School District Wants To Expel Student Over His Blog
from the high-school-big-brother dept
While one school district in Illinois is asking kids to sign a "pledge" that will give the district the right to discipline them for anything they put online, regardless of whether it's done using school resources or not, another district in the state is going a step further. It wants to expel a student (via Slashdot) because of blog posts he made that are critical of his school's administration, his attorney says. The student was already suspended after writing a post that criticized the way another student had been disciplined, and now alleges school officials are trying to bully him into taking his posts down. The school contends it has the right to punish students for speech that "creates a disturbance to the educational environment", and of course, only it gets to determine what constitutes a disturbance. But whatever the school district believes it can do, courts have made it pretty clear that schools have very limited rights to regulate students' off-campus speech and expression -- and it's hard to see exactly how any of the very narrow exceptions could apply in this case. It sounds more like the school's administrators are trying to put a chill on any student who dares question them, which, last time we checked, wasn't a right on par with those guaranteed to the student by the First Amendment.
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Sign of the times..
Sorry, teachers, you'll just have to start earning your salaries like the rest of us.
(Ok, ok, unfair generalization, but there are far more mediocre and worse teachers still in circulation than there ought to be)
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Re: Sign of the times..
There are plenty of teachers that should be in a different line of work. Just go to McDonalds or any other fast food chain outlet and you will see the students of the incompetent teachers. They can't even give change unless the computer tells them how much change to give. Pretty soon the computer will have to tell them what denomination of coins and how many of each to give as change.
Why not just use a change dispenser, oh, excuse me,,, Super America already does!!
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Re: Sign of the times..
Sorry dude but you're perspective is way off - maybe if teachers got a little respect from the community and started earning salaries that were worth as much as the rest of us we might find far less mediocre teachers. Fact is, we have mediocre teachers because we pay them mediocre salaries. Very few people go into professions that pay terrible wages and are willing to be treated like crap for cheap simply because they, "love what they do." That all by itself demands serious respect for what they put up with.
We need to pay our teachers a respectable salary before we can piss on them for being mediocre. The public needs to WTFU when it comes to our educational system and quit complaining that their children aren't getting a decent education. It's the damn public that keeps cutting the budgets!
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Re: Re: Sign of the times..
Maybe that is the fact where you live, but not here on long island. We have teachers in my district making six figures...not to mention the administators (our superintendent makes a quarter of a million dollars!).
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Re: Re: Sign of the times..
Even many 3rd world nations offer better education to their than the public education system here. ALL top educating nations utilize a privatized education system, does anyone get this. The best schools make the most money, pay the highest wages to teachers and the children win...
What we need to do is to disband the unions, pay teachers based on merit, get rid of the teachers that shouldn't be [and there are lots of them], quit passing students unless they make the grade and get the get control over the school districts and their budgets. School officials should never make more than the average salary in their district. Six figure salaries for doing just a little more than nothing doesn't sit well with me. My hard-earned tax dollars should be going to educating future generations, not lining pockets in silk suits.
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Re: Re: Sign of the times..
I know it can be a thankless job. Teachers and good parents are the future of our society. I agree they should be paid more, but they should also have to have higher standards. Make the new teacher standards higher and the saleries will follow. "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."
I love my sister but I wouldn't want her teaching my children. Over lunch a few weeks back she explained to me that she now finally understands the math she is teaching, only after she had to explain it to her students. Sorry but how did she receive her credentials without this knowledge prior to teaching?
Saleries are only currently so low because competition is so high for the jobs. They'll let just about anybody teach these days. Higher standards is the way to get better teachers. But hey, we don't have money to spend on our future, we have countries to take over today.
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Failure to understand + fear of possibilities = future of US
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Freee Speech anyone?
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Freee Speech anyone?
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"little bobby says that i am a horrible math teacher, but little bobby is just upset because he has a low IQ and his dad left his mother, so bobby has trouble at home. it really isn't my fault at all. i think he may have fetail alcohol syndome."
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I don't see it...
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Re:
Read the article the local ACLU has taken a position on the issue, supporting the studetn. When I read through it I didn't see if they were providing his coucil or if it was the families private attorney though.
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So some students are hard to teach, well some projects I get are hard to do.
The last thing you do with an area of low productivity is throw more money at it.
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Re: Results
You can lead a horse to water ...
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Re:
Did one ever think that the SAT might not be a good test and the only thing it tests is how well students do at taking tests?
Yes, there needs to be an educational overhaul. In many southern states (NC & TN with which I have experience) the school systems are sub-par and only cater to those that cannot afford private school to properly educate their children.
As for the topic on-hand: no school should be allowed to sanction what a student does at home or outside of school. Maybe if schools were more receptive they wouldn't be so uptight about what is said about them. What do they have to hide? Do they have something to hide?
Instead of complaining about everything that's wrong with the system, why not buck up and DO something about it. It's great that students can be critical of what's going on around them, but the next step is ACTION. We're fast becoming a nation of complainers and not doers.
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RE: Sign of the times
As a parent and prospective teacher, I think the onus is on the parents first and foremost to ensure their child sees the importance of an education and puts forth the effort to earn one. Yes, the teacher has to be able to create an interesting and effective educational environement, but if the student doesn't care and is just "attending" school, then no amount of effort from the teacher is going to make any difference. Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of this in our society...
Just my two cents...
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From A 2004 Graduate's point of view:
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Stevie hits in on the head
My brother-in-law has stopped teaching after only 4 years out of college. While his reasons are varied his #1 reason for leaving is the school administration has gone out of there way to make teaching (and disciplining) students nearly impossible and the local union officials spend way too much time and energy protecting mediocre if not downright dangerous teachers. His #2 reason is money but it's a distant second and he's taking up a job that pays only marginally better.
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They think they do...
Any and all kids... I recommend all of you not sign anything for the schools. Stand up to them and say no. It's your right !!! If the schools don't want you to access certain sights then they will block them at the school. What you do on your own time is your right. I just hope you use it right. And remember, Free Speech is also your right and parents can sue the schools for trying to take that right away from you.
The other day my daughter had her cell phone taken away by a school principle for calling her mother during lunch. I had to go pick it up and also advised this person that I will and would press criminal charges against them if it ever happened again. They are not police and the child violated no laws and the schools position was nothing more than strong arm theft of personal property.
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Teaching
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Letter to the editor
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Now, while this may not stand for the rest of the country, here is a little observation on one teacher in general. Ill call him Mr. Sinclair for these purposes.
Mr. Sinclair was a new teacher, he started teaching at my highschool during my sophomore year, he was going to be teaching US history and world history, with one Honors US history class. He was a really cool guy, mid thirties, had lots of interesting things to talk about, he had seen a lot of the world, and was a generally optomistic guy. His goal in the classroom, as he told me on the first day I met him, was to get kids "interested", in what they were learning.
Mr. Sinclair had a novel approach at teaching, he pretty much threw the book out the window. He wanted to bring in speakers, take us on trips to local historical spots, have us write stories from our own perspective of events, all kinds of things. Most other history classes in our city basically consisted of you filling out a worksheet after reading a chapter in the book, and taking a test at the end of each unit. All of the questions were usually planinly stated with their answer at the end of the book. Unless you were blind, deaf AND dumb at the same time, it was impossible to fail these classes.
It was an interesting semester. In particular I remember one speaker. A friend of Mr. Sinclairs was a veteran of the Vietnam war. He came and spoke to us not about battles, or dates, or leaders, or any of that crap. he told us about how the people felt. How they felt about the war, about the soldiers, how he was treated, what he saw. I cried. I honestly did. I was never so touched or moved by any story like that. Ill remember that history class and what I learned for the rest of my life.
After just the first year of this class however, it became evident that I was part of the minority. Most of the students actually complained about having to pay so much attention and attend class so often. They woudl rather have the simple worksheets to fill out and pass without trying. This slowly began to wear down Mr. Sinclair.
After three years or so, he had all but given up. Not so many speakers came in anymore. The book was used more than his voice, and the classes more often than not turned into paper grading sessions for Mr. Sinclair while the students made out in the corner, talked about their TV shows, and walked right out of class to go hang out at the coffee shop across the street. I know all this because I stayed on as Mr. Sinclairs TA the year after.
I stopped in at lunchtime to visit Mr. Sinclair the year after I graduated. While I was going there, Mr. Sinclairs room was always full of students, talking with him about his experiences, their experiences, happenings in history, what they thought about great leaders, how civilizations fall, all kinds of things. There was always a good dozen or so students in there at lunchtime, TO LEARN! And they enjoyed it! When I walked in that day, I saw no students. I saw a clean blackboard that obviously hadnt been used all day. Mr. Sinclair himself was sitting at his desk, grading papers, head in hand. I talked with him for a while. It seems that it just wasnt worth going through all that trouble for the extraordinary lesson plans, when none of the students gave a crap. He had finally just thrown the book at them, and was thinking about quitting being a teacher, and going out to travel again.
I saw firsthand, the fall of a would-be great teacher. Was it the money? Well, could have been, but he never complained, he actually enjoyed the money he made he told me at one point, even though it wasnt a gross amount. Was it him? Far from it. I never learned so much from a teacher as i did from him. No. I lay it back at the students, and the society that formed the ideals in their head.
Yes, America has become a lazy, uncaring nation, and it starts with our youth.
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Your story is quite sad, and unfortunately, probably not uncommon. But I think we have to look into why the students felt the way they did about his class. The fact is, we expect far too little from most students, and our educational system bases its curriculums too heavily on facts and rote learning. There is not nearly enough analysis and critical thinking taught in our schools. The students' reactions can probably be ascribed to the fact that they had never had to pay attention or actually think in a class before.
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Well maybe...
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a matter of priorities
It was wrong of the school to punnish the student for anything he writes on his blog that is not libelious or slanderous. If it was not illegal, it does not merrit suspension.
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20 Years later - Public Schools Still Suck!
Kudos to this kid whoever he/she is. Someone better be looking to give you a scholarship to the private high-school of your choice, and get you out of the rat-hole you are stuck in. A free-thinking mind is too beautiful of a thing to simply have burocrats piss away.
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RE: Letter to the editor
Consequently, as someone wrote earlier, the same could be held against a teacher that (unprofessionally) decides to berate his/her students in a public blog. Unless the information is accurate or positive, then it's also held to the same legal standard.
Don't get me wrong -- I think the student has every right to go and and write a blog, but the student also has to be careful of what they write. Factual isnofmation is great -- the teacher gave me an "F" on my test, wore dorky socks to school, or even is having an affair with so-and-so -- those are all ok as long as they're true and can be backed up. EVERYONE should have free speech on their own time, but we're still a society with laws that need to be observed. (Or so we should teach our kids! LOL!!)
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http://www.alpha-school.com
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But honestly, I look forward to getting into the classroom and hopfully being one of those good teachers that can actually interest students in what they're learning and make a good impact on their life. :-) Ok, hokey, right?! LOL!!
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Wow ... where to start.
Now I have no idea what was actually said in this student's blog but if a parent was involved in the kid's life and aware of what was being said would they be supportive or would it have been unacceptable to them as well? Also remember if anything in the blog can be construed as slander than the parents are liable for the student's comments since he/she is still underage. Now the question here is does the blog cross the line? Or rather the lesson here is Parents get and stay involved with your kid's so that the teachers don't have to be the parents of your children and can concentrate on teaching the rest of our children as well!
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We only work 9 months of the year.
Imagine what we would want if we worked 12 months!
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Fuk You!
I say the teachers should pay us, based on the students who fail their classes and turn out to be idiots!
Fuk the teachers. They are lame losers who want to live off of taxpayers!!!
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It's the hard working dude or dudette at McDonalds that deserves the big bucks.
Without the grub, we would all be dead!!!
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overstepping their bounds
I went to a trade school...the major problem was not the teachers but the lack of funds(my electronics shop teacher bought parts for our exercises out of his own pockets and still the budget was cut more the next year)
Another problem i found was the MCAS standardised testing they forced upon the school....it led to teachers teaching to the test
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School administrators aren't educators. They're managers and typically have more responsibility and accountability than teachers. An inept principal or superintendent can do a lot more damage than an inept teacher.
I am neither a teacher nor administrator (but definitely "old school"), and agree that there are plenty of unqualified people in both positions, but the gross generalizations voiced here are mind boggling.
As for salaries, you need to consider the cost of living in or adjacent to the school district. There are plenty of towns on Long Island where average houses in average neighborhoods start at $400K.
As for failures in teaching, well damn, look at some of the responses posted here. Certainly enough to fill a remedial English Comp class.
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Opinion
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First Amendment
CONGRESS shall make no law restricting freedom of speech (is what the amendment says). This has nothing to do with the opinions of school administrators.
However, the administrators in question clearly are not mature enough to deal with their position, and should themselves be threatened with expulsion for their childish acts.
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School Rules
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Teaching is one of those industries that has resisted QC and attracts the best and the worse (teachers reading this are, of course, the former). A broad sweeping statement would be to say that the Ed system is authority-sistic and hopelessly reliant on force instead of inspiration. Worse, it is a political issue with our kids as hostages and trained to be victims.
New Zealand underwent Ed refrom a few years ago and I heard good things from that. It is something to think about...
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