teacher burns flag

[strmrdr]

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060822/NEWS01/608220378

If id been in the class the teacher would have went up next.

 

[msdarlinjoy]

As a Mother, I do consider myself a "teacher" ...

and I have never chosen to burn my country''s flag, to provoke "thought" in my children!

Could he have chosen a better way of provoking thought into those children???

Me thinks ... "Yes"!!!

 

[tanuki]

Finally, an opportunity for the Republicans to rush to the rescue!. I wonder if they will convene a special session of congress.

 

[perry]

I have a varity of mixed feelings regarding this.

While I do not see anyting that would ever drive me to burn an Flag as a protest or statement; I also understand that one of the feedoms that we protect is for people to do that (and lots of other dumb or silly things).

I am not sure that I understand the motivation of the teacher. I suspect that the intent was to geneate a meaningfell civics discussion. Could it have been better handled if that was the intent. Probably yes. It all depends on the class dynamic as well.

I am more concerned about how people react on this. Often the reaction to such an event - especially with kids - creates more problems than the event itself. What''s wrong with just saying that something was perhaps not the smartest thing to do - and just move on. I think that teaches the kids a more important lesson: admitting mistakes or bad situations and the ability to move on.


Perry

 

[Mannequin]

I''d be out on the streets in a heartbeat if I tried something this rash and provoking in class. That was bad form.

There are enough available movie clips around of people in various eras engaging in acts of flag burning that this teacher could have easily shown one or two with a disclaimer that the people were protesting. No need to burn the school down or lose your job just to make a point.

 

[phoenixgirl]

It's even more inappropriate that they were only 7th graders.

This guy has been teaching for 27 years. I wonder why he just decided to do this now, if this is indeed the first time.

Sadly, as a teacher I have become hypersensitive to what might cause complaints. I belong to the teacher's association just in case something ever comes up. The students in a club I run wanted to decorate my classroom for Christmas and exchange presents, but I was worried that promoting one religion's holiday was bad. I let them do it, but they added a few Kwanzaa and Hannukah decorations as well. Of course, that still left the Muslim student in the club out, but he joined in on the present exchange and festivities so I guess the concern was all in my head.

The only complaint I ever received was ironically when I got engaged. I didn't advertize either the fact that I was going away or that I had gotten engaged, but I didn't lie either. I had to leave one class early to catch my plane, so when they asked where I was going, I told them Paris. Then I returned home after spring break with an engagement ring. The parents of a girl who was always getting in trouble in that class complained that I was a "bad moral example" because they had deduced that I must have gotten engaged in Paris, which means that I must have travelled there with somebody I wasn't engaged/married to.

It's really none of their business what my sexual exploits were like before I got married, but I can tell you my only experiences have ever involved my husband. If this girl doesn't marry the boy she was often observed making out with in the hall, she can't say the same. If her parents knew the truth, they'd be happy to have her follow my moral example (I never made out with boys in high school, let alone in public). But again . . . NONE of their business. I had her as a sophomore, but I saw that even as a senior she was getting written up by other teachers. Perhaps because she was an only child her parents didn't want to accept that she could be misbehaving and channelled their engery into blaming others.

Thankfully the whole meeting involved the principal saying, "Yeah, they wanted to make a big deal out of it. But I told them that's crap. Just be careful what you reveal about your life to people because you never know who will try to take advantage of it."

Another time, this is really sad, I had a 12 year old boy say to me, "Goddamnit woman! Bleepity bleep bleep bleep!" when I told him to wait until the Pledge of Allegiance was over to ask me his question. Clearly that's how his dad speaks to his mom because a 12 year old wouldn't just come up with that on his own. This boy was such a terror that the in-school suspension lady said that she would quit if he was sent to her any more times. But then the mother complained that his terrible outburst was my fault because we had a "personality conflict" and that he was a perfect angel in all other classes. It was frustrating, but I tempered that with my sadness for this mother who must have had a horrible home life and was trying to defend her son for acting the terrible way her husband probably did. She may even have come to believe that it was her fault when she was spoken to that way, so it might follow that it was mine as well.

 

[portoar]

Frankly, I think there are a lot more important things to get upset about.