Student Suspended Over Call to Mom in Iraq

[Alaska Darin]

Like the kid wouldn't lie to cover his arse either?  That doesn't happen.

 

The question is?  How the heck did this hit the media?

 

You asked me about my questionable use of quotation marks?

 

You wrote:

Later, head down to the local library and pick up a book on punctuation.  Review the chapter  on proper use of question marks.  Damn.

 

331320[/snapback]

I didn't see any quotes attributed to the kid, so as usual it seems you have no relevant counterpoint within your argument.

 

My question about "QUOTATION MARKS" comes from your previous response. I have no idea wtf YOUR statement about "QUOTATION MARKS" within THAT post had to do with anything. I'm fully aware of MY statement on 'QUESTION MARKS" (which is still relevant, obviously, as you have at least 2 too many in the post I'm currently responding to). Apparently your reading comprehension is about as good as the rest of your cognitive abilities.

 

You buy your underwear at KMart in Cincinnati, Ohio, Raymond?

[ExiledInIllinois]

I didn't see any quotes attributed to the kid, so as usual it seems you have no relevant counterpoint within your argument.

 

My question about "QUOTATION MARKS" comes from your previous response.  I have no idea wtf YOUR statement about "QUOTATION MARKS" withing THAT post had to do with anything.  I'm fully aware of MY statement on 'QUESTION MARKS" (which is still relevant, obviously, as you have at least 2 too many in the post I'm currently responding to).  Apparently your reading comprehension is about as good as the rest of your cognitive abilities. 

 

You buy your underwear at KMart in Cincinnati, Ohio, Raymond?

331325[/snapback]

 

I guess we are just failing to communicate today "RainMan?"

 

I understand your POV as an ex-military guy giving the kid the benefit of the doubt.

 

I also see your POV and distain for the educational system.

 

I am SORRY that I trust authority more...

 

But, keep on waging the everybody is incompetent shtick...

 

You know how much I like the last word? I will give it to you. Carry on...

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

If I am a teacher and the kids says something like:'May I please take this call?It's my mom in Iraq' I would let the kid talk for as long as he wanted.However,if the kid says something to the effect of 'F you,you m f'er',then it's a different story. I can venture a pretty good guess as to what went down in this particular situation.

Teachers don't have any real authority in the classroom anymore.Talking loudly in class complete with 'f bombs' is the norm in a lot of schools.

I'm of the 'spare the rod and spoil the child' school myself. A lot of these kids needed a good,swift whack on the ass when they got out of line during their developmental years.Unfortunately,a lot of baby boomers drank too much of the Dr. Spock kool-aid and are strictly enablers as parents.Disipline and respect have become lost concepts. We reap what we sew.......

331355[/snapback]

 

Exactly!

 

As so eloquently AD pointed out I DID NOT HEAR the kid's take on it. I am probably guessing it went down something like you said and they are trying to "push the issue"... Maybe not?

 

Like I said before, if he made a point to be respectful and a valid gesture knowing it was against the rules... I take, the teacher wouldn't have came down hard if the student didn't go off?

 

I have to trust the authority figures here... Not doing so, only compounds the situation and undermines things further.

 

The burden should be on the student.

 

Unfortunately the media (whoever exposed it) wants the burden to fall on the school? Politically motivated? I don't know? But, it undermines a lot.

[ExiledInIllinois]

When I said burden... I meant both the student and parent. I know it is hard sometimes to call if you are in the military.

 

What I am saying is if I was the parent... I would have accepted full responsibility for this foul-up... It would have been honorable for the kid to oblige the rules too.

 

Just as in a traffic stop... You are not going to argue with the officer.

 

Be respectful, polite and accept the ticket... You can fight it later with your day in court.

 

You will not win on somebody else's turf... Especially, if it gets heated... You will just find yourself in MORE hot water.

 

That is what we should be teaching our kids... MODERATION.

[Corp000085]

As a teacher, 10 days is perfectly fair for using his cell phone in school and for being defiant. All the article says is that he used profanity and was defiant. If he dropped an F-bomb, disrupted classes, made verbal or physical threats, 10 days is more than warrented. Charges weren't filed, so i'd say this kid is lucky. With that being said, its unfortunate that he didn't give his teachers prior warning that his cell phone was his mother's way of reaching him from the war, or that he didn't say it was his mom. It's just very unfortunate that the school was made to look bad because of the article, but it did what it had to do. The kid should have been a little more understanding to the situation and either given prior warning about his cell phone (i'm sure the school would have bent the rules for his case) and shouldn't have gone off the handle.

 

If you don't work in a school setting, i find it hard but not impossible for you to understand the meaning of a threat, or a potential violent situation. The school looks like the bad guy here, but they did the right thing for the other x - 1 students and faculty. Crappy situation all around.

[Fezmid]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/07/ph...iraq/index.html

[Alaska Darin]

What we have here is a failure to communicate (both on the teacher, student, and in this thread).

 

I have a really hard time with suspending a kid for something like this. I don't think getting a two week vacation has much effect (especially on classmates, who may want some time off). Whatever happened to in-school suspensions?

 

I'm as much or more of a "smack your fuggin' kid" advocate than any of you are. In fact, I think most adults should also be allowed to smack your kid when they're out of line.

 

BTW, my wife is a teacher and I do alot of things with her kids. So the whole "you don't work at a school" thing doesn't hold much water. In fact, that very attitude is the reason kids have all the power today (which is sad).

[JAMIEBUF12]

He usd profanity...thats !@#$in bull sh-- so !@#$ him...he deserves everything he !@#$in gets!!!!!!!

331272[/snapback]

if it was me i wouyld have told the teacher and the principal to go fug themselves !

[Corp000085]

What we have here is a failure to communicate (both on the teacher, student, and in this thread).

 

I have a really hard time with suspending a kid for something like this.  I don't think getting a two week vacation has much effect (especially on classmates, who may want some time off).  Whatever happened to in-school suspensions?

 

I'm as much or more of a "smack your fuggin' kid" advocate than any of you are.  In fact, I think most adults should also be allowed to smack your kid when they're out of line.

 

BTW, my wife is a teacher and I do alot of things with her kids.  So the whole "you don't work at a school" thing doesn't hold much water.  In fact, that very attitude is the reason kids have all the power today (which is sad).

331435[/snapback]

 

 

The article does not say how violent the kid got. 10 days could be a very reasonable suspension, plus who knows what kind of prior discipline this kid has faced. All i'm saying is that this is bad for all parties.

[UConn James]

As for the timing of the mother's call, I understand her situation.  You obviously don't - but don't let that stop you from being an overwhelming douche bag.  Calling at midnight in a combat zone?  Hmmm.  Wonder is she was doing that because there was actually a line available for "UNOFFICIAL" business - since communications are obviously at a premium in such areas.  Ah, common sense is so very uncommon.

331319[/snapback]

 

Soldiers, veterans, and their offspring should be given free reign to tailgate, pass on the right while going 90 mph, and flip the bird to the offending driver doing the speed limit. They should never have to wait in the checkout line at the supermarket; there should be a special rule where they can cut in front of 20 carts and then when the cashier is done, and tell her they're going to slap her and that she can go Eff herself.

 

It sucks when you miss out on a call from a loved one fighting overseas. I know from experience. Doesn't give anyone the right to be above the rules and it certainly doesn’t give him the right to cuss people out or be physically threatening. I didn't really agree with the original 10 days either, which seemed a little harsh. But he is at fault here for not at least explaining the situation so he would likely get a special dispensation from the person in charge. But no, only, "I'm 17 years old, and I'll do what I want to do." Compelling argument there, junior!

[MartyBall4Buffalo]

I'm a staunch believer in Family comes first, and everything else is 2nd. I support the kids refusal to hang up the phone, especially seeing how his mother is in iraq and who knows how many more times he will be able to talk to her. With that said if he was disruptive and rude I also support the schools decision for punishment on the grounds of his behaivor, however if I was that kid, whatever punishment is handed out is well worth it, to be able to talk to my parents when I don't know how more opportunities I would have to do so.

[Adam]

I think both parties could have handled the situation alot better.

331288[/snapback]

 

That makes more sense than anything else I've read so far. He is not completely innocent either.

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgere...er/11586470.htm

 

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgere...er/11575912.htm

 

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgere...er/11586342.htm

 

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgere...er/11586469.htm

 

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgere...er/11586471.htm

[Tux of Borg]

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgere...er/11586470.htm

 

Francois said he told the teacher, "This is my mom in Iraq. I'm not about to hang up on my mom."

 

Francois said the teacher tried to take the phone, causing it to hang up.

 

 

This story just keeps getting better and better.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I think it keeps getting better and betterbecause it has degraded into an argument over principles, so at best the actual occurences are being presented in a way that support a particular principle or at worst thye facts are being manufactured by an individual trying to support a particular principle.

 

In general, I think my principle is to not take what a bureaucrat or what a kid says is the gospel truth in terms of the actual events.

 

After reading the back and forth between AD and Exiled, it seems to me that the situation is in the same place roughly I originally saw it with not much more than fine tuning adjustments as additional factoids become clear:

 

1. The kid seems to have violated a zero tolerance policy (zt is a silly political thang which our society has adopted to try politically to show toughness but as always tolerance is generally set by the golden rule- he who has the most gold rules) byusing his cellphone during school hours. Further, there are accusations shockingly that this juvenile acted like a juvenile and cursed (this us understandable but not condonable).

 

2. The school execised ita in loco parentis authority and dinged the kid, but due to the mitigating circumstance that he did not initiate the cell phone use and the call came from his Mom who is a trooper in a world away timezone, the punishment was reduced to time served which at worse means he gets to go right back to school with no lost time.

 

I see no problem with the outcome, though clearly the details could have been handled far more artfully by a child if he did not act like a child and by those acting in place of his parents if they had actually been his parents and given him the benefit of the doubt which unconditional love brings.

 

I see little argument here in this tempest in a teapot unless folks choose to dance on the head of pin looking for details they disagree about and pretent to portray these details as the whole story of one sides motivations.

 

Both the kid deserves to be cut some slack for acting like a kid and the school needs to be cut some slack for doing the sometimes impossible job of acting in the place of parents when you are not the parent.

[PTS]

If the person was abiding by the school rules, shouldn't his phone have been turned off?

 

Why would it be on if it can't be used?

 

Knowing her kid was in school?... Why would the mother call at this time?  Unless, it was an emergency?

 

Time zone issues?  Why not leave a voice mail?

 

I am not necessarily taking sides here... But, her son's schooling and education should have taken top priority UNLESS IT WAS AN EMERGENCY.

 

It is all about ME nowadays?

 

Kinda like the "10-10 Rule"... Would you dream of calling your kid in school to chat... EVEN IF YOU ARE IN A WARZONE?

 

 

331287[/snapback]

 

What a TOOL you are. His mother is in the most dangerous place in the world where she might die at any moment, and when she gets a chance to call her son, she's not supposed to cause he's in school? Sorry, but terrorist don't stop blowing themselves up for phone calls. The kid probably had his cell phone on him all the time because he didn't know when his mom would call. :I starred in Brokeback Mountain: to the teacher and school.

[CarolinaBill99]

Man...I never realized how many people dislike teachers and schools in this country. Some of you people who crap on schools and teachers are the same enabling parents who are raising a generation of whiny, loser kids. If a student told me to f**k off in front of other students, I would have him suspended too.

What if he was at work and told his boss the same when his Mom was calling from Iraq. They would have fired his butt in a minute. 17 year olds should know how to handle the situation better and not disrespect teachers or administrators.

[EndZoneCrew]

if it was me i wouyld have told the teacher and the principal to go fug themselves !

331457[/snapback]

 

nice attitude

[ExiledInIllinois]

I am not try add gas to the flames. It really SHOULD have been handled better by BOTH parties.

 

FFS... You add such great insight.

 

Mr.Clutch... All I can say is read my posts. You glean one of my earlier posts in the dicussion. Notice my progression and the general softening of my stance and move towards the middle as all sides get a chance to add to the discussion.

 

The kid is 17 and will act like 17. When thinking about this age certain stories come to mind. I am reminded of my older brother at this age and how he would lie to no ends to keep his story straight. Kids at this age are infallable, they see no end... can do no wrong to achieve thier goal? One of the poster's here had such a story about breaking a neighbor's window and lying to no ends to corrobarate his story. It happens, I am not saying it doesn't happen with adults either.

 

Where is the happy medium? Years ago, if you got beat in school and came home to complain... It was immediately thought to be your fault. Today, a teacher looks cross and the parent will defend their kid to the end.

 

I believe in unconditional love. But, with unconditional love comes the ability to accept when your kid is wrong and have them be accountable for their action... This has got to be the toughest part... It is much easier to defend their choices to the end.

 

In the end, with time served... Things seem to have ended correctly.

 

Peace

[dib]

I says that he got a call from her during lunch time.  That's not necessarily considered "during school hours" is it??

331263[/snapback]

 

Yes it is. The phone shouldnt have even been on. Mom (as an adult should be able to figure out the time defference) should not have called. Said student should not abuse authority by opening up his potty mouth.