Shhh
don't even speak her name
Posted on 01/23/2006 1:04:06 PM PST by Rutles4Ever
An ethnic studies high-school teacher and die-hard Steelers fan in Pittsburgh has "humiliated" one of his students who wore a Denver Broncos jersey to class, making the boy sit on the floor and having his classmates pelt him with paper.
According to a report in the Denver Post, Joshua Vannoy, 17, showed up for his midterm test sporting a John Elway No. 7 Broncos jersey. Not only did his teacher at Beaver Falls High School, John Kelly, make him take the test while sitting on the floor, he had the teen sit in a circle of desks and told others in the class – under threat of losing points on the exam – to throw paper wads at him.
"I was humiliated and shaking. I couldn't finish my test," Vannoy told the paper.
Kelly defended his actions, saying he had warned students not to wear a team jersey other than the Steelers to class. The teacher claims he was "just messing around" with the boy.
According to the Post, Vannoy claimed Kelly grabbed him by the neck of his jersey when he tried to sit in his chair and told him he would give him a zero on the exam if he didn't sit on the floor. Kelly told the 12 other students that part of their midterm was that they had to throw paper at "the stinking Denver fan" – or lose points.
"Some threw the paper at me, some threw it at the ground," Vannoy is quoted as saying.
Kelly claimed he didn't threaten Vannoy's grade or grab his shirt, adding, "When you are joking and everyone's laughing, it's obvious. … It was silly fun. I can't believe he was upset."
The teacher claims he took similar action when a ninth-grade student recently showed up in class wearing a Peyton Manning Indianapolis Colts shirt.
Principal Thomas Karczewski was scheduled to talk to Kelly about the incident today, the Post reported.
Vannoy's mother, Virginia, wants her son to be allowed to retake the midterm exam.
I was at summer camp one year, and told some jokes about the college football team during assembly; I knew what I was doing. A bunch of councilors picked me up and threw me into the river; I stood a much greater chance of being physically injured, plus I was a fourteen year old girl at the time. Yet, I crawled back to shore laughing, and he runs home crying to Mommy. He knew the teacher had done this before, he wanted to instigate something but couldn't deal with it once it was started.
"What would you have done in the same situation?"
That's easy. I was a kid in high school who didn't take a lot of crap from teachers. When the teacher told me I had to take the test on the floor, I'd have asked him if he'd like to discuss it with the Principal. Then I'd have taken my seat in my normal place. End of story.
If you have kids in school, teach them that a teacher is never allowed to humiliate them in any way, and that they can stand up to the teacher, if necessary, and that you'll back them up.
Wearing a football jersey that isn't the one the teacher likes does not give a teacher any right to humiliate you in front of the class. In fact, I'm not sure what would give a teacher that right.
Well, at least they didn't call him pudgy pony boy. Now THAT would have been cruel. True. But cruel.
Funny thing is, they were both generating quite a bit of conservative issue discussion.
LOL
This was a mid-term exam. For this dopey teacher to pull a stunt like this when a student is taking an important test shows how immature the teacher is.
The principal should read the riot act to this clown and threaten him with suspension/firing if he pulls it again.
"Harmless fun?" A teacher, a supposed adult, in a classroom where he is supposed to be teaching, decides to humiliate a student (well actually two students) because he(they) differ with his opinion about a freakin football game and you don't see anything wrong with that? Well hey the kid is chubby so that makes it all right doesn't it? How would you feel if your son or daughter wore a Bush/Cheney T shirt to class and got the same treatment by some DU teacher? Would that be funny? I can't believe the comments I am reading about this story.
I am a huge sports fan and enjoy a heated discussion either in person or on a number of forums I am members of about whose team is best, but this was a classroom where kids are supposed to being educated and not being made fun of because of their opinions. The kid was taking a midterm and instead of thinking about his test he was sitting on the floor having stuff thrown at him, a real conducive atmosphere for doing well don't you think? This guy is an immature jerk of the first order and I have real doubts about his competency as a teacher.
I get the impression from all of the upset parents that it was rash on the teacher's part to make a rule, however silly, expect it to be followed, and then exact punishment when it was not.
Sounds bad written down--I agree.
More indoctrination.
If a high school kid (this isn't a grade schooler) is going to wear his NFL allegiance on his sleeve, he should expect some ribbing. Being upset about it (or hurt) is one thing; and of they left it between the kid and the school, fine whatever. But this kid went public with it so he could earn sympathy and maybe his parents could score a lawsuit, so it's fair game to call his reaction "weak".
That's certinly a possibility. It does not, however, change the fact that the teacher doesn't have the right to humiliate the kid over a freakin' shirt, or to involve other students in said humiliation.
And people still wonder how things like Columbine happen.
From his fellow students, sure, but not from the teachers. We should demand a higher level of professionalism from teachers.
If this had occurred to me as a 17 year old, I know it would have ended in the principles office.
RAIDERS !!!!!!!!!
The teacher claims he took similar action when a ninth-grade student recently showed up in class wearing a Peyton Manning Indianapolis Colts shirt.
The teacher sounds like a typical coward who uses his position to bully underlings.
You can bet he wouldn't be pulling this crap if he were teaching in LA and a bunch of baby bangers walked into his classroom wearing Raider jerseys.
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