Teacher watched video with H.S. students [Suspended for Nick Berg beheading video]

Channel 14 News ^ | 5/20/2004 | Associated Press

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Actually, he did not "show" this video. He let the few who wanted to see it do so.

The facts don't matter here. What part of DON'T MATTER do you NOT understand? (/sarcasm)

[NCSteve]

Tax-chick,

You might have a point if it was an organized school activity or if the students were a captive audience. However, this was a teacher and a couple of students watching it in a very casual setting.

TR has made the salient point. These kids are probably draft age or right before it. Mommy and Daddy can't shield their eyes from the bad old world much longer.

[familyop]

I wrote:
"All teachers who knowingly allowed students to watch that video should be fired!"

MeneMeneTekelUpharsin:
Big mouth. Come and tell me that to my face. You don't have the nerve.

ROFL! I've had enough nerve to do things that none of the ingrate kind of pub-ed teachers would do.

[familyop]

MeneMeneTekelUpharsin:
"So, which school officials answer to YOU? Who made you judge, jury and executioner? WILL BE fired? Now, that's interesting. Which school board member's spouse are YOU sleeping with?"

I'm a parent. And no, I don't use pub. ed. tactics to do what needs to be done. And who said, in so many words, that pub. ed. teachers shouldn't answer to parents? It's good and easy to see the few bad pub. ed. teachers leave a district. ...even easier to see bad ones go from private schools. As for threats from them, those occasions are hilarious!

[cyncooper]

On Tuesday, one of Hodges' students came in before class started, entered search information onto Hodges' computer and brought up the video, Superintendent Bill Church said. Hodges, the student, and five or six other students all viewed the video, Church said."

Are you asking if Hodges should be held responsible for the student's actions?

He's responsible for HIS computer. Obviously he supervised the kid doing the search.

[cyncooper]

If the students are kept ignorant, they won't know how serious the fight against fanatic islamites really is.

I've personnally chosen not to view it, as I can imagine vividly enough on my own.

I have chosen not to view it myself. I therefore object to a teacher supervising the viewing for H.S. students who are not adults making their own decisions. I have no problem with the students seeing it, but parental permission should have been obtained first. IMO

I don't think the suspension of two days is harsh. It was a poor judgement call and some type of consequence was called for.

[cyncooper]

Where did it say that?

Did it say discussion of the Berg beheading was banned? Obviously it was not.

Get a grip.

[Tax-chick]

I see that it wasn't a class activity, but rather something initiated by the students. I suppose if they were prone to nightmares, they wouldn't have wanted to watch the video ... certainly it's not something that's been shown around here - I still have dreams about Vietnam!

However, I still think that, irrespective of the ages of the students, there's still the issue of circumventing the authority of parents. Parents have the right to make decisions, even over-protective decisions, that effect the children for whom they are legally and morally responsible.

Maybe the parents in this situation don't have a problem. Even if they complained, I would think "Whoops, sorry about that!" would cover it. Suspension is absurd.

[colorado tanker]

The essence of poking fun at the opposition, as Rush has to explain repeatedly, is exaggeration. Grip, grip, grip, grip.

[cyncooper]

And as Rush also says, having a basis in fact...

[heleny]

Hodges recently told his class that he could not find the Web site carrying the video of the beheading, a school official said.
...
one of Hodges' students came in before class started, entered search information onto Hodges' computer and brought up the video, Superintendent Bill Church said. Hodges, the student, and five or six other students all viewed the video, Church said.
...
"The kids who did see it were those who chose to stand there and watch," he said. "It was not a captive audience.

Until I heard the audio and graphic descriptions on the radio, I had no idea that the slow tortured murder wasn't a swift guillotine-type execution. After all, the TV news media didn't give any descriptions.

I wonder how much Hodges knew about the video before he watched it with the students, since that was his first viewing. Maybe he was as unaware as I was about the disturbing nature of the video.

If these students had watched the video on the school library computers, would the librarian have been suspended? Decency filters might not filter out this video.

If he had known the nature of the video and had shown it to the entire class without first notifying parents and allowing the kids to excuse themselves, then maybe he should be suspended for a while, since the content could be classified as at least "R" if it were a movie.

But, what if he had known the content and had chosen to play only the chilling audio to the class? Or, what about a detailed description of the murder? After all, high school kids read all sorts of literature for English classes without parental permission. My high school auto safety teacher showed many graphic videos to illustrate the dangerous results of crashes.

[heleny]

In this case, since the few students chose to watch the video outside of class time but with supervision from a teacher, I think the teacher shouldn't have been suspended.

[TaxRelief]

As a homeschool parent, you realize that the only way to keep control of everything children are exposed to is to keep them at home.

When parents choose to send their children to public school, they are choosing to expose their kids to sex, anti-American brainwashing, anti-Christian brainwashing, antisemitism, drugs, bullying and everything else that exists in the world.

In other words, when the parents opt for public school, they sign a defacto contract that entrusts their children to a group of civil servants who have no power to control the situation within the classroom.

(Then these parents expect the poor teachers to perform at a level higher than their abilities, despite the fact that they are constantly bombarded with threats from control-freak parents.)

[TaxRelief]

Until I heard the audio and graphic descriptions on the radio, I had no idea that the slow tortured murder wasn't a swift guillotine-type execution.

That is exactly the point. The reality, in this case, is far worse than the mainstream media would have you believe.

I have asked people if they've seen the video or the photos and most people have not. They do not seem to know that it was not a swift guillotine-like beheading.

This evening, at my instigation, a soccer mom earnestly shared with me that she'd "much rather get her head cut off like Nick Berg", than "suffer the atrocities" to which the POW's at Abu Ghraib are being subjected.

(She changed her mind after I--who had already been wound up by this thread--gave her the blow-by-blow account of Nick Berg's final hour.)

[PleaseNoMore]

I am beginning to think that our county has the most easy going schools/teachers around. My son is a senior here at Pinecrest High in Southern Pines. While they didn't watch it, his teacher, also the mayor of Aberdeen and mother of my own childhood friend, discussed it with her class. She allowed each student, including my son, to be very graphic. What is with some of these school administrators??

[Tax-chick]

Good points. I wasn't thinking the situation through. Instead, I was reacting as I would if my children were involved in a situation that turned out to be totally different from what we expected.

It's not as if my children aren't aware of Islamic fundamentalist violence ... all the ones who can read, read the Voice of the Martyrs newsletter, and the ones who can't read look at the pictures! They've become very conscious of the persecution of Christians around the world.

[CMAC51]

LOL! Look at what you're saying in sarcasm. FYI, we defeated Hitler and the followers of Stalin with the goodness we learned from our Greatest Generation.

Yes, we defeated Hitler, but not Stalin or Pol Pot, so that's two out of three for the bad guys. So what was the problem, we didn't have enough goodness? Were we "evil" while Pol Pot was slaughtering millions? While he was President, Jimmy Carter was a good man, but he got his butt kicked continually. On the other hand, Reagan took down the Soviet Union. Was that because Reagen had more goodness than Carter? I do believe that the United States is a morally just nation, but that in itself does not mean we will prevail. We must have the determination and the will to face our enemies and defeat them. That doesn't happen by sprinkling "Goodness Dust".

[CMAC51]

Okay, have it your way, "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil."

[nerdgirl]

Your posts have been very good. To those who disagree with allowing teenagers to see real videos of atrocities like this - what exactly do you think it's like for teens in places like Israel? Do you think parents can selectively choose when & where to educate their kids about violence even when it's hitting us here in our homeland like on 9/11?

Perhaps Nick Berg's life would have taken a different turn if his parents hadn't presented him with a view of the world through such a rosy & unrealistic lense.

I'm not saying kids should be forced to watch disgusting videos of murder just to show them that violence exists - but this beheading was a world event, and is very pertinent to understanding why our country is at war. And as it was pointed out earlier on this thread, teenagers are only a few years from enlistment age.