No, no. Cloak it in TV trivia. Call him Sir Ferret Face.
Posted on 06/14/2007 8:18:08 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
INDIANAPOLIS -- Sixth-grader Matt Porter didn't enjoy getting "Most Likely Not To Have Children" and "Sir Clowns-a-Lot" awards from two teachers at his school.
His parents aren't pleased, either.
Matt said he received the awards in front of classmates during a ceremony at the Decatur Intermediate Learning Center at the end of the recently finished school year. His mother and his stepfather have asked the Decatur Township school system to reprimand the teachers, and they want an apology.
"Words cut deeper than any knife could. They hurt," said his stepfather, Joseph Sims. "When you hurt a child like that, you not only hurt him mentally, but it does hurt physically because you withdraw within yourself. That is what Matthew has done."
The certificates were signed by the teachers who distributed them. Matt recalled what the ceremony was like.
"I was standing in the middle of (the two teachers), and they (were) reading them off," he said. "Everyone was laughing."
Matt felt humiliated.
"They (were) putting us down and everything," he said. "That is not what their job is for, to put kids down. They are supposed to teach us."
Amy Sims, Matt's mother, said she met with a school official over the matter but was not satisfied with the response.
"She just told me that the teachers would call and apologize to him, and we've not heard anything at all," Amy Sims said.
Gary Pellico, spokesman for the school system, declined to say whether the teachers have been disciplined. He said system officials regret the incident.
"We don't feel like it was an appropriate awards ceremony at all," Pellico said. "It wasn't part of the school's award ceremony, and it will not happen again."
Amy Sims said her son needs counseling because of the awards. The school has offered it, but an agreement on who will provide it has not been reached, Thomas reported.
Sounds like the kid was disruptive—a class clown.
I don’t get the “not having kids” part, though.
I actually read it as the teacher was proclaiming the student was too homely, too ugly, or (I guess with the number of molesting teachers these days) wasn’t equipped well enough. Maybe they were making fun of how the girls in his class avoided him like the plague.
Honestly, I never would have (and still don’t) see “not being able to sit still long enough or have a long enough attention span to ever get married” as a viable interpretation for the award.
But regardless of their intent, these (college-educated, I hope) teachers should have forseen how “Most Likely Not To Have Children” could have been interpreted.
(Note: I am not condoning the victimhood claims of the kid’s mother and stepfather, but the “teachers” should in no way be absolved of this stupid incident.)
“And sometimes by treating them that way makes them more prone to it.”
Maybe, but I doubt it.
“The kid is 10.”
So?
That teachers find these rewards acceptable, I'll never understand...that some freepers are giving a green light to said teachers is beyond the pale. Two wasted hours of class time, first of all...and what have the kids learned?
"It's okay to pick on one another."
I wonder--is that Language Arts or Mathematics?
What exactly are these teachers being paid to do???
For the teachers who have to put up with difficult kids all year, here's a solution: First day of summer vacation, get together and make fun of those kids among your fellow teachers. When you're done with that, rethink your career choice.
My son can’t hear the announcements in the morning because of other kids talking.
He doesn’t have great hearing.
I thought my son was going to be supervised in an afterschool homework center. I had scheduled to pick him up an hour after school was closed.
Thank God, he had a cell phone and I could immediately pick him up. Usually, that wouldn’t be the case.
I think that does require a notice home to the parents.
I also know in my daughters’ private school, they would send an e-mail to the parents and send home a notice about their homework center being closed. Of course, that school has better communication skills in general.
I am going by the parents going to the media/MSM and advertising this all over the world—they are playing up the ‘victim’ aspect—yes, I would like to hear all sides. If it turns out like I postulated a few posts ago, the teacher/s are whacked out moonbats, I’ll side with the parents. If it turns out my suppositions are true based on my personal experiences as a teacher, then I’ll stand on my posts. The parents are equally responsible for their child’s behavior and misbehavior.
As far as insulting me with ‘righteous indignation’, may I have your teaching credentials too, please? Thanks. I’m finding the bigotry against ALL teachers here at FR a bit disgusting, frankly.
I’ve and any other teacher has been in the situation you speak of, however we are the adults and the professionals in this scenario and should not to bow to our inner feeling and rise above such retaliatory action. I’ve never gained anything positive by humiliating a child.
“I don’t get the “not having kids” part, though.”
Well, that’s what is missing in this story. What exactly would qualify you for that award? Maybe, like a lot of kids his age, he did the standard “girls are icky and have cooties” thing... but all the time.
Who knows?
Info not provided by article.
Until, years later, the child who was bullied goes on a rampage somewhere and kills anyone in bullet range.
That Korean, whose name I have thankfully forgotten, who just tore up the VaTech campus...I bet there are a lot of folks out there, young men and women that went to junior high and high school with him, who are doing a lot of "Maybe I shouldn't have..."
Let's give them an award.
It’s the end of the school year. There’s lots of free time to be had, or don’t you remember? Teachers plan field days, award ceremonies (some official, like Honor Roll, etc.) and some silly, just on the grade level, which is what this sounds like it was. It’s not like these awards were handed out every single day of the school year!
“He doesn’t have great hearing.”
If that’s why, and he tests hard of hearing, then this might be an ADA case.
Mention that to the school, and their tune might change.
I agree, and have said so in previous posts. My objection is the vilifying of teachers for SIMPLY BEING TEACHERS. That’s not right. Despite what liberals have done to the profession overall, there are many, many honorable people out there doing their best with our children. I don’t think it’s fair to condemn them all.
Maybe his bicycle has no seat?
Humilation by a teacher in front of their peers for something not punishment is cruel.
If it was my kid, there'd be one sorry teacher.
The MSM leaving out pertinent pieces of information in a news story?!?! Say it isn’t so!!! ;-)
“The MSM leaving out pertinent pieces of information in a news story?!?! Say it isn’t so!!! ;-)”
I know. I feel like it’s almost as if this has happened before.
One side of my family are all teachers, mostly retired. I'm trying to get my oldest daughter to homeschool, but it doesn't seem they will.
“Maybe his bicycle has no seat?”
It’s a banana seat.
My daughter has brain damage, and we had to pull her out of the public school because they wouldn’t do anything to help her even though she qualified for all kinds of help.
My son is not legally anything, so they are useless. He is just not an auditory learner. I’m sure it would fall below average if they tested him. I know that I always have him repeat things that I tell him to do to make sure he hears me.
I also know that being in a noisy room and trying to hear anything is even worse for kids like him.
I also know that you never want to rely on 1 form of communication. You tell kids, and then you show them. You also need to communicate important information to the parents.
All the school had to do was put the media center closure on the school website calendar.
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