Posted on 04/08/2008 6:57:06 AM PDT by mnehring
Melanie Bowers, 13, and her parents walked into Athens High School Monday afternoon to talk to campus police. They were hoping to get some answers.
"It never should have happened in the first place. The whole assignment was a silly assignment and they should have contacted us immediately after it happened," said J.R. Bowers, Melanie's father.
It was an assignment for history class--to make a protest sign for or against an issue, and Melanie said she chose illegal immigration. Her sign read, "If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration." Somehow, Melanie said the sign got passed around lunch and angered a group of Latino students.
"I didn't know any of these people," she said. One young, she claimed, jumped on her back and he put her in a choke hold. "We have brick walls in the middle school and he slammed my face on the bricks."
Melanie said a group of boys also threatened to rape and kill her. Eventually, the boys let her go and when she went for help, she was ordered back to class, and told she could not call her parents, she said.
"They handled this wrong, you know, they put a child back in danger," said J.R. Bowers. "It was a very racially motivated crime."
Athens ISD gave KLTV 7 a statement, confirming there was a disturbance in the hallway, Friday between two to three students. "We have a camera system in the building," said Louis DeRosa. "We are collecting other information and statements from witnesses and this is all the information we have at this time," he said.
Melanie and her parents said they just hope the right thing is done...and quickly.
"I won't be happy until the kids that did this are out of school," Bowers said.
I don't know, TLI. I don't think they're stupid at all. You and I might expect this type of behavior to backfire on them. We might expect protesting and waving the Mexican flag to hurt their movement. But, it doesn't seem to be hurting it at all. It's even playing in their favor. They know the gullible Americans will make excuses for this type of behavior and continue to defend and enable illegal immigration.
There is NO possible why that a person with an IQ of 95 could possibly be an engineer. Ditto for a physician with an IQ of only 105. Utterly and completely impossible!
I notice that they give the **upper** range for electrical engineers as about 125. Are they kidding? 125 would be the rock bottom MINIMUM needed for success in an electrical engineering program.
Absolutely!
Can you imagine the terror that girl was feeling?
I hope her parents have the good sense never to send her back.
Pandy, one of my friends right here in our state removed her daughter after she was assaulted in middle school. This story reminds me of their story: the daughter was around the same age; the school wanted to cover it up; and she was assaulted in a similar way - her head was slammed against something over and over. (The boy’s reason: “I just felt like it.”)
I guess you didn’t make enough concessions to his position to appease him. Your points are very rational, as were mine, but they didn’t make a dent. Someone who is unwilling to engage in honest discussion or debate isn’t deciding much of anything except to exclude themselves from the process. It is also highly doubtful that anyone could read all that uncalled for vitriol and be convinced that he has a point to make. Don’t sweat the hand wavers.
I have been having medical issues & thats why Sassy is still in school. Today she was hit with a softball in the knee. That nurse couldn't reach me so she called my neighbor. I guess between Joe & my calls to the BOE & the principal we scared her. Even Joe is looking forward to the home schooling now. Many thanks to all of you!
Yes, before entering school. When I started kindergarten, I was reading at about 350 wpm, and handling arithmetic at about the 5th grade level. After entering the first grade, I was placed in a small, non-structured, independent study group for two years. The group was mostly older kids, and we were given suggestions on areas of study, but nothing was mandatory.
After two years, we moved to a different part of town, and the teachers at the new school didn't know what to do with me, so they basically did nothing. I became very bored with school, and after a year, we moved again; this time to a different town. I didn't encounter anything that was in any way challenging until the 6th grade, when I was fortunate to have a teacher that liked to allow students to go at their own pace. He provided material of his own choice, but it was interesting. The following two years were back to complete boredom.
By the time I got to high school, I was conditioned to ignoring what was going on in class, and almost never doing homework. I got through because I usually maxed-out the exams. Most of my teachers thought that I "could do so well if I would put out some effort." I always wondered what they thought I should be doing, since they rarely offered an exam question that didn't have an obvious answer.
Frankly I don’t believe much in IQ tests. The chart I found is from one of the big ones but there are lots of them at the site I found. It is not really a measure of intelligence. I just wanted to demonstrate that the argument being made wasn’t sound and since it was based on some assumptions about IQs I had to use IQ testing to do it.
That happened to Marisa my oldest when she was in high school. However Marisa was taking boxing & she beat the boy up. I didn’t mind that she was suspended either. What is going on in my town with drugs & sex in the middle & high schools is alarming. Everyday I read more horrible stories from all over the country . I don’t think that I could handle the stress of Sassy being in those schools. Not to mention what might happen to her. Or what her daddy might do ....
DeRosa says “only a few students — rather than the 21 alleged by the Bowers — were involved.”
A very definitive statement, considering the article already said the incident happened “between cameras” and “in a blind spot”
The principle just called this girl a liar. Not surprising to me that he refused her request to phone her parents. He is clearly a problem here.
Recently she had to be hospitalized for an emergency surgery - screwed up things for a couple of weeks. If she had undergone a more serious event, imagine the upset to her children’s school life?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Been there done that!
When I was seriously ill, ( herniated disk C 5-6) my kids educated themselves. We “unschooled” for some months. Once children can read it is **amazing** what they will accomplish entirely on their own.
Children really are hungry for knowledge.
You are going to love being a homeschooler. I am certain you will be a wonderful teacher.
Thank you & if I need advice I will be Freepmailing you lol. Hugs Pandy
The girl I know was caught from behind; she never saw it coming. I also knew a boy who was very sick with a life-threatening illness, and while he was going through treatments, he was beaten up and picked on over and over again in middle school until his mom removed him. (Both those schools are near my town.) I’ve met so many parents with those types of stories.
That said, not everyone has a bad experience in school. Some have great experiences. But there are problems at all schools, even if those problems don’t affect every student.
These parents should press this issue to the full extent of their power as the rightful guardians (parents) of this victim of such an egregious hateful attack apparently by people who have no right to even be in this country.
Several employees of the school and the school district should be fired, charged with appropriate crimes and jailed.
For instance; my 1st year Algebra teacher was the Magic Club leader. Several of his magic club students were in my class. They were good in math and got help in the club after school so I struggled because he spent so much class time screwing around with magic tricks. Then I went to high school and my Geometry teacher was a tough old woman who demanded you get it the first time. I was lost. Then the next year was Algebra II and it was hopeless for me and the teacher treated me with sarcasm. Much like I got here on this thread. So that was it in math for me until I became a carpenter. Then it was necessary to do the job and I just started putting it together from what I had retained in that Geometry class. Within a few months it was no problem.
A lot of public school was like that for me. Boring beyond belief or teachers who had something other than the subject at hand to spend time on. That graph may be a bit skewed alright. I think I tested at 118 or 123 or something like that in high school even though I ditched literally every other day in my junior and senior years. That would put me well above carpenters on the chart but I have known many carpenters as smart or smarter than I am.
I found attending classes wasn't necessary to pass most classes. Learning pronunciation at age 6 or 7 by reading aloud from my dad's medical books and being corrected helped me a lot with English and science. Big words never intimidated me so I could dig into the concepts while other's eyes were glazing over.
In sum it was my parents that gave me the foundations of critical thinking, logic and compassion. Those areas of intellect have been a solid basis to learn anything I wanted to learn on my own. What little I got out of school was due to what they gave me not what or how it was presented. I could have used a lot more of them and a lot less of the schools.
Btw, I forgot to add, good for Marisa. :-)
People who love they’re kids do everything they can to get them out of government schools.....
IMHO....
I am disgusted with the amount of money I see my BOE spend on themselves in the name of its for the children. I sat in on their meeting & asked questions. In my town its all about sports. You can be a idiot but if you can play football you will pass. That is not how it is supposed to be.
I don't want to tell my child she has to watch her back in school . Nor do I want to worry she may be beaten up or strip searched for an Advil.
I don't know what the answer is but I see so many nasty teenagers that I don't go to the movies anymore. I really wonder what happened to parents with good common sense & love for their children. If I ever have to deal with another parent who says my child would never... it was your child's fault I think I will scream. Kids do rotten things yet there are too many parents who refuse to see what their created monsters do. They are just in denial . I knew what my sons did & I made sure if they did wrong they took the blame & were punished. Too many parents just don't bother parenting IMO.
I can now understand why the Germans elected a fascist to ‘clean up’ the Wiemar republic....
Wonder who our ‘pesky Austrian’ will be?
Prolly get my vote....
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