Posted on 06/15/2007 10:32:17 PM PDT by pillut48
"Matt Porter Jr. struggled to pass sixth grade and occasionally did things that got him called out.
"I would be told to sit down and stuff like that, but not any serious trouble," he said.
Matt says he improved his grades and behavior in the past two months." ..."He worked really hard the last nine weeks so he could pass and then they give him the 'Sir Clowns A Lot, saying he doesn't have the ability to know anything at any given moment just shot that down," said Amy Sims, Matt's mother."
(Excerpt) Read more at wthr.com ...
??? So, how much power does a grade student really have?
Who is supposedly ‘mature’ and ‘in control’ of this situation? I’d guess that the teachers would certainly know better. In this case, public school teachers have lived up to the low standard they have set for themselves. If the kid is is messing up, send him home, send him to the principal, send a note home with his mother.
But a teacher abusing her authority by publically humiliating him, is a teacher that needs to find a different career.
I don’t believe any of it. I think it is a set up for a lawsuit.
BUMP : )
I’m with you. I have never condoned the teacher/s actions, but this whole story has a stink about it...I imagine there will be a story in a few days about how the parents rethought the whole thing, and the apologies weren’t enough like they originally thought they would be, and poor Matt is soooooooo traumatized, he’ll need at least a $50 million settlement to be able to get back on with his life.
Just a wild guess on my part! It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
It is one thing to reward good behavior - it is another thing entirely to deliberately call up a student to be humiliated in front of an entire school. It serves no purpose other than to inflate the little egos of these petty-minded of people who disgrace the word “teacher”. They are not teachers; they are idiots spreading their manifesto of mediocrity and tyranny to all who are unfortunate enough to be imprisoned in their boring, mindless classes.
I’ve been an professional educator all my adult life - and this is the reason I homeschool. Petty, wicked adults who don’t love the children they teach should not be allowed to teach at all.
I didn’t nifong all teachers - I specifically called out the teachers who did THIS, not all teachers, and I also mentioned that I myself am a teacher. Nifonging oneself (”go nifong yourself”) is considered to be impossible isn’t it?
Personally, I have known some marvelous teachers, most notably those who helped me enter the profession. I have also known some very angry, troubled people who “hated” the children in their classrooms, and there is NO good reason to “hate” any child in one’s class. PERIOD.
I love teaching enough to defend it from those who would destroy it. These so-called teacher in this story are no more that bullies, and they do not deserve to be called teachers.
We agree that the awards are completely inexcusable. Appropriate actions have been taken with the individuals involved. This incident does not reflect the philosophy and beliefs of the Board of Education and the School District.”
P.S. We hope your son is enjoying the “Introduction to Homosexuality” classes, that the courts have said we can’t refuse to have in our curriculum.
(Maybe not in Indiana, yet)
When I was a sophomore at a private high school, I had a chemistry teacher who regularly addressed our class, as “you clowns”. You’ll note though, that this appellation was general and not specific. When he singled someone out, it was for praise.
For example, we had a quiz on lab equipment during which he held up various items and we had to identify them on our answer sheets. One of the items was a box used to contain filter papers, which we all recognized. Most of us wrote down “Box of filter papers” or “filter papers”, but only one wrote down, “Filter paper box”. It so happened that the box did not actually contain any filter papers, so he marked everybody wrong except the one who had answered judiciously, and required the class to give him a standing ovation.
I have to say, as one who answered “Box of filter papers”, that this has always stuck in my craw.
Actually, one of my favorite teachers was like a slightly larger version of Danny DeVito’s “Louie” from Taxi, only slightly less charming. He would regularly fling erasers at us when we waltzed in at any other time than the prescribed time...
The difference was, we were older, and he would NEVER have publicly humiliated a student by pretending to award them, only to take it back and truly insult them in front of a crowd. In this case, the “teachers” not only called up this child to give him an award, then insulted him by giving him the “sir clowns-a-lot” award (perhaps not so bad) but they also gave him the “least likely to have children” award (inferring that no woman would ever deign to marry him).
It is highly inappropriate for any adult to comment on the reproductive desirability of an 11- or 12-yr-old child, in public OR private. It is also way beyond the pale for a teacher to stoop to this level; it had nothing to do with the child’s behavior in class, or his grades - it was a personal insult of a child.
It takes a mature sense of humor to appreciate those awards. High schoolers might "get it", but not in the sixth grade.
So you condemn a teacher or teachers who may have been trying to do *wonderful* things in their classroom ~all~ year but had to deal with constant interruptions from this child (both mother and child admit that the child was a troublemaked, but blow it off as unimportant stuff) up until *9 weeks ago* and you call the teachers the “bullies” and other names?
Sorry. You nifonged the teachers, IMO. :-(
troublemaked=troublemakeR
Sorry.
Yes, I will condemn these so-called “teachers” and anyone else who thinks it is “funny” to take out their frustrations on a child by insulting them in front of a classroom. I have dealt with interruptions, tantrums and more in the classroom, and NEVER did I ever insult a child in class or in the lounge, or in private. I made it my mission to love each child in my classroom, and I made it my mission to TEACH each child in my classroom. THAT IS MY JOB - to TEACH. If I want a bunch of zombies sitting upright in chairs all the time, I don’t belong in the classroom. Children are individuals, and they are flawed, they wiggle, they get bored, and any adult who “can’t handle it” doesn’t deserve to teach.
I was in the public classroom for ten years, and I never referred a child for special ed, never referred a child for ritalin, and I took some of the children that other, lesser teachers deemed “too stupid” to learn. I taught them to read. Ya wanna know why? Because I’M A TEACHER.
The child’s job is to learn. Whether or not they do is their business; but it is the TEACHER’S job to TEACH. If an adult can’t handle the constant interruptions that ALL teachers handle, then they need to GET OUT of the classroom, and go find a more suitable profession - something far, far away from children. It’s a tough job, and I know from experience. I also know it can be done, with love and by the grace of God.
They get paid. If they don't like it, they can quit. The very idea of work is defined by such difficulties (in this case, a difficult child).
If teaching were fun, then the teachers would be paying the school every pay cycle!
I’m afraid I’ve got a “bone to pick” here - I have seen wonderful people take it personally when a troubled child did stupid things in a classroom. I have seen otherwise intelligent adults become petty bullies because they could not put a child’s behavior in perspective - and I have seen these adults ruin children’s lives because of it.
Teachers will make mistakes - but they are mistakes and must be called out. We do it to our children, and we deserve to be called out as well.
If we cannot act any better than children, how can we demand they act better than us?
On the other hand, although I side with the students, I think the whole thing was overblown.
Callousness to kids can be very amusing. He’ll be fine in the long run.
I’m curious. What punishment to you all deem these teachers deserve for this crime? Apologizing obviously isn’t good enough for many of y’all. Strip them of their teaching certificates for life? Heavy financial fines? Drawing and quartering in the public square??
I’m still waiting for the teacher/s’ side of the story. Hopefully we’ll get more facts then. I suspect this story isn’t over yet.
Not if his parents keep holding him up as a victim. :-(
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