Posted on 06/14/2007 8:18:08 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
INDIANAPOLIS -- Sixth-grader Matt Porter didn't enjoy getting "Most Likely Not To Have Children" and "Sir Clowns-a-Lot" awards from two teachers at his school.
His parents aren't pleased, either.
Matt said he received the awards in front of classmates during a ceremony at the Decatur Intermediate Learning Center at the end of the recently finished school year. His mother and his stepfather have asked the Decatur Township school system to reprimand the teachers, and they want an apology.
"Words cut deeper than any knife could. They hurt," said his stepfather, Joseph Sims. "When you hurt a child like that, you not only hurt him mentally, but it does hurt physically because you withdraw within yourself. That is what Matthew has done."
The certificates were signed by the teachers who distributed them. Matt recalled what the ceremony was like.
"I was standing in the middle of (the two teachers), and they (were) reading them off," he said. "Everyone was laughing."
Matt felt humiliated.
"They (were) putting us down and everything," he said. "That is not what their job is for, to put kids down. They are supposed to teach us."
Amy Sims, Matt's mother, said she met with a school official over the matter but was not satisfied with the response.
"She just told me that the teachers would call and apologize to him, and we've not heard anything at all," Amy Sims said.
Gary Pellico, spokesman for the school system, declined to say whether the teachers have been disciplined. He said system officials regret the incident.
"We don't feel like it was an appropriate awards ceremony at all," Pellico said. "It wasn't part of the school's award ceremony, and it will not happen again."
Amy Sims said her son needs counseling because of the awards. The school has offered it, but an agreement on who will provide it has not been reached, Thomas reported.
And the reverse applies as well.
The student is there to LEARN. Not to be baby-sat. Not to be the class clown. Not to disrupt his fellow students.
Apparently this was not the case with this young man.
It doesn’t tell us *why* the teachers did this. Of course, I’m used to major things being left out of the story by our MSM...
I agree that the teachers were wrong in their actions and I will not justify any kind of bullying. But the parents are doing a grave disservice to their child by drawing further attention to him. The teachers were jerks, but middle school kids can be plain cruel. If the parents demand on making a big deal out of this, just wait until the kid's classmates get at him next school year.
I agree with you. That latter sobriquet seems to be hitting below the belt. You're talking about someone's reproductive ability, or lack of it. It's dangerously close to sanctioning kids belittling each other with the epithet "gay".
Exactly. One of my sons was voted “Most Likely to be a Mad Scientist” once. He was insulted, but we told him it was the best, most humorous title to be given.
“Sir Clowns-a-Lot” is a funny one, too.
But, “Least Likely to Have Children”...? What genius thought that would be a fun award to hand out to a kid?
Incredible. This past semester I was a substitute teacher, and I was startled to find high school kids using the most vile language towards me and other students, or in casual conversation. Sometimes they seemed shocked that I dsent them out of class. One student cursed at me, I sent him to the office, and he was back in my class the next day. I have no idea if anything happened to him at all.
That award was actually meant for the parents.
I wonder how some of these folks would have felt if their little budding football star received a “Red Skirt” award from a bullying peewee football coach becuase the little guy “throws like a girl”.
Thank you.
For some reason bullying isn't taken very seriously. It's this whole "boys will be boys" "it's always happened" thing. "Everyone gets bullied," and those are just "growing pains."
A few years ago I read an article on Jewish World Review (I forget the author, but I think it was Paul Greenburg) about a boy who was cruelly bullied for no apparent reason. He was just one of those people everyone goes after. The things done to him were absolutely heartbreaking. And why? He wound up committing suicide. And he was a good boy too, volunteering to help people (I suppose that makes him a "liberal?"). And after he was dead none of the students (who either participated or didn't say a word of protest) had a bad word to say about him. So why did they torment him???
I think the same people who apologize for wedgies, swirlies, and other forms of physical and psychological torture (for that's exactly what it is) in the name of "conservatism" are the same people who tend to defend conservatism in purely social Darwinist terms: "The cowards never started, and the weaklings died on the way!"
The fact that no one has ever tried to stop it doesn't mean that bullying is "all right" and that only a "liberal" would be horrified by it. As a victim myself, I can assure you that the "bullying" you see portrayed on television is nothing compared to what it's really like. I'm sorry and ashamed that there are conservatives out there who feel compelled to defend bullying and public humiliation of children because they think anyone who complains is a "liberal crybaby."
Most victims suffer in absolute silence, and the "good" kids are the primary ennablers because they refuse to do a thing against it (no social penalties are ever visited on the offenders). Perhaps if there had been more "crybabies" long ago something would have long since been done about it.
And no, I am not a utopian advocate of "changing human nature!" Sheesh, if you don't have to be a homosexual, you certainly don't have to be a bully!
I’m with you. Poor judgement on the part of the teachers.
My point as well! Let’s hear from the teachers. They can’t justify the ‘award’, but at least we’ll know both sides of the story, and why they felt the need to do this!
I’ve always said that social Darwinism is not conservative, although I get ignored for it.
“It is OFF LIMITS to point out such things.”
Technically, the kid might be gay! Maybe that’s why he got the award in the first place. So you might be wrong anyway here.
“Bow to liberalism if you want.”
?
My position on this article was that the kid should toughen up, take a joke, and move on. You are making this into a heterosexual victimhood issue, which may not even apply!
Which sounds more liberal to you?
“I don’t like double standards in this politicized world.”
Yeah I get you, but the double standard is a bull that gores everybody at some point.
There has been an overcompensating shift in recent years, but I believe it will eventually mostly correct itself.
In the meantime, what about the joke award?
Spoken like someone with no children. These "awards ceremonies" are for the teachers in reality. It's to make them "feel" as if they've done a good job. Why do you assume his behavior was so bad and that a TEACHER is justified in teaching him a lesson (a little late, don't you think?) in front of many others? It just seems that many FReepers don't think anyone can legitimately be offended and that the point is always a lawsuit. FReepers are bending over backwards to give Teachers the benefit of the doubt? Hypocritical if you ask me.
Bingo!
Did I say that? How did you reach this conclusion?
Did you even read the quotation I referenced?
The teachers were wrong and their "awards" were inappropriate. But rather than focus on the matter at hand, the PARENTS are MAKING their child into a VICTIM. They could be guiding him through this and deflecting the sting but they would rather contact the local media to make a big deal out of this, and a brief moment of embarrassment is turning into a major event in the child's life.
We do nothing for our children if we cannot teach them which battles are worth fighting, and which are inconsequential to our daily lives.
Nothing connected with Charles Darwin or Malthus is conservative.
G-d bless you, and thank you so much.
Only a really lousy teacher (who should never have children herself) would use year-end awards as a method of disciplining a child.
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