out, she begins screaming using profanity, grabs a student, hauls him on stage and says “this is a retard how embarrassing…a disgusting embarrassment get the hell out of my sight.” Remember the ADHD 3rd grader, also in Kentucky handcuffed by a school resource officer, so stark because he was small enough the handcuffs has to be applied to his upper arm to work properly. Worse, he wasn’t handcuffed due to being in trouble with juvenile services, facing charges, discipline, a court appearance in front of a juvenile justice judge for violent actions at school, other problems. He was handcuffed after a trip to the bathroom, both the officer and student being male and the subsequent teachers handling him female, hints why he was brought in, went horribly wrong and the boy, all of 55lbs. soaking wet approximately 3 feet tall contrasted to an officer 5-8 to 6 feet, kicked the officer; punishment handcuffs. Footage released to the media, sparking an investigation and federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of this Latino child and another special needs black girl, was shot by adjacent staff upset with what transpired. Similar circumstances exposed a little known technique at a New York charter school, highlighted for its exemplary test scores, called ‘rip and redo;’ where the teacher filmed tears up a first or second grade student’s work because she got the math answers wrong. The teacher then sends her to classroom timeout/thinking area to ponder her behavior proceeding to rant about the student, difficulty of teaching her and the negative impact she’s having on her fellow classmates; more than making it seem like the teacher needed the timeout not the berated student, but made it appear she was picking on a slower learner, blaming a child for her failings as a teacher. Another hallway camera capturing a special education teacher, toward the end of 2016-2017’s school year letting out for summer vacation, kneeing a preschooler in the back; causing him to fall through sheer inattention, appearing to try to walk right over him totally unconcerned for his physical wellbeing. Belying any claim it was an accident, not so much as an I’m sorry before awkwardly holding him up and continuing to walk both herself and him through the door. Indeed national debate trailed behind the parent who filmed the paddling of her kindergarten son because she felt compelled to comply or be reported to child services for the excessive number of school days he’d missed. Noted in the original dissection of that story school officials’ emphatic assertion they never told the mother anything of the kind; plain comeback, they never dissuaded her from her conclusions either. But we didn’t need to know why, at minimum, one parent consented to the corporal punishment’s use on her child, deviating from the ‘usual’ reason cited, they agree it’s a perfectly acceptable, preferable, dying art way to raise kids to be better than the countless selfish/spoiled brats overrunning us now, because she filmed it instead of stopping it if she truly disagreed. There was no need for us to see the ineptitude with which these teachers administered said paddling leaving the kid no idea why they inflicted the given pain; no need to see the paddle nearly as tall as he was ripe for serious injury to a 5 year old, no we didn’t need that at all. Returning to issues for the 2017 calendar year alone, parent who filmed the arrest of her son with autism brought in for expanded testing to ascertain how the specialize school could better facilitate his education only to be arrested for an incident happening months prior, where he allegedly kicked and punched a teacher. Police responding to a warrant out for his arrest neither child nor parent knew anything about until they showed up to their appointment and staff called law enforcement, actions screaming set up. Police violating the law by not telling either the child or his mother why he was being arrested, not so much as asking for proof she is mother or appointed guardian before saying a flat no, not producing a physical copy of the warrant for the parent to see independent repeated requests to see some kind of paperwork justifying her child in handcuffs, allowing her to ride with him despite his disability, visible aversion to being touched. Nightmare that didn’t end when she stopped recording, authorities left him sitting in adult jail,10 years old mind you, for hours; the charges were a 3rd degree felony instead of suspending him from school, they’d already brought him in for further testing and moving forward without police involvement. School surveillance documenting a 7 year old with autism dragged down the hall, earlier footage of a girl identical age dragged down her school’s hallway by her hair, both after a fight with a classmate. Escaping mention entirely incidents of teacher, staff misconduct uncovered, reported, proven true, leading to justifiable firings, minimum touching off national debate, outrage without the aid of video or audio; case in point from this school year the student who reported his teacher physically yanked him from his chair and tried to force him to stand during the pledge of allegiance. Something he has never stood for because, in his words “he doesn’t pledge to a flag but to god and family;” teacher freely admits to his actions and expressed regret, suspended, unknown for how long. A Chicago mother is still fighting for answers as to why her non-verbal, autistic 7 year old was slapped by a substitute teacher; her only informed days later when the principal called very short on details, like where he was hit, an extended explanation of why, beyond he was having issues and kicked a teacher. School authorities suspending and banning the 2 substitute teachers/classroom aides from school grounds pending investigation completion; facts she only obtained when reporters, not school personnel, informed her. Disheartening as well it happened so soon into our current school year, early September; his education will now be disrupted while his mother finds him a better educational institution. Regular readers here, routine news watchers remember the boy failing a paper who was paddled by his teacher after he said, “well my daddy beat me, I beat my children, and that’s what I’m about to do to y’all;” boy’s parents having no idea this was a policy at their child’s school, were sent no permission forms, notices, offered an opportunity to be present when her child was paddled. That was Alabama 2011; aside from repeated research showing hands down schools who use corporal punishment have no more or less discipline issues than those that don’t, in one single district students with disabilities were paddled at a higher rate than those without: state Tennessee in 2017. ‘Creative’ solve to bullying problems in Texas 2012: make all the other kids in class punch him twice, what a teacher did to a boy 6, no definitive evidence he was a bully; mother not informed until weeks later after the principal found out. A high school student also in 2012 slapped who doesn’t even know why he was slapped; not because he is delayed or being deliberately obtuse, but because it remains that unclear. Jr. High school student is slouching, leaning back in this chair only to have peincil shavings dumped in his mouth circa 2013. 5 year old special needs student repeatedly hung from the blackboard by his belt already being in a classroom consisting of merely 6 students 1 teacher and 2 assistants. Also as late as last year a boy in Pennsylvania had his mouth washed out with soap for allegedly cursing or lying about an altercation he got into with another student, difficult to tell; mother outraged, concerned about poisoning. Hard to sweep under the rug, instances where injuries to students, witness statements plainly tell a story of their own, speak to something wholly untoward going on; including the 7 year old with a broken jaw and several missing teeth after officials claim he was being disruptive. 5 year old kicked in the head by a veteran teacher, decades on the job; why, she went to the bathroom without permission, during nap time. 2017 to date highlights AKA lowlights making news without video/audio, classmate testifies to news and police about a student dragged from under his desk by his hoodie, across the classroom face all red sporting a small mark on his neck. Another teacher arrested for shoving and spitting on a student, even bagging his head into a desk. Texas teacher flipping a desk according to some student witnesses hitting their fellow classmate, how about flipping the desk with a student in it; confusing isn’t that what kids are usually accused of doing while being pegged out of control? Coming full circle usually it’s the kids caught on campus, at school with alcohol, drugs, drunk or hungover, eye popping the teacher who showed up for the first day of class on her new job clearly intoxicated and wearing no plants; her story a random one plucked from the bottomless ether of related stories. Truly appalling lowlights again, the teacher found by officials bagging his head on the exterior of the school building liquored up; another so drunk he urinated on himself was sent to jail for also shoving a student against the wall. Different school lingering problem, students calling the office to report their teacher swearing at them; when confronted admitting she’d had alcohol the night before, that morning and in her classroom over lunch, blood alcohol level to fell an elephant. All due respect to AA, the 12 steps and addiction recovery, mystery how she got rehired anywhere as a teacher having done it 3 years prior. Digest this one, fellow teacher finding a substitute instructor passed out or asleep in an office off an elementary school classroom; middle school students making a b-line for the front office when something seemed off about their substitute, discovered to be wholly drunk. Most egregious case has to be the California high school senior students who saw their teacher somewhere around town appearing to need a ride, offering him one, conversation later suddenly turns uncomfortable, they try to drop him off and he pulls a knife demanding to be taken to Jack in the Box. Unmentioned entirely in Johnathan Zimmerman’s diatribe on why students have no business taping their teachers, situations where the offending technology involved is the teacher’s own personal property or school property; last year it was South Carolina teacher Leigh Anne Arthur many felt was slut shamed when she was fired after a student found explicit photos on her phone, allegedly a Valentine’s present for her husband. People all too ready to believe the student’s assumed maliciousness, purposefully snooping through her phone; no one critically asking questions about why she had that content on her phone, then brought it to school, knowing the intensely personal material there. Teacher Thad Cummings and Elizabeth Thomas used tricks in school e-mail messaging to communicate, Cummings making headlines when he coerced Thomas to come with him taking her cross country and exposing an inappropriate relationship; according to Zimmerman logic lets yank all computers and ban all e-mail not do something about predatory teachers and vulnerable students. Speaking of which, look closely at the Inside Edition segment below school authorities placing a surveillance camera into a teacher’s room after another teacher reported his behavior as suspicious; only to find him kissing a 10 year old male student on the mouth. Redundancy piling atop redundancy by now, last year’s story found randomly out of an endless stream of documented inappropriate relationships, staggering numbers encompassing actual sex between students, teachers, teacher’s aides, substitutes, molestation of students, inappropriate pictures taken of students; droves of teachers fired yearly for the above and more. Those schools not following the catholic church’s extraordinarily bad example engaging in a practice called ‘passing the trash’ shuttling teachers accused of varying levels of sexual contact, misconduct with students to different schools, school districts usually with glowing recommendations omitting any hit of allegations. Rewind a few years to Natalie Munroe who used her school issued computer, school computers to construct then post an infamous blog rattling off all the no holds barred things she’d like to place in her students’ report card wasting time she was supposed to be actually compiling legitimate grade reports. Spreading her incompetence further posting a blog littered with misspellings while talking about the deficiencies housed in her 10th, 11th and 12th grade honors English students. Utterly oblivious that a student she referred to as…“an automaton who didn’t move speak or show emotion in class” could have autism, be on the autism spectrum merely high functioning; that the child she labeled “I didn’t realize one person could have this many problems” could very well have psychological dysfunctions possibility needing to be discussed with their parent toward helping them not denigrating them. Dido the student instead told “shy and awkward isn’t cute in the 11th grade; it’s annoying. Must learn to advocate for himself instead of having mommy do it,” indicating potential social anxiety disorder. Quickly countering often parroted talking points teachers can’t be everything to students, trying a source of elevated stress likely leading some teacher outbursts, schools routinely have crisis and other counselors on staff who could have easily given Munroe basic signs to watch for when suspecting psychological problems, common psychological issues effecting teens, the age groups she teaches, when it is definitely time to contact a parent. Conversations she never had and, if she seriously believed “Am concerned your kid is going to come in one day and open fire on the school (wish I was kidding),” she was obligated to report it to police, school officials, maybe both, yet didn’t opening up school, students and community to potential danger circa 2011. Munroe middle of the road of social media consequences for teachers, reprimanded, fired, publically shamed thanks to wildly inappropriate comments and posts gone viral; 2012 saw a kindergarten teacher ranting on Facebook about the condition of her 5 and 6 year old students ratty clothes and dirty faces, saying the boy “can’t even read.” Forget highly questionable is how much reading kindergarteners are supposed to be able to do, kindergartener in question likely not having had pre-school instruction owning to lengthy waiting lists, lack of affordable, free programs; kindergarten where they begin learning sight words, to read short, one line sentences. Teacher, not a teacher aide, saying “if one more parent tell me it’s my job to teach their children, it’s gunna be popo time,”(popo slang for police the news report notes). Black vernacular and her ‘inability, need to learn to speak English’ aside what does she think she’s there for if not to teach kindergarten concepts; emphasizing she didn’t say teach kids how to put their clothes on, go to the bathroom, eat with utensils, things we would expect a kindergartener to have age level mastery of already, she said teach kids. By far the most disturbing post read “What are you supposed to do (implication when a student misbehaves) Bang! Bang! Shoot ‘me up dammit! Just kidding!! For real though slap their [expletive] back, then bang! bang! Shoot ‘em up dammit,” [Sic] for kindergarteners. Worse the school had no social media policy, Memphis’ school exempt from larger city policy. In 2016 one school’s teachers angering students, not just parents, administrative staff when leaked Slack Chat, a work sponsored program, conversations were made public disparaging a Rode Island prep academy’s pupils. Including one depicted thus and describing her reaction to uncovered comments “she’s struggled with spelling her whole academic career, told the Journal about a particular teacher she’d come to think of as a mentor: “I thought I had a personal relationship with him. We’ve had conversations about life, our families. I trusted him.” When she made an error, she said, “He’d just say, ‘Oh, you spelled that wrong’ and we’d fix it.” Then she saw the Slack exchanges. “Here’s how Hudson spelled Ta-Nehisi Coates: Tonahese quotes,” he’d written on June 14, around the time of one of her weekly check-ins with him. Another teacher chimed in with an expletive, and calling her an “idiot.” Deighan says that, “When I saw my name I just started crying. I thought I was straightforward with him and he’d be straightforward with me. But I guess he just doesn’t like me, and I guess none of the teachers like me at all…. It’s just damaging to think that the people that are encouraging you are just behind your back saying, ‘She can’t do it, she’s such a dumb ____.’ I was building confidence, slowly and surely, but now they’ve wrecked that with a few messages.” [Sic] A student who probably has a learning disability, diagnosed or not, who thought she’d found a teacher who would help her where she was, help her manage her deficits, whatever their cause, opposed to writhing her off, thinking her stupid, crushed when she found out how duplicitous he was being. Who was doing everything we would want a learning disability student to do, not make excuses but work through their problems to the best of their cognitive ability; she was meeting with him regularly, making as much of a concerted as he was to pass the class, do well and above quotes is how he repaid that effort. Complaints centered on surreptitious taping of teachers by default calling for the removal of personal student electronics from the classroom again wrongly assuming student video, smartphones and technology is the problem, not just compared to the bulk of what’s being recorded parents, school administrators certainly needed to know about; unfairly discounting standard photos that caught a pre-school teacher dragging a child down the hallway, a viral Facebook photo showing the cafeteria shaming of a first grader repeatedly dropped of late for school and given ‘lunch detention’ lead to policy changes. Hardly forgotten the eagle-eyed store photo developer who caught strange photos of a kindergarten teacher exposing years and years of abuse visited upon children where he duck taped their mouths, had roaches crawling on their faces, put his semen on crackers and forced the children to eat it. Teaching isn’t, and shouldn’t be treated as a profession like a fraternity, sorority, cult, coven, throwing around words like betrayal when someone disagrees with what’s happening and alerts various authorities to it; disavowing information because it came from a student, a student’s phone, parent supplied micro recorder, digital recording device. You don’t get brownie points, rewards for sticking by, sticking up for your fellow teachers no matter what bad thing you saw, helped them do; rather rightfully earing you a pink slip and if necessary jail time, not to mentioned lawsuits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ItTxhnSj7Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2r17-k7VG4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wrUmWTQ-DU
http://wgntv.com/2017/09/15/bus-aide-accused-of-striking-molesting-child/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxOQy4t6SGk
http://wgntv.com/2017/09/29/mom-wants-answers-after-son-with-autism-struck-by-substitute-teacher/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o0NTpI1GSE
http://local21news.com/news/local/mom-claim-teacher-put-soap-in-10-year-old-sons-mouth
http://abc13.com/news/fbisd-teacher-removed-after-desk-flipping-incident/2005402/
http://time.com/2852825/teacher-kidnaps-3-students-and-forces-them-to-drive-him-to-jack-in-the-box/
http://abc13.com/kipp-explore-academy-fires-staffer-accused-of-indecency/2543056/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRdYI_Rdjq8
https://www.salon.com/2016/06/27/ousted_teachers_get_a_lesson_dont_badmouth_your_kids/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GRSpgzb6X4
Disappointingly school life imitating larger real life facets, video, reliable reporting and public awareness to an issue doesn’t always bring justice or change; mimicking police brutality videos, jury unable to convict disgraced cop Michael Slagger, it’s random hit or miss if long term actions were taken to prevent future occurrences of the same thing. Policies were altered at the ‘bubble gun’ school; Ohio did revoke the permit of the teacher’s aide in the Today show family’s case, but merely suspended the teacher. Suspension also the only publically known fate of the Tennessee teacher berating her elementary school class about a test including the student whose family spoke no or little English; no word on fates of teachers in the instance of the boy referred to as bastard or the boy with cerebral palsy told his teacher did not want to touch his drool. But spotlighted 5 year old, whose biggest offense was talking too much, was relocated to another school by his parents toward solving his teacher bullying problem; Washington ‘childhood horseplay’ case rendering the victim sleepless and in therapy thanks to egging on by his teacher saw said (cringe worthy) 18 year veteran educator salvage his job by taking a 10 day suspension teaching in another school’s classroom. Officer slam was fired as was Joshua Kehm who body slammed that middle schooler; conspicuously absent any criminal charges. Dido the officer who rendered unconscious a teen trying to break up a fight with her sister; only public information on the Philadelphia body slamming of the kid trying to use the bathroom without a hall pass: he was transferred to a none school site, oh joy Philadelphians can look forward to him policing their streets. Milwaukee teacher’s aide handed his pink slip, yet he’s suing the school claiming improper warning of what he was getting into and reports victim blame the young man because he had been sentenced in juvenile court days before questioning why he was even permitted at school. Yes both student and teacher were black, so people will wonder why the next words involve the term school to prison pipeline; chiefly A- because had it been a white student no one would second guess his presence at school and B- juvenile courts had ruled on the boys ‘strong arm robbery’ case sentencing him to the best thing possible to prevent further problems, education. While the aide’s suit may have merit in what the school did or didn’t do to prepare him, that does not excuse his adult actions, not of grabbing the kid’s leg when/if he “kicked your shin, tried to kick you,” yelling for help while defending yourself from physical assault. But shoving him to where he slumps into a nearby chair then lunging at him to the point momentum throws him over pictured table and you’re choking him; news reports next thug-izing a troubled teen. The California teacher’s aide seen beating up a student arrested on felony child abuse; however, not to get too excited, the school has a history of hitting students prompting a federal lawsuit on behalf of a 9 year old boy given a bloody nose and instead of treatment for his nose teachers sat on his back, made him lay there for 15 minutes nose still bleeding, case later dismissed, but disturbing pattern much? Shrieking principal in paragraph 3 still had a job as of news reports, fired: the teacher’s aide. Lobby dragging instance saw the school fire filmed teacher only for her to cite improper, non-existent training and the court order her back into the classroom; 10 days suspension is all that was given to the teacher grabbing that 6 year old by his face and shoving his back into a wall according to hallway camera, independent 2 lunch ladies who heard him hauled back into the bathroom for an exceptionally loud tirade. Kneeing preschool teacher resigned, was arrested on second degree cruelty to a child, bonded out of jail and as of summer 2017 was facing a lawsuit by the boy’s mother in conjunction with his former school. Kevin Sumner known for handcuffing that 3rd grader got some bad news mid-October this year when courts ruled his actions violated those students’ constitutional rights, school also found liable; incremental change on the horizon as the sheriff’s department agreement with the justice department post inquiry is to remove resource officers from that school district. Sadly the New York charter school teacher was subjected to retraining and put back in the classroom despite former teachers from that specific school telling CBS News it wasn’t a one-time incident, rather speaking to a school culture where her reactions are commonplace. 2 teachers seen dragging that autistic child down a hall placed on leave; psychologist underscoring it never should have deteriorated to that point because teachers are taught de-escalation tactics. Pledge of allegiance snatching teacher was suspended, no recourse for the paddled boy, others like him, outside a lawsuit independent his school’s gross failure to inform district parents about such a significant policy. Bully punching teacher fired along with another aide who failed to report it; pencil shavings teacher merely suspended, mom would prefer firing, identical to soap wielding teacher, nothing known as to the final outcome. Threading again a pattern of parents who aren’t vengeful, vindictive, desiring special treatment for their children, wearing blinders about how kids behave in the modern era, how their individual children behave, that they will sometimes get in trouble and that’s good for them, what’s supposed to happen; on the contrary parents looking at the unusually cruel and arcane punishments doled out to their child are saying essentially if you don’t know you’re not supposed to do that, then you shouldn’t be teaching. Be it dump pencil shavings down a kid’s throat, wash their mouth out with soap, allow other students to physically manhandle, stick socks into a classmate’s mouth, pile chairs on top of him; telling is the question what should they have been doing while the teacher/coach was letting them do that? Yank chairs out from underneath students as a teacher, directly because they could bash the front or back of their head, knock out/chip their teeth, jam writing implements into their eye poking it out, hang students by the belt from a blackboard or force them into permanently injuring splits for a high school, not a professional cheerleading team and the thousand and one other ghastly things humans appear capable of coming up with to torment children. Providing also the needed continuity in standards and firing, sending clear messages paralleling those let go for social media posts; Natalie Munroe ousted in 2012 court ruling she could not sue her former district, 3 teachers resigning at the prep academy. Ending exposed teacher methods derogatory, name calling things written on papers, the teacher who allowed fellow classmates to draw ugly things, mean names on children’s faces for failing to meet reading goals, allowing the ‘failing’ children to choose between missing recess and walking around wearing the shaming face paint; the teacher who threatened to leave doors unlocked letting in a shooter to compel good behavior. Displaying the wrong kind of consistency, recurring pattern teachers’ disproportionate responses resorting to physical violence to solve every day, run of the mill issues occurring in a school, resorting to physical force to gain basic compliance from the smallest learners where we should be modeling conflict resolution, age level anger management/emotional control. Defaulting to cruel and unusual ‘discipline’ to ‘make’ students listen, pay attention, ‘care’ about their educations, demonstrate to the rest of the class what you, their teacher, won’t tolerate when it comes to said inattention, ‘goofing off.’ Mirroring what this blog has said about Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling—black and brown Americans gunned down, killed by police who had prior criminal records for minor to moderate offenses, questioning, attempted arrest that lead to their death because of those previous offenses ‘justified’ disproportionate violence engaged in by police. The penalty for jaywalking is a ticket fine, if you have several, repeated unpaid tickets an appearance before a city/county judge, the penalty for strong armed robbery is an arrest/booking for strong armed robbery to be processed through the justice system, the penalty for assaulting a police officer/resisting arrest is an arrest/booking for resisting arrest/assaulting a police officer processed through the justice system, should they happen all at the same time, booking/processing through the justice system, more or less time depending on severity of situation, length of existing criminal record, not to be shot 6 times by an office who mistakes an 18 year old for Hulk Hogan, including literally blowing off the top of his head. The penalty of selling so called ‘loose cigarettes’ is a an arrest/booking for illegal cigarette sales to be processed through the justice system, a predictably longer jail sentence if newly convicted considering Eric Garner had similar convictions on his record; not to be piled on top of outside a business like a violent, weapon welding, flailing menace to society wanted on murder, rape, child molestation, terrorist or domestic abuse charges. Not to be hauled to the ground in a choke hold for asking officers why he specifically is being targeted when a game of Eeny, meeny, miny, moe would find every other business on this street/block has people doing the same thing, trying to walk away from what he saw as harassment, saying to police please don’t touch me; not to be kneeled on by officers when he’s already immobilized, handcuffed and strangling out 11 times “I can’t breathe.” The penalty for selling bootleg CD’s out of the back of your car, possessing an illegal gun because you are a convicted felon are arrests/bookings for those crimes; not to be kneeled on by cops who put 2 bullets point blank into your chest after finding a gun in your pocket during a search proceeding to unduly panic. Especially when they were originally called there not about CD’s, possibly stolen goods sold out of the back of a car, but a person waving a gun and his is still in his pocket once restrained. The penalty for these students in the younger cases is being sent home, missing recess, a day or 2’s suspension, older cases after school, in school dentition, up to 90 day suspension; the most violent cases expulsion, combination suspension or expulsion and charges under juvenile justice, situation dependent, time in juvenile detention. Not to be dragged around, grabbed by the face, shoved up against walls, slapped, spit on, shoved, thrown out of your desk, desk thrown at you, have your jaw broken and teeth knocked out, head slammed into a desk, kicked in the head; especially not a little kid who went to the bathroom without permission. Countering the tone of our suing teacher’s aide talking about the student who kicked his shin, tried to kick him, A- what’s not listed is any existing medical condition (brittle bone disease, osteoporosis, hemiplegia making that instance more dire than it would normally be); B- as if had he informed the school what the kid had done before shoving and lunging at him, they wouldn’t have done anything instead of suspending him, expelling him and or remitting him to juvenile services. Contrastingly of course the teacher who told students to turn their Make America Great Again shirts inside out shouldn’t have been compelled to resign via nasty messages and death threats; that too is absolutely unacceptable, sentiment, societal standard this blog has spent years saying should also apply to teens, kids who do viewed horrible things like torment their bus monitor, lure a classmate to your house to be beaten up, beating posted on YouTube. Subsequently confronted with public comment calling for their brutal beating, maiming, castration, life imprisonment, gruesome ‘punishments’ if they tried to act on them they themselves would be charged and jailed. To say nothing of the number of still, independent changes, public exposure detailing absurd cases, misapplied school rules/policies and regulations resulting in needless disciplinary actions, suspensions; for students attempting to do the right thing, where anyone with a modicum of common sense can see they unequivocally did do the right thing, again technology present or no. Students suspended/expelled for taking knives, razors, harmful objects away from friends, classmates, contemplating or attempting suicide; a kid suspended for saving a classmate’s life by carrying her to the nurses office while the teacher texted the nurse waiting for a reply as the student falls to the floor suffering from diminished ability to breath thanks to an asthma attack. School sends home students wearing hoodies for a novel reason, less fashion sense and more weather sense; saying it’s cold in the school building, so instead of whining, being distracted by their personal discomfort they don more clothing only to be met with ‘rules.’ Asinine nonsense trying to counter everything from the Trayvon Martin effect to emulating rappers who don hoodies as their style, seen as bad role models; dismissed, apart from what students said their motivation was, people like my friend who regularly sends her kids to school in ‘hoodies,’ also known as sweat jackets, because it provides layers when cold, protects their head and ears during winter at the same time hood being attached translating to it won’t got lost like a stocking cap. May be warn in addition to it for multiplied protection; of particular importance to her 2 kids who’ve had ear tubes thanks to chronic ear infections, procedure making them prone to ear aches as air pressure changes. When parents have to fight to get policies changed regarding sun screen and school field trips after a fare skinned student got increasingly red, blistered, diagnosed with second degree burns on exposed areas; juxtaposed against teachers repeatedly applying it to themselves, willing to share, wishing they could seeing the child suffer but by regulation weren’t allowed to apply it sans a doctor’s note owing to FDA classification sunscreen is an over the counter medication. Teachers, school nurses cannot administer without aforementioned doctors note, parents disallowed from sending it with them absent said note either; absolute insanity compared to growing environmental concern and the roughly 500 children diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer yearly, medical fact 1 singular sunburn in childhood doubles the risk of skin cancer throughout your life. Most notably on the technology side, a student suspended for violating school rules on taking pictures in the bathroom curbing inappropriate selfies, nude photos of students; except what she photographed was dirty water issuing from the faucet, she reported to her next hour class which happened to be newspaper, discussed it with them, it was thus posted leading to her suspension. Not until local press got involved was her situation reviewed, superintendent electing to reverse the suspension, expunge it from her permanent record. The person caught snapping truly inappropriate photos on school grounds, meant to be eliminated by said guidelines in schools throughout the country, a teacher who went beyond hiding his phone in the girl’s bathroom soap dish but also downloaded inappropriate video footage from the bathroom onto his classroom computer. Another student suspended for liking something on Instagram because that something was an airsoft gun, today’s BB, pellet gun, harkening back to honor codes permeating public schools punishing students for things done off school grounds, on summer vacation. Penalizing students for going to a party where there was alcohol though they didn’t drink, didn’t even see alcohol; discouraging designated drivers, picking people up from harmful situation, engaging in guilt by association/location regardless of what you did or didn’t do. Suspending and more importantly removing a student from AP classes for unflattering Facebook comments, the cosmetology school who saw 2 employees sue a student for defamation over a venting Facebook page recounting experiences in class, notations on bad breath; commenters noting at the time allegations of promiscuity aren’t feelings, have nothing to do with class content. Except wait, isn’t that the assumption administrators, teachers, school staff make repeatedly regarding dress codes; openly showing they believe particularly girls who wear skimpy clothing are of low moral character, willing to ‘give it up’ to any boy whether they have yet or not? Barring students from extracurricular activities for risqué, sexting photos of themselves posted on Facebook; that the Instagram incident happened spring 2017 others years before says something very alarming about the direction we are going. Taking the cake, 5th grader recorded her classmate being berated and threatened by a teacher, took it directly to a different teacher after class and was promptly suspended; school going a step further calling her behavior illegal, not because Florida is a 2 party consent state meaning if it’s to be legal both/all parties being recording must at minimum know they are being recorded. But because the school stepped forward and asserted, under the law, there was the exact expectation of privacy Zimmerman advocates; parent correct in that she doesn’t know the law and this circumstance should be viewed differently because, beyond your dealing with kids, beyond if it were to be used in a court of law children’s voices not involved could be taken out, the victim’s voice changed to protect her identity, you have someone attempting to prove harm, threat of harm to another person. How many parents try to garner proof of their ex’s molestation of their child to halt court ordered visitation, nanny cam-ing them to get it, forced on the run when they can’t, such video/audio methods are illegal; why 2 party consent needs to be changed or done away with entirely. Privacy in these contexts never applied to an open school classroom; and hold it, if up-skirt photos, where someone jams a camera up a woman’s dress, skirt, skorts, are deemed legal by various courts nationwide (undeniable they shouldn’t be), back in the day they could shove cameras over, under bathroom stalls attempting to gain photos of celebrities a-la Michael Jackson (true story he told for a 1997 Barbra Walters interview shortly after the death of princess Diana pleading for privacy despite her notoriety, his profession because of the role tabloid, paparazzi media played in her death). And police now can conduct sting operations catching everyone from terrorists, pedophiles to product counterfeiters, confiscate citizen cellphone video as evidence, plead with the public who have footage of X on their phones to come forward, courts rendering verdicts in favor of citizens filming police while doing their job, preventing cops from retaliating; why on earth would students be barred from taping their teacher at the legal, not just school policy, level? People already are guaranteed the right to participate in their own defense pertaining to charges via a court of law; then by extension people should possess the right to record audio or video in their own defense, defense of their/a minor child, another person, isn’t that how they caught, convicted and sent to prison Rod Blagojevich impeached governor of Illinois circa the early 2000’s, definitively how we know about Walter Scott, Eric Garner, so many others? It was how one Montana rape victim secured a confession from her attacker when the school honor code shaming students for drinking, provocative outfits left her little recourse, not entrapment because she only got him to admit what he had already done, eventually securing his prosecution. Addressing the cellphones should never be out and on in class mantra from educators, parents, consider West Virginia high school students listening to Pam Stenzel supposed sex ed. speaker catching attention of one student just by flyers announcing her visit confused by ‘God’s Plan for Sexual Purity’ when there is this little thing called separation of church and state plus court rulings removing religion from public schools save historical contexts; George Washington High being a public school. Students using their phones to fact check her statistics and information via sites like google, becoming increase rowdy and ‘unmanageable’ when they could find no shortage of her YouTube videos but none of her ‘facts’ or cheery-picked, outdated, misleading stats; her loud fire and brimstone like presentation lacking critical information on how to have safer sex, as safe as possible, using condoms, how and where locally to get birth control, get tested, does tell students they should inform who they’re with of all their partners but has already lost them with all the other demeaning ‘slut shamming,’ slut labeling she did. Even in 2011 leaving out critical information on non-traditional sex except to bellow oral sex is sex, don’t you dare say you’re a virgin if you’ve had oral sex, no information for the LGBTQ community, issues directly effecting them; no one correlating West Virginia’s high teen pregnancy rate to talks like this alienating listeners then skewing reality so they can’t better protect themselves, make the better choices we want them to. Student who decided to channel her offense at Stenzel’s presentation into positive action initially boycotting the talk then going to the local paper after seeing her distraught, crying friend emerge from the speech was then threatened by school officials they would inform her college what bad character she had, what a backstabber she was, trying to impact her pending scholarship. Compounding the school’s self-imposed bad situation, no one could ascertain who approved Stenzel’s visit in the first place; her speaking fee paid by a local conservative Christian group, ultimately prompting a policy change speakers on sex ed., religion and politics would henceforth be approved by the superintendent. Principal’s plan to damage his outspoken student’s reputation, future college career backfired when Wellesley College welcomed her aboard via twitter. We as parents, as a society should be putting more tools in the hands of kids, teens, adolescents to protect themselves, their friends not taking them away, especially when time and time again there are still parents, trusted adults who don’t believe them when they simply tell them what’s happening. The abusive daycare case saw 2 distraught crying parents shocked and guilty they had treated the woman like family; older brother saying that person did the same to him, he never told. Catalyst for the officer slam video as relayed by the boy who took it, panic and the sense he wouldn’t be taken seriously if he merely described what happened; the abusive bus driver videographer shaking as she filmed. Father of that struggling prep academy young woman quoted as telling media the following [she] “kept telling us that lots of students were having problems with the teachers. And we kept saying ‘No no no, it can’t be as bad as you’re saying.’ Then we found out it was worse. It was worse. That horrible scenario where you don’t believe your child and then you realize you should have been standing by them.” So Jonathan Zimmerman up against that what are kids supposed to do; just sit back, take it like we did in yesteryear, and if you don’t you’re a wimp, better yet develop and alcohol, drug problem, eating disorder, begin cutting, commit suicide subjected to such a gauntlet 5 days a week and parents who dismiss it the other 2, or tape their teachers and have the tiniest sliver of hope it will stop?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ2oJueatY0
http://fox6now.com/2017/03/08/former-teachers-aide-fired-after-altercation-with-student-files-federal-lawsuit-against-mps/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/natalie-munroe-pa-teacher-who-blogged-about-students-gets-fired/
http://tinyswot.com/rex-roland-is-the-loser-nc-teacher-faces-and-deserves-possible-disciplinary-action/
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/teacher-threatens-to-have-students-shot-599674947661
http://5newsonline.com/2017/09/05/booneville-school-district-employee-resigns-following-incident-at-school/
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20140809/news/140808651/
https://www.studentnewsdaily.com/daily-news-article/students-schools-clash-in-cyberspace/
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2089729,00.html
http://time.com/4422772/upskirt-photos-harassment/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNkXLTw_yPw
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/speaking-slut-shaming-19529855
Utterly forgotten is students with disabilities, excluding the ones detailed at the ends of paragraphs 3 and 4 treatment they were subjected to because they remain undiagnosed, wrongly diagnosed, slipped through the cracks, teacher tendency to file them under lazy, stupid in their heads and ignore them. Holds true too, is also the fact they don’t need to go through 3 miles of extra red tape plus permissions to use something already technologically on the market and in their hand; thereby avoiding another 3 miles of additional paperwork to get approved for apps, technologies and adaptations families cannot afford on their own. Those grappling with dyslexia to exclusively auditory learners who don’t understand things unless heard, whose scores on tests, ability to pass something as significant as the driving test drastically improve when they have the test read to them, shouldn’t have a negative label attached to them because they use current technology to do better in school. Whether that’s going home and reviewing the class lecture to take more complete notes, able to pause, rewind audio or video until they’ve understood the material, can use that recording to ask more pinpointed questions on complicated, math, science, get more specific details for history in the name of either understanding or just passing the test. It’s also incongruent with an increasingly popular teaching method called flipping the classroom allowing students to listen to lectures on sites like YouTube as homework coming in the next day to do what would have traditionally been complex homework sheets for science classes, math sections, courses, subjects that lend themselves to hands on, in class activities solidifying concepts in students heads, allowing them to see practical applications. And a useful antidote to dumping pencil shavings down student’s throats, yanking chairs out from underneath them to cease their goofing off, the perpetual inattention teachers endlessly complain about if pedagogy could ever get out of its own way. Limiting technology, decreasing technology is the antithesis of wide ranging aides for students with learning disabilities today almost always integrating technology, from specialized glasses that can stop letters from ‘jumping’ on the page common for some dyslexics to specially designed fonts increasing subtle differences between like letters allowing them to be told apart even upside down, backwards, sideways, all the ways dyslexics see things unaffected persons don’t. Right up to apps like Bookshare and Darwin Rader audio reader apps initially used for blind, significantly visually impaired students now available via doctors note to dyslexics, a recorder pen syncing recorded lecture with the student’s writing, software like Grammarly and dicta-type functions allow both the physically impaired and the learning disabled to speak documents into computers rather than type or write them out. Evolution of what we already knew about using computers, word processing, spell check’s effect on children with varying learning disabilities stories with more complex plots, variety of words, improved long term spelling as they correct spelling errors slowly connecting the word they wanted to use with how it is actually spelled; progress that shouldn’t be halted so students don’t ‘surreptitiously tape their teachers.’ Sidestepped completely school issued technology i-pads, laptops webcams now standard, capable of at minimum audio if not video being purposefully put into classrooms to provide an innovative 21st century education; when a New York school, one of the first of its kind did this attendance skyrocketed and violence plummeted, principal saying school to date teaches kids how to sit down and be quiet I don’t know of any job that wants workers to sit down and be quiet. Experts years prior remarking on how our school systems were stuck in the 1950’s decades and decades later; problem, while technology has improved, provided engaging opportunities for learners of all stripes, skype connecting students across the globe enriching them with live multi-culturalism, tablets replacing textbooks everything from causing back strain being carted around all day to outdated as the paper phonebook, the moment their printed, teachers however haven’t kept up in the slightest. Training may have changed somewhat for the better yet many, many administrators, superintendents, principals, support personnel remain unabashed technophobes harboring a calculated distain for technology, fun math and reading apps seeming to outpace their teaching when it comes to students assimilating material. Educators displaying outright fear where once it was can children at varying ages tell the difference between reality and that of an app/video game, now it’s smartphones are literally rewiring kids brains as if we should all panic at the implications (more accurately their brains are adapting to the technology around them); to incredulous comments from teachers seeping into parent consciousness everywhere kids need to be brought up to an increasing adult level not us lowering ourselves down to theirs. Because an educational computer game taught math, vocabulary, science better than they did, morphing into the parent/citizen haughty shout everything can’t be fun and if it’s not fun students refuse to learn it making them ignorant[choose your favorite expletive]. Forging it only matter’s to teachers’ egos if they learn foundations of math, science, English, vocabulary, history using a game or relying on teacher instruction, best combination uses both, it doesn’t have to be fun for children to absorb it, although there is no reason why you can’t make content for younger grades fun. It does have to be interesting, engaging and barring those 2, relevant; you can get a lot of mileage from students toward struggling to learn difficult, complicated concepts just by acknowledging how complex, complicated and difficult it is for them, if not for you, a little thing called empathy. One of Natalie Munroe’s former students got it right when he said her blog was evidence as to why she should no longer be teaching; that students don’t want to learn it’s the teacher’s job to give them motivation to learn. Proving we have practical knowledge of what makes a good/excellent education environment, what can solve common teacher complaints; standing desks have been shown to reduce behavior problems and sharpen focus, interesting is why, it allows kids to fidget slightly sans getting in trouble. Or teachers could choose to ignore minor fidgeting, use activities that allow students to move and still learn: classroom hopscotch carpet to teach math, obstacle course for same, stations set up to teach planets in the solar system allowing kids to expend energy and assimilate information. If only they would use it, teachers could also advocate for more recess, gym class, fun physical activities, but too many seem content to go along with their boss’ shelving of recess and gym to accelerate academic performance, compensate for flagging performance, agree with proposals to elongate school years and school days to eliminate summer lag. My best friend was one of those kids with a largely undiagnosed learning disability, undocumented dyslexia who was given the idea by her guardian to tape record class lectures to pass history credit courses necessitated to graduate she was struggling with. Going to the principal when she had audio evidence of her teacher talking about lacrosse, the sport he used to coach in a neighboring town, his medical problems instead of the history he was supposed to be teaching; topics inappropriate for his classroom no matter how it was exposed. A pattern going back years, her sophomore year in high school partnering with a fellow classmate combating their elective child development instructor targeting both students, because for whatever reason she didn’t like them, trashing, throwing away competed homework assignments saying they didn’t turn anything in. Signing and dating each other’s homework and making copies on the library’s copy machine; both teachers reprimanded and monitored, out within the next academic year. During middle school complaining to her stepfather her science teacher was using tabloids to teach science class, and no, not demonstrating factual inaccuracies in such ‘magazines,’ pointing out how they take a minute grain of truth and turn it into headline grabbing but false story sure to make jaws drop and eyes pop selling more copies, rather trying to teach scientific concepts with them, holding up the evidence in her adolescent hand. Taking horticulture as an elective had a teacher routinely mess with her ragging on her sleeping in class threatening officer referrals and detention despite her pointing out the chapters covered were on the board, you could check out textbooks overnight and the reason she was ‘sleeping’ more inattentive and hazy was due to cold or allergies depending on season; independent those realities, hearing her nasally voice, clear indications she was stuffed up, repeated sneezing upon walking into class next to an abundance of plants, not once did he ask if she was sick, ask if she had allergies, suggest a doctor’s appointment, over the counter allergy relief, transfer out of this class. Instead she had to resort to humiliating herself broadcasting her 1st grade diagnosed developmental delay to get him to stop, intermittently interspersed with cursing, threats to challenge his job and getting the class to join in on teasing him a buffer to his constant commentary, but we’ll come back to that. Despite the testing an analysis summery findings being part of her permanent record easily and rightfully accessible to any of her teachers precious few bothered to do so, opting to use her perceptible deficits against her try to pull things over on her, neither he nor 99% of her other teachers asking why the only determination was from elementary school. Had they asked they would have discovered her mother pulled her out of special ed. that year, her spelling was doubly bad not singularly from slow learning and dyslexia but educators who told her/her mother she didn’t need to learn spelling because she was retarded (in the mid 80’s mind you) depending on an aunt she stayed with summers to try and teach her both vocabulary and spelling, might have prompted a call to state DFS and gotten her out of a neglectful home, events that never happened. Around the same middle school/ Jr. high timeframe sticking up for the children she babysat for including 2 she regarded as brothers living with them and their mother, she was called to the school to retrieve the older one having gotten in trouble; only to find his principal humiliating him for being special needs, in special classes on and IEP (individual education program), later diagnosed autistic. Insisting said principal stop immediately, because my friend ‘got loud,’ according to the principal, she called the police; police arrive, she succinctly tells them she was just defending her brother, recounting what was said to him a special needs student, corroborated by secretary office staff who heard the exchange seeming previously afraid of the woman’s bullying tactics. Principal arrested on some form of child abuse, predictably fired. Issue being teachers, administrators she encountered were so subpar she was forced to resort to mentioned tactics to be fairly graded on submitted work, rightfully pass classes by turning in work, receive accurate education in basic or elective subjects, not that she dared record them, give those recordings to proper authority showing incompetence, wrongful treatment, dared stick up for a younger child being verbally abused by an authority figure. Redundant by now, few scenarios involving video or audio, and where audio was present, it was in plain sight, not hidden and of course objected to by a teacher who spent more than half his class period talking about everything but the history is was paid to teach. Such recording, beyond present in every college class nationally, fully allowed under the ADA (Americans with disabilities act) and supported by the 2 teachers who helped students with test anxiety, learning disabilities requiring tests be read to them and managing ESL students, had they been asked. Confessing my own bias toward video cameras, I was the kid in school who fervently thought multi-directional cameras should be as foundational to classrooms as chalkboards, overhead projectors (yesterday’s smartboards) first generation PC’s, because, by middle school in the mid 90’s, I was sick of being sent to the principal’s office for things I didn’t say to classmates or teachers, assigned in school detentions, exc. for yelling at the class bully to leave me alone, teacher rarely hearing what they said to provoke the response. Multi-directional because I knew the perils of only one angel long before that classic Malcom in the Middle, episode where Lois gets traffic ticket ranting up and down she was in the right until shown a video of her plainly committing the traffic violation; she makes such a stink that Malcom and his friends go in search of further evidence proving she was right all along. I hid a tape recorder in my backpack in 8th grade hoping to capture my gym teacher being mean to the developmentally delayed kids, treating them like they had no intelligence, self-sufficiency at all rather than moderating responses according to their individual ability levels; because, I had the cognitive awareness to know it was wrong, to speak up, I knew she was a bad teacher and I wanted it to stop, her not to be teaching. It didn’t work, but at least I felt like I had tried; and, after numerous run-ins, office referrals and explanations on my part I got exasperated exclamations of “can’t you just sit there for 50 minutes, however long class is,” from my mother. Few understanding no, I couldn’t and morally wouldn’t; I was a budding social justice warrior before the world became familiar with at term in bulk. This blog harshly questioned, as part of analyzing the bus monitor abuse case filmed by fellow riders, why school administrators hired a human being when a camera would better serve their purposes supplying visual evidence to parents why their child was facing long suspensions, expulsions. Cost effective over time too; questioned why they hired the particular elderly, sweet woman they did housing a demure personality, providing her no assertiveness training, sufficient warning about what she was being hired to handle. You solve these developed ‘political sensitivity’ problems by, in example 1, reminding students and parents words like feel in the quote “If you have a history teacher teaching you that Trump is good then I feel really scared for you” indicates an opinion. Reality the student should be old and educated enough to grasp; moreover something teachers are freely allowed to give, particularly to a classmates question. And you are free to disagree with, but since it was neither inflammatory, gratuitously provocative there will be no negative repercussions for the teacher. There was no need for administrator expressed concern regarding what she said, nor Zimmerman’s stated problem with her if she was trying to slant students against president Trump, as her fear reads genuine, alarmed by what her student conveyed another teacher said. Increasing the care with which she said what she did by saying if then paraphrasing what she believed the student to have relayed to her, and we don’t know what the student seeking an answer, not the one recording, asked. Identical to example 3: “the only people who seem to be safe” from Trump are “white Christian males” using the word seems probably backed up with tangible examples based on his comments about Mexicans, Muslims and women; part of the issue is readers lack critical context to hear what was said before or after the quote comments, recordings began or ended, even what class this is for. As there are huge implications of what president Trump is doing for government classes, lessons on the constitution, the factual beating he has given to our founding document, the distain he displays for the rule of law and basics for how our government works, worth discussing in high school classes. Assuming consent is being taught in a majority of health/sex ed. classes, and we hope it is in light of Steubenville, the Stanford rape case, it is things like the infamous Access Hollywood tape and the litany of women to come forward accusing now president Trump of sexual harassment or assault have timely relevance. along with Roger Ailes and entities at Fox News, Harvey Weinstein and allegation of male on male harassment spoken about by Terry Crews, Kevin Sorbo and Anthony Rapp; you have hope of reaching kids, showing them Brock Turner’s face currently provides photo representation of rape in a recent edition criminal justice textbook. Why we should be less upset with example 2’s teacher calling Trump a “rapist and a dictator,” able to defend their argument by allegations and admissions made as well as ways her has run roughshod over the constitution, instead honing in on the criticism of the Make America Great Again hats. Examining closely if it constituted bullying; if it did, firing would be appropriate also if he could not adequately defend the labels he placed on Trump with quoted statements, documented actions as it points to biased ranting out of place in the classroom. Challenging Zimmerman again, readers shouldn’t adopt the perspective of the following quote, “In all of these cases, school officials noted — correctly, of course — that the teachers’ behavior was inappropriate. But nobody pointed out that it was also inappropriate for students to record them;” all of them weren’t inappropriate and the biggest reason the last student was recording their teacher was precisely because their “Los Angeles substitute teacher gleefully telling students that their parents would be deported” predictably to a largely Hispanic, Mexican descent, Latino classroom. Heaven only knows what he said prior the student didn’t get a chance to record; what we did get meeting the definition of inflammatory, gratuitously provocative, with a side of inaccurate owing to he could not possibly know the citizenship/immigration status of the students being a substitute, information none of his business no matter what kind of teacher he is. Amazing is that Zimmerman would want anyone like that substitute associated with the profession he obviously cares so much about. And if psychologists have put their careers on the line under the softly spoken duty to warn before regulatory bodies for the medical practice largely lifted the Goldwater rule prohibiting public comment, long distance clinical analysis of persons they have not seen or treated, to adequately respond to the Trump era and the potential danger our president’s mental status, whatever the cause, presents to the country, goes around the country speaking to groups about just this topic seeking to inform America’s public, 27 phycologists, psychiatrists, similar clinicians weighing in for a book on the subject, so many chiming in there wasn’t room to catalog all the credits, innumerate all insights. Don’t teachers have the same implied, perhaps clearer duty to explicate, explain what’s happening, how we got here, how we move forward, how we protect the fundamental pillars of our democracy from apparent unrelenting assault, provide reassurance and support? Kids 20 years into the 21st century need every tool in their arsenal to combat an increasingly dangerous, in hospitable world; gone are the, fictitious to begin, with Mayberry days where it can be as a commenter on story articulated “America: the land of you can’t do that it makes me uncomfortable.” Earth to Jonathan Zimmerman of course administrators made identical mistakes to Virginia Franklin story; complicating your pet issue in the 21st century is there remains ample proof classrooms no longer belong, by and large, to teachers. Factoring district/school system wide tenets on safety, macro and micro guidelines on dress codes, administration benchmarks for material covered, state/national standardized testing parameters, education policies from no child left behind to common core altering how teachers would like to arrange their classrooms’ curriculum on a materials level, so it matters little if students tape their teachers; never mind having absolutely nothing to do with whether they do or not. Examining above statements, current policy structures aren’t teachers already ‘mouthpieces for’ insert political, educational agenda X here___; aren’t teachers already hamstrung when schoolboards decide to scale back anatomy and physiology, biology to fit their puritanical visions on what students should learn in sex ed., health class, standard information on how the human body operates? Alternatively, aren’t specific teachers hired in select regions because they agree with administration stances on science, sex education, teaching patriotism in history class making it irrelevant whether students record content they’re uncomfortable with because the principals they will be hauled in front of simply side with the instructor? Students at the grades he pulled his instances from might question isn’t the classroom truthfully theirs, could easily make the argument the classroom is theirs to a certain extent; because, they are the ones applying their educations toward getting jobs, once on the job, they will pay the price for deficiencies in their education. Franklin’s fundamental difference juxtaposed to stories here, she didn’t do anything wrong on a curriculum, materials perspective level, should never have been questioned past fully ascertaining how she structured her ‘controversial’ lesson(s). She presented both sides of an issue and told students to choose what was morally right, not skewing them on which she thought that was, yet yours is still a mixed bag filled with some teacher whose fates were just. While in addition the violent, bullying, intimidating and cruel; the wholly inaccurate and incompetent examples explained via Natalie Munroe, Pam Stenzel and Leigh Anne Arthur among others, never deserved the trust they were initially given. Sticking to comparable scenes playing out in classrooms across the country to your cataloged unfairness toward teachers thanks to student video, we citizens, voters on persons for schoolboard, superintendent, education initiatives impacting our local areas are supposed to trust, pretend we didn’t see, hear the consistent, constant flow of things detailed in this article mildest of which means they should be fired; thus permitting their continued teaching, rousing chorus I don’t think so. Further, like Stenzel who, in the process of telling teens parents who put them on birth control hated them, failed to distinguished between teens placed on birth control to treat female reproductive disorders that can be diagnosed during the teenage years PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), endometriosis, acne moderation even for teen boys, and teens consuming birth control solely to prevent pregnancy. Who while ranting about sexual purity and espousing you’re sexually impure if you’ve ever had sex, birth to your current teen age, failed to differentiate between teens willingly having sex with their boyfriend, having risky/irresponsible, indiscriminate sex at parties, and those who had been victims of some variation on rape, incest or sexual assault possibly resulting in pregnancy, an STD/STI especially knowing the shame associated with such victimization, shame magnified when realizing Stenzel’s perception reflects that of the community she was invited to, to speak at the local high school. You make no caveat, clarification, exemption or exception, basic distinction between documenting violent, criminal, dangerous, bullying, intimidating behavior fellow student or teacher and recording something the student, fellow educator, parent simply finds politically offensive. Again underscoring for every video of a student being violent toward a teacher, an administrator, you can equally find at least one of a teacher, administrator, school resource officer being violent to a student; that goes double for recorded instances of teacher batting, bullying, provoking versus teacher violence against students or politically provocative, discriminatory statements that have no business in the classroom regardless what year it is.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/innovative-font-dyslexics-read/story?id=26860105
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/08/health/turning-points-kevin-oleary/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/18/health/dyslexia-technology-apps-students/index.html
https://theconversation.com/letting-kids-stand-more-in-the-classroom-could-help-them-learn-53606
https://www.salon.com/2017/10/11/terry-crews-harassment/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzP4w_Hqpos
http://lifetoday.org/video/when-life-hurts-2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8hr63YZmsk
http://www.scarymommy.com/teacher-put-soap-in-a-boys-mouth/
To that end, it’s not 1963 anymore; the biggest problems aren’t, to quote a religious values PSA comparing and contrasting then to now, when we permitted the 10 commandments display on school room walls and effects stemming from years that don’t, talking, missing the waste basket (trashcan) and chewing gum. Versus stealing, bullying, guns, violence, escalating to rape and harassment, assault ‘all because we removed god from education and personal life;’ as if it was ever that utopic, idyllic to begin with. A more accurate description rendered by a reviewer analyzing a popular but controversial psychologist’s 2012 book: “If youth were so perfect back then, who the heck was devouring “Catcher In the Rye”? Or, by the by, if parents were so capable and kids so compliant, why does he describe how he was “grounded for the entire summer between high school graduation and going off to college” because he’d “been arrested for disturbing the public peace”? And if children were so untroubled, then why does he remember spending “my first through twelfth grades in a state of almost perpetual test anxiety, grade anxiety, flunking anxiety, parent anxiety, teacher anxiety and principal anxiety… I was in grade school during the 1960s, too, and I lost a classmate to suicide. I knew students who, in retrospect, abused alcohol and had incapacitating emotional problems, though he is right, they were not “removed from school and placed in a treatment center” because parents were still looking the other way then and good programs did not yet exist. No, I don’t have personal memories of anorexia or cutting among my friends, at least not until college, but I certainly remember classrooms being disrupted by students who were then taken off and paddled — which didn’t work, because they came back and did it again. I’m betting one or two of them are among the wave of adults who are diagnosed with ADHD each year — and who wonder how life could have been different for them had they gotten that news years ago.” Continuing, yes students were taken off and paddled and it didn’t work either for an entirely different reason; faced with adult arbitrary authority and blatant abuse of power relentlessly lorded over them, they made the conscious, instinctual decision if they were going to get paddled regularly at the random whim of egomaniacal teachers, principals, coaches it was going to be for something they actually did do, not imagined bull crap. End result a string of disciplinary problems conveniently washed away by idyllic nostalgia’s amnesiac effects causing willful forgetfulness of every adult in that era, ‘good kid’ brought up in that timespan, and lasting psychological scars for the child victims spelling lasting anger, bitterness, failed relationships, perpetuated cycles of poor relationships with their children even grave psychological diagnosis manifested in serial killers psychopaths, domestic abusers, mass shooters, but we’ll go on blaming the younger set and psychotropic drugs used to a ‘bad behavior excuse disorder. Nor is what we’re discussing, seeing today necessarily adding to, an outgrowth of, enormous pressures placed on perfectly competent, well loved, should absolutely remain in the classroom teachers via the laundry list above effecting how they operate their classrooms, stress of helicopter parents, undisciplined, uncontrollable kids; neither is what’s exposed in the captured video simplistically boiled down to horrific actions taken by a very few bad apples, appalling lack of training for teachers, but plain bad teachers who never should have been allowed to stay in any classroom as long were. So called ‘educators’ who flunk the basic tenets they should have acquired in teaching school, practical hands on classroom interaction during student teaching: classroom management for preschool through middle school grades, student engagement, rudimentary pillars of child, teen, adolescent development so they can function effectively running a classroom smoothly. Crucial concepts they should not have been able to graduate teaching school, obtain their teaching license without demonstrating a consistent, practical fluidity in, missing entirely. Thus worth challenging too is bad educators, bad administrators, bad support staff, bad school resource officers longest running excuse, the problems permeating schools in America now are summed up in 2 familiar words ‘kids today.’ Students aren’t the core problem when looking at the age of children commonly subjected to teacher violence, between pre-k and 9, picking back up in the middle school years roughly 12-15 depending on school system structure. When the teacher’s best answer to a kid fiddling with their shoes is to throw them in the trash, her solution for a kid playing with her braid was to cut it off then warn her should she not stop, she will cut the rest; that last teacher allowed back in the classroom, punishments doled out to kindergarten and first graders. Talk too much suffer the wrath of duct tape, take an eraser off the teacher’s desk get locked in a dark closet, gym teacher’s resolution to a, granted high school kid with a stupid reason, refusing to get into the pool for swimming was to try and drag her kicking and screaming into the pool, make to seem sexual in nature based on where his hands were and her (like all of them) skimpy swimsuit; what happened to giving her an F for the day, moving on? When the teacher yanks out a 7 year old’s baby teeth pulling the child’s own shirt she was chewing to remove it from her mouth, though she’s in a class for children with emotional and behavioral issues; another soaks an autistic child’s crayons in hot sauce to get him to stop eating them, then manages to overrule a court case and district choice to fire her through a mediation tribunal only to be rehired. Drawing from my own formative years’ experiences to suggest a solution for the autistic kid talking to himself, we had a kid like that in the car driving us to school (their version of a special ed. bus in 1980’s rural small town) and there were rules when riding in the car, no loud talking, no laughing, sudden movements because this would throw him into a tantrum like episode of being loud, flailing and possibly cause a wreck. He also had a habit of reciting the TV Guide non-stop, in correcting this behavior they would say his name and no TV talk, once he understood what that meant, all it took was telling him and this was the mid ‘80’s. Begging the question does this person(s) carry correct credentials to be working with special needs children; imagine if they had engaged Akian, getting him to talk about/to them, about what they were doing, the math activity, music whatever they were doing instead of yelling at him to be quiet, stop moving his hand, a common stress relief for overstimulated autistic persons, then dared call him violent. Kids aren’t the dynamic needing to change in the wake of grown adult fellow teachers fired for malicious pranks played on co-workers culminating in a 9-1-1 call; ordinary non- teacher outsiders seeing it too in scathing, accurate comments left after every one of these stories: in defense the kindergartener whose greatest sin was talking too much, “The teacher has major issues and does not comprehend that a five year old does not have the cognitive development of an adult. She states “you’ve been ignorant. selfish, and self absorbed. . .” to a FIVE YEAR OLD.. She gets the rest of the children to turn against the child on top of her idiotic statements. She should not be allowed to teach Young children who can not defend themselves. Fire this nasty idiot.” [Sic] This BuzzFeed comment less defending the student’s actions and more provides substantial, accurate insight, about where adults and kids really are, mentalities that unnecessary lead to the teacher’s aide choking incident; because, teacher expectations are way off in a different manner than with younger children, they got into teaching for all the wrong reasons. “These people are OBSESSED with the concept of respect, and yet have no idea where kids this age are in their psychological development. They want to say “jump” and expect the kids to say “how high” without a pause. They want teenagers to have the social reasoning skills of an adult in their 30s, but the subservient and childish attitude of a kid in a “teacher-pleaser” grade (6, 7, 8, and 9 year olds). They’ve got this idea of “good, disciplined” teenagers marching in formation and chanting “yes sir.” But bro, that’s not how teenagers and preteens act. Even the most well-behaved, properly raised teenager is going to be a pain sometimes, because developmentally, they’re supposed to be questioning everything and challenging authority. But these so-called adults in their lives are, again, OBSESSED with feeling “respected,” and feel entitled to “respect” (though what they mean is “unquestioning subservience”), and therefore, feel entitled to fly into a violent rage when a teenager is “argumentative.” Or “defiant.” Or “didn’t listen.” You see how in none of these videos is the child actually being violent or dangerous. They’re doing things like sassing back, raising their voice, or silently refusing to do something the first or second time they’re asked. Which contradicts the fantasy these people have who went into education or law enforcement to “get respect” from a less powerful group.” [Sic] Momentarily on the issue of respect, framed as so elusive for underappreciated teachers, not taught at home, insert endless mantra here, adult readers ponder this question long and hard; who of the teachers, administrators, periphery staff, school resource officers presented thus far would you respect, consider deserving of respect? You want me, society, the rest of America to respect the 68 year old man, retired teacher whose response to someone allegedly throwing a Gatorade bottle at his car from out a school bus window was to jump on the hood of the bus, bang on the hood bellowing at the driver to pull over, taking a chance at severely injuring himself, crashing the bus injuring everyone on board? Only to, when they reached a traffic light and stopped, have him wedge his way on the bus trying to confront the kid; insanity second place to retired teacher’s lawyer who defends his clients extreme behavior saying he was trying to alert the driver to a to a serious threat. Perplexing for all the people who invoke possible damage to the man’s car, asserting he (the ‘hooligan’ kid) should be criminally charged, no damage to the vehicle reported, no solid evidence a bottle was thrown, came from the bus not another car, large vehicle. Consider too children give respect to those who command it with their actions not simply demand it hypocritically with their words, while demeaning and belittling kids for just being kids in the context of younger and smaller before even factoring in behavior. Children fundamentally haven’t changed so drastically despite descriptions society has been fed for the past 30, 35 odd years, what has changed is public awareness, visual recorded demonstration of who, what and how is teaching our kids; displaying teachers wholly unprepared to competently handle age appropriate problems effectively and correctly sans resorting to cruel meanness, humiliation, straight forward abuse, above all keeping them in the classroom, educational environment, not suspended, expelled, shuttled off to dentition. Calling into cavernous doubt how disruptive any of these, especially smaller children, were that warranted being dragged across the floor to the front office, dragged by the arm, hoods of jackets, collars of shirts, legs, ankles across rooms, just how much of a rage was that teacher’s aide really in when he broke the 7 year old’s jaw, how far would the high school teacher’s aide have taken it if someone hadn’t rant to get security? Further why is I was provoked always an answer for adults when dealing with ‘unruly’ kids but never kids driven to their wits end by make no sense, can never please them, clueless teachers, half their age and possessing a fraction of their emotional control; interesting we always talk about the underdeveloped frontal lobes, when the brain’s frontal lobe matures, of teenagers as it associates to arguments in favor of raising the driving age, but never as it correlates to volatile middle schoolers or ‘violent’ high school kids. Why do teachers insist on ignoring common knowledge elements of child development, forget what they were or weren’t trained on in teaching school/classroom management practicums, provoking them, backing them into corners then punishing them for reacting almost instinctively, even turning violent on them? Recollecting officer slam’s victim was violently tossed around the classroom for initially being on her phone then refusing to leave the room when told; instead of following educator solicited advice and ignore her and her phone, catalog how many days she spends on it, if confronted by the rest of the class posit they want to pass the class, she probably won’t, but if you pay attention you won’t be in my class next year. Why have we allowed teachers to ignore findings kids cuss, kick over desks do things to get sent out of class to avoid doing the work, everything from needed glasses in the 60’s to have drastically low reading levels, undiagnosed learning disabilities they’ve been shamed for and don’t want exposed, stopping at ejecting them from the class when they said/did appalling thing X. Like the behavioral specialist who was seen on hallways video grabbing a student by the neck and manhandling him down the walkway after he allegedly said go f*ck yourself and walked out of the room; enter his lawyer who said quote: This case shows how so many of these students are so far out of line from everyone else and I don’t think my client did anything wrong…he didn’t choke him he just put his hand under his neck and brought him back in the room.” Surpassing that sounds eerily familiar to it wasn’t a choke hold it was a seatbelt maneuver or that whatever way he had both his hands on the teen’s neck choking would be the outcome and doesn’t match the video evidence where again he has both hands around the whole of the kid’s neck not merely under his chin; his client is a behavioral specialist brought in to handle difficult cases making his response to typical teen disruption more disconcerting. The effectively appropriate response would be and— no matter how many names you call me, how many cuss words you throw at me you’re still going to have to do the work, no matter how many times you walk out of class the work will still be here, might as well get it done. Paralleling bullies kids, no matter their age, stop doing things like that once it doesn’t get them the rise out of you, the reaction they wanted, hmm. Similarly the alternative school teacher fired after video showed her cussing out a student, saying he was dumb, wouldn’t amount to anything seeming to gain sympathy from reporters, society at large when telling her side of the story having been to administration twice that day about student X, elaborating “he called me all up out of my name” (every name in the book); immediate logical reaction, I’m sorry this is an alternative school, what do you think it was an alternative from, gifted magnet and charter schools are labeled such. General knowledge tells you, alternative is the place for bad/troubled kids, juvenile delinquents, emotional/behavior problems and if can’t deal with them you shouldn’t apply to teach at a school full of them; if you’re that ‘dumb’ to borrow her word, maybe you shouldn’t be teaching period. Ratcheting down to the more ‘normal’ situations, beyond monitoring the to see if it’s a sign of ADHD, who cares if the child plays with their shoes, twirl their hair, yes the teen had a stupid reason for not wanting to get in the pool but dragging her into the pool was dumber than her refusal to participate in gym class over ‘party hair.’ The baby teeth example was already in a special class, most teachers especially those charged with special needs pupils might ask her parents if she does that at home, is it a sign of anxiety, nervousness, concentration, try to get the bottom of it, leave it alone; not brutally pull it out of her mouth because I don’t like watching you do that. Recognition smaller kids made running to the bathroom a game, thought it was funny in the 1950’s 60’s 70’s too (so why were you so over the edge), yet no one got violently furious with them threatened to ‘tear them apart,’ after saying they were sick of them, their parents. Parent having no idea, obviously not being informed about the ‘trouble’ his son was causing his teacher; why do we suspect she lied with a plausible story to save her job, which it did. Comprehension even when there was corporal punishment in a majority of schools, where it still exists there is a process, order to it and it doesn’t encompass an out of control teacher doing his best Media franchise impression having taken the belt from his own pants lumbering round the room striking kids indiscriminately. Him knocking papers, items off desks, forcing them to knock over chairs to get away from the crazed man; fight or no fight, 35 seconds of video or less he was the problem. Kids slouched, didn’t pay attention in the 1960’s too but we didn’t yank their chairs, put pencil shavings down their throats; parent blogger right on the money when she said the soap wielding teacher was confused about what decade we’re in, droves of ordinary citizens similar to herself likewise confused regarding why we stopped doing certain things once considered run of the mill parenting, discipline, teaching tactics. Chiefly because they didn’t work, compartmentalizing society’s evolving views on cuss words, swearing as less of a big deal, we found more effective ways of curbing bad language than risk of poisoning, allergic reaction owing to soap shoved into their mouth, patently abuse cases where straight lye was poured down their throat. Spanking, paddling found itself on the wrong side of cultural standards when too many infants and toddlers started showing up en mass with shaken baby syndrome, bruises congruent with beatings not spankings, when older children routinely showed up with same, child services finally getting involved unveiling harrowing tales of nothing but unquestioning abuse, it tragically also became a guise for sexual abuse. Society needing to look no further than the flogging Adrian Peterson gave his 4 year old son that included switch marks on his arms, legs, virtually every inch of his body even his genitals, vividly visible a week later, leaves shoved into his mouth, child services report testimony from the boy ‘daddy Peterson’ hit him on his face, threatened him not to tell; knowing this started because the toddler shoved another Peterson child over a video game makes it all the more heartbreaking. Anecdotes like his coupled with twin scientific and sociological evidence complied on the devastating effects of spanking in terms of literally shrinking gray matter and lessening synapsis, producing exaggerated behavior problems and psychological malfunctions spanning adulthood; people noted the irony of you can’t hit a dog, you can’t hit a prisoner but you can hit our child, whom you should be teaching, who has less developmental capacity owing to their age, less capable of understanding yet our remedy is to hit not explain, to hit rather than remove a related privilege? We treat/manage neurological disorders like Tourette’s syndrome, ADHD using medication, therapy and behavior modification, not try to beat it out of them; the same for OCD, broader psychological disorders instead of pretending oh kids don’t have those. We stopped using dunce caps when we understood developmental delay and learning disabilities devising special classes so those persons could reach their fullest potential, learned how to integrate those with milder cognitive dysfunctions into regular classrooms. Largest problem with the teacher seen repeatedly smacking the teen in the back of the head during math isn’t his laugh and the knowledge he has her job because we’re ‘sadly not allowed to hit kids anymore.’ But that it shows her toddler-esque frustration demonstrating her hitting him wasn’t about getting him to pay attention because he didn’t like it, it hurt bad enough and long enough for him to remember not to do it again, years long held thoughts on corporal punishment, his laugh also conveying she failed at any potential to embarrass him into better behavior; leaving she hit him because it was the only thing she could think to do, it was solely to alleviate her anger, make her feel better. Understanding all, most teachers don’t do anything like the instances spoken about here, though sadly percentages of said behavior are too high and rising, this is not the norm; contrast the autistic boy stuck in his chair’s teacher to a different educators evaluation having worked with special needs kids for years. On was about taunting the boy for getting himself like that the other toward solving the problem, creating a low anxiety environment so things like it don’t happen at all. Wonderful educators who take the onus on themselves to see their students succeed not just dumping an undue burden on them, making them feel like a burden to you, being surprised when you present material in a dull manner you get dull given right back to you; whether it’s motivating kids with music, personalized handshakes or individual positive complements, observations less about coddling, puffing them up, making them feel special, characterizes as a bad thing, and more about telling them they matter, messages they needed to hear judging by profound reactions. The school who doles out meditation not detention, just being a solid, good teacher who cares about their students, doesn’t treat them, their concerns as an inconvenience, knows how to handle things on their student’s level. Bottom line, if you don’t want to be videotaped negatively, go viral negatively, then stop doing things that make people, students or otherwise, want to whip out their cellphones and record you; be proud you were recorded for doing something cool, inspiring worth your students’ praise. Extrapolating from Bill Maher who commented regarding cops and the shooting of young black/brown men, people of color, police culture has to change, yes it’s a dangerous job but one you signed up for, no one conscripted you to be a cop, the police “department can’t be revenge for high school,” can’t be a place where marginalized individuals in school gain authority to now lord over people who hurt them, annoyed them; we have psychological tests to weed out such persons why don’t we use them? Well while teaching is certainly a taxing and can be, in some places, dangerous job, it is a job you volunteered, went to school for; no one conscripted you either and there are psychological tests to detect the kind of cruel, immature, abusive comping mechanisms there too, administrators use them. Mirroring cops, becoming a teacher can’t be revenge for horrors throughout your school career, a perverted catharsis as you do to this generation of kids what was done to you.
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