/.02
Posted on 05/12/2008 10:30:52 AM PDT by GOPGuide
A student teacher who uses a service dog for his epilepsy has had to leave his position early after a Muslim student harassed the animal, and worse. Tyler Hurd needs the dog for his protection and for emergency supplies for first-aid responders, but apparently Technical High School in St Cloud believes that Hurd’s needs are secondary to providing a dog-free zone for its Muslim students. Hurd says he feels threatened by the action, as well he should — because the student threatened to kill the dog:
A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog.
The school district calls it a misunderstanding, and officials there say they hoped Tyler Hurd, a 23-year-old junior from Mahtomedi who aspires to teach special education, would continue his training in the district. Hurd said a student threatened to kill his service dog named Emmitt. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has seizures. …
Hurd trained at Talahi Community School and Tech. He said his experience at Talahi was good. The Somali students there warmed to the dog and eventually petted him using paper to keep their hands off his fur, Hurd said.
Things didn’t go as well at Tech, Hurd said. Students there taunted his dog, and he finally felt he had to leave after he was told a student made a threat. Hurd met with Lockhart but said he did not feel comfortable continuing.
King Banaian notes the ridiculous nature of the school’s response:
So let’s take a look at this as a case of competing rights. On one side we have a student with a medical disability. One would think that the Americans with Disabilities Act would allow this student to participate to the fullest extent possible in pursuing his goals, which is to teach in special education. To do so, he is supposed to train in both elementary and secondary school settings. (The article notes that Hurd had no such problems with Somali students at his elementary school assignment.)
On the other side, we have a student at Tech HS whose faith considers dogs unclean and is asserting his right to education in an institution without dogs. This not only affects student teachers; any student with a sight or hearing disability may use a dog for assistance and might want to also attend Tech HS. …
But when rights collide, as they did here, whose rights did they choose to uphold first?
That’s easy. They upheld the rights of the side that threatened capitulation or violence. Instead of expelling the student for his threat and making an example of him, they chose to coddle the student and chase the teacher out of his job. Afterwards, they issued the normal multi-culti mewlings of “misunderstanding”, “growth process”, and emphasizing respect for different cultures.
I’ve got a suggestion: how about teaching that respect to the people who issue threats, instead of their victims? Which person needed an object lesson in respect more, the Somali student or Tyler Hurd?
The First Mate used to use guide dogs here and in California. On more than one occasion, she initially got refused cab service when using Cory. Only after she explained that the law required them to give her access did the cabbies relent.
We have laws in this country, decided on by democratically-elected representatives. If Muslims don’t like these access laws, then let them elect representatives that will reverse them, or failing that, go back to Somalia where violence trumps the law and they would be more comfortable. Shame, shame on Technical High School for buckling under to thugs and abandoning their responsibilities in such a cowardly manner.
Update: When I first read the article and King’s post, I had the impression that the school got complaints from the Muslim students, but the story doesn’t explicitly say that. I’ve reworded the first sentence, although it’s still entirely possible that they complained to the administration. If they didn’t, it makes the administration’s move even worse.
Bump
But as a country that has made the kinds of leaps in science, technology and social perceptions that allow a young man with what was once a debilitating disease to teach in a school - well, what a shame if we decide we'd rather voluntarily push ourselves back to the Dark Ages to cater to a religious belief. Absolutely foolish.
Actually, service dogs are trained to detect the beginnings of a seizure for those who are endangered by the severity of the seizure. Not all dogs are able to do so. The scientists, last I heard, thought the dogs were picking up on electrical signal abnormalities.
The owner is then able to get to a place of safety so they aren’t injured by the seizure - think in terms of being in the middle of traffic when a seizure starts, on a stairway, etc.
If you don't like the way things are done in this country, the why the hell are you here....just to make trouble and get attention?
I’m partial to WTF(?) myself, especially pertaining to this story.
I’m with you. Besides, a dog is more human than a Muzzie, hands down.
Yet another rag that needs the shi’ite kicked out of ‘him’
Is it to hard to understand the words, I don’t believe it! How do you train a dog outside of Pavlova. Use a divining rod!
I suspect it’s “WHooF”
Are you really as dense and crude as your posts on this thread make you appear? Incidentally, Pavlova was the ballerina. Pavlov was the behaviorist.
“They upheld the rights of the side that threatened ‘capitulation’...”
Sure they don’t mean decapitation?
The student’s right to a Somali education sounds like a reasonable compromise.
/.02
Let the dog owner take it to court, but I will bet it will be the same as the silly kid that claimed a deaf person needs a dog.
Sure.
He has a right to not be in the presence of dogs.
He has a right to keep you from eating pork or drinking wine.
He has a right to beat his wife.
He has a right to shut down stores and roads for his daily “prayers”
He has a right to rape “suggestively” dressed women.
He has a right to stone people who attack Mohammad verbally.
He has LOTS of rights as a Muslim - which is EXPRESSLY WHY he has no RIGHT to be here!!!
I was walking the family dog in a park in San Diego and passed by a group of muslim men. They gave all glared and were shooting arrows through their eyes. I guess I should have asked them if they wanted to pet my rotweiller.
It’s possible that a seizure is preceded by a chemical change that the dog can smell. I think dogs can detect diabetes because diabetics generate acetone or another ketone in their blood.
” Where else can you go barging into someone else’s country and start demanding that they change everything to match your needs and desires?”
In the United Kingdom, they say the flag (St. George’s and St. Andrew’s crosses) offend their religion. Well, if they don’t like it, they should leave.
Dhimmitude
The scientist who is famous for work on conditioned reflex in dogs is Pavlov. Pavlova is a type of really tasty desert and a dancer.
Dogs are trained for and capable of doing many things. This happens to be an odd one (seizure prediction) that is relatively newly discovered. It’s rather like animals who detect earthquakes or serious storms before we do.
Dogs sensory capabilities are very different from ours. The dog doesn’t think in its head - oh my gracious, it’s a grand mal seizure - it just knows that its owner/handler has a physical change going on and becomes agitated. Not all dogs have the capability.
Once the capability is identified, the dog is trained (conditioned response) to do a specific motion - pawing at the owner/handler for instance - to let them know that they have detected signs preliminary to a seizure.
“Where kowtowing to radical Islam meets the ADA...gotta love liberalism.”
If nothing else, it will be fun watching liberal heads explode trying to get their “brains” around this one.
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