What would you do?

[02ProstarSammyD]

I'd fight it. If we all keep rolling over for this garbage they'll keep pushing it on us. Although school violence, bombs, etc are kind of sensitive subjects right now. I'm all about some punishment for wrong doings but the minute your kids learn to stop fighting for whats right they are screwed

[thatsmrmastercraft]

What is the age of the child involved? While I don't agree with most of the BS schools are trying to get away with in the spirit of zero tolerance, most anyone in school should know not to be viewing anything at school that is titled How to make a pen bomb!

[TxsRiverRat]

Ohhhhh - THATS why she got suspended - that is ridiculous!

The teacher should be suspended without pay for asking the question, IMO...

[GoneBoatN]

Collect all the facts and information before taking action. Has the parent gone to the school and heard both sides of the story? I usually go with if you only listen to one side of the story, then chances are you heard less that 50% of the story. Did the school schedule a meeting? I would think that if a school gave a 10 day suspension then the also called for a conference with the parents. My main point, too little information to suggest taking rash actions. If the school has not scheduled a meeting, then call and insist on one immediately given the suspension. Go in with the attitude of wanting to hear their side of the story and collect facts. Then decide how best to proceed.

[medicmoose]

Originally Posted by FrankSchwab

This is a great teaching opportunity.

Go and challenge the suspension - but bring the child with you. Make sure you're prepared, and keep your cool. Ask why curiosity is being stomped on, rather than action. Let them try to explain it.

Then, when they uphold the suspension (which, in the currently PC environment they will), explain to the child that, sometimes, government bureaucrats are *#$#(__#( idiots, and shouldn't be trusted as the absolute guardians of, well, anything. Make sure they understand that what they did was fine, but even so there can be consequences.

And, during the suspension, make it slightly unpleasant (room cleaning, bathroom cleaning, etc), but also make it a celebration of intellectual freedom - take them to the park, to the local amusement park, whatever. Let them know that curiosity and intellectual pursuits are great things, even though some of those pursuits are frowned upon in current society. Take them someplace slightly dangerous (Burning Man) to let them know that there are people outside the mainstream.

These are some of the problems that the classrooms are facing....you can't make rules because someone out there will be offended. Sure there's curiosity....left to their own devices every Grade 6 boy would like to explore their curiosity of porn while sitting in the classroom. Oh wait, you might want that rule followed right?

Celebration of intellectual freedom is great so long as you follow a few rules/guidelines. If you don't want to follow the established rules...do it on your own time.

The one thing I find so prevalent in today's society is that everyone wants their kids to be able to "express themselves", to "do it their way", and to challenge authority at every turn. Well guess what...some of these douche kids end up graduating and come to me looking for employment. I'm then stuck with these kids on my staff who don't want to follow the policies and think it is okay to campaign against any authority....because their whole life they've had parents telling them that no one can tell them what to do and then they have their parents go to battle for them.

Time to teach our kids that they need to be responsible and if they screw up...there might be consequences. We are not teaching them anything if we run to their aid every second and fail to teach them to intelligently respond to occurrences that may seem unfair!!

Ever seen one of those stereotypical "hockey parents"???? You know, the crazy ones that scream and yell at the ref and get into fights in the viewing area. Yup...keep trying to fight your kids battles and make societies problems exponentially worse!

Of course....just my opinion...carry on

[ahhudgins]

Originally Posted by TxsRiverRat

Ohhhhh - THATS why she got suspended - that is ridiculous!

The teacher should be suspended without pay for asking the question, IMO...

I agree.
A child gets suspended for looking at a video with the word "Bomb" in it, and any semi-educated adult can see the video has nothing to do with an actual bomb. But it's OK for the student to research different ways to actually start a fire? Our world is going nuts.

[Voodoo]

Punch the teacher in the face

[JimN]

Originally Posted by jhall0711

The school will say they have a "Zero Tolerance" policy..... and if they make any exceptions... well that wouldnt be "zero Tolerance"....

I agree I would certainly fight it to some degree.... and yes some of the blame should go to the school for not blocking websites... but I am not sure how far the parents will get.

If they want to have a "Zero Tolerance" policy, it's their job to make damn sure this kind of information or link is impossible to reach on their computers.

[gocougs]

WOW, there are a lot of "teacher haters" on this post! It's funny to me that because a member states it is thier child that got in trouble for doing something they knew was not allowed, most responses are against the teacher blaming them for tempting the student to click on a video we assume says something about making a pen bomb. My guess, being a teacher for 23 years that maybe the student will claim some responsibility in this and learn a lesson. First amendment rights aren't the same in the classroom as they are on the streets or in your homes.
I could just imagine, with the support from the good members on this site if I randomly stated that as a teacher, I had a student tell me they didn't mean to click on a site that said how to make a pen bomb, that I would get all the support and the parents and child should take responsibility for their actions.
Sorry, but with the climate of the schools and shootings lately, we are still in a very reactionary response mode with instant gun laws and added security in the country.
Just needed to rant a bit!
Thanks

[TxsRiverRat]

Originally Posted by ahhudgins

I agree.
A child gets suspended for looking at a video with the word "Bomb" in it

But it's OK for the student to research different ways to actually start a fire? Our world is going nuts.

That was EXACTLY my point...

its not ok to look at a video of a bomb, but it would have been ok to look at a video of making a fire? why? because it was part of the assignment?

i can burn the school down, but its not ok to blow it up...

cool, at least i know what the rules are now...