Mother wants teacher who called her daughter a loser to be let go

[Greenday]

This is terrible. We all know the right response in situations like this is to allow the teacher and other students to bully the obvious weirdo. She must not have minded the bullying too much since she never brought a gun to school or even made a death threat. When are we going to learn to stop babying students who expect teachers to not bully them? Don't they realize that teachers get bored and maintaining a professional demeanor is hard?

I'm missing the part where anyone was bullied in the story. Please point it out for me.

Based on the article, the teacher does it to EVERYONE, not just a couple individuals. He teachers honors kids who are really smart and everyone regularly gets very high grades so to mess around with them, he writes stuff like "loser" on their tests. The teacher didn't pick on anyone.

[elsporko]

If a person doesn't like being called names its bullying, even if other people don't mind.

[MadMike]

If a person doesn't like being called names its bullying, even if other people don't mind.

You pretty much nailed it.

Sexual harrassment laws work the same way. If one person is offended, it doesn't matter if fifty other people were not.

[Greenday]

So where in the link does it say the kid doesn't like it?

[Gravekeeper]

So where in the link does it say the kid doesn't like it?

It doesn't. No article on the subject I've found has any input from the kid at all. This is mommy's crusade for "justice", and by god she'll see it through even if it destroys her daughter's life. Which it sounds like it already has.

[guywithashovel]

My ninth grade science teacher used to do things kind of like this, though his actions may be in a slightly different ballpark. He would often make cracks about students in class. Here are a few examples.

One time, the class subject was something along the lines of human body temperatures. A boy in class made a comment about waking up sweating while on a camping trip when it was chilly outside. The teacher's response was "Well, that was because you went with that boy you like."

On a day before a school dance, he frequently made jokes about boys and girls going to the dance together. For example, he'd suddenly stop teaching and look at a boy and say, "So, are you and John going to have fun at the dance tonight?" "Hey Mary, do your parents approve of Liz taking you to the dance?"

There was also this one girl in the class that he harped on constantly. One time, she asked him how long cows stayed pregnant. He said, "What's the matter? You worried about one of your friends?" Another time, someone asked him how to find a dinosaur bone, and he looked at this girl and said, "You wait 'til she falls asleep, sneak up on her, and . . . "

I guess it's debatable to some extent whether or not these types of jokes are okay. Looking back, though, I do think making jokes about kids' bodies is out of line (like the cow comment and the dinosaur bone remark). Pre-teens and teens are often pretty self-conscious about their appearances. Having a teacher make a joke about their bodies or their looks might cut kind of deep.

[Savannah]

It doesn't. No article on the subject I've found has any input from the kid at all. This is mommy's crusade for "justice", and by god she'll see it through even if it destroys her daughter's life. Which it sounds like it already has.

No. As you said, no article has any input from the kid. You are chastising people for assuming something that is not there, while doing so yourself. As I said earlier, the girl may completely approve of what her mother is doing, but is allowing her mother to do all the talking to try to minimize retaliation against herself. She may love the teacher and hate what her mom is doing. The fact of the matter is that we don't know.

[elsporko]

I haven't seen anything saying the girl enjoyed being called a loser, so our assumption is just as valid as yours.

[Gravekeeper]

The fact of the matter is that we don't know.

No, the fact of the matter is this poor girl faced enough backlash for her mother's actions that she had to leave school. She is also facing backlash online because her mother began online petitions as well. Mom splashed her name, school and picture on the news so the whole world could weigh in. That's enough information for anyone to find the poor child online, which they did. Never mind recognizing her in person.

Regardless of whether you think the teacher is right or wrong, mom took this too far and her daughter is the one ultimately paying for it. Simple as that. That is why this whole story annoys me. The one doing the most damage to her daughter is her.

[Hobbs]

Those comments are out of line, and had I been in that class I sure as heck would have reported him for it.

GK, how is the mother taking this too far? I for one am right up with her for getting this guy out of the classroom.

[Gravekeeper]

GK, how is the mother taking this too far? I for one am right up with her for getting this guy out of the classroom.

Really? For writing "loser"? You would end a 12 year teaching career over that and drag your child through the mud of a media spotlight? Reprimand him sure. Talk to the teacher himself directly. Suspend him for retraining, fine. But to make it a national spectacle at your daughter's expense? Fuck no. I wouldn't put my child through that.

If this is indeed about her child, then yes, she has gone too far. By her own account she never talked to the teacher and only talked to the principal once about it.....and then flew straight to he media and used it to bludgeon the school board.

That is overreacting. ><

[Boozy]

GK, how is the mother taking this too far? I for one am right up with her for getting this guy out of the classroom.

You don't see how alerting the national media to the fact that someone called your daughter a loser is "taking it too far"? How about providing these media outlets with your daughter's photograph? Announcing that your daughter has become a social pariah?

I was once a 12 year-old girl. I'd have wanted to crawl under a rock and die if my mother did this to me.

[Rageaholic]

Yeah, alerting the media over it went overboard. I still think the teacher was out of line, but the mother was more so.

[IDrinkaRum]

I am a mother.

I would be doing exactly what this woman is doing if it were my 12-year-old child.

This man has done this for what? His entire 12-year teaching career? And the parents of previous students have sat back and done nothing when this teacher called their children "loser"? The parents are probably berating themselves for not taking a stand.

And there are children out there with low self esteem and then this teacher comes along and calls them "loser"? What would have happened instead of the mothe coming out against this, she said nothing? Or what if her daughter never said anything and just committed suicide because she's a "loser" and shouldn't live?

What would this debate be like then?

I know: There'd be outrage over the teacher's antics. There'd be speculation that the parent knew what the teacher was writing and she was a "horrible" mother for not stopping it.

And I'm very offended by the comments that mother is taking this out of context and the teacher should be left alone. The teacher should be learning to bond with the students in a way that doesn't erode their self esteem.

Plus, if everyone would use their reading comprehension, it says the mother COMPLAINED TO THE PRINCIPAL first. She was told this wouldn't happen again, and then it did happen again. It was only after it happened again that the mother took it to the national media. The school system needed to be publicly shamed to learn that condoning teachers calling students "losers" is a bad thing.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I say that the woman should have talked to the teacher, then if nothing was done, the headmaster, then after that gone to the school board. Going to the media should have been the last resort only after the school did nothing.

Look at what damage has been done by this woman to her twelve year old girl. She has destroyed her life, ruined any chance that she might have of getting a good education (she has been driven out of school and any school nearby that would take her would probably be full of kids who'd bully her cuz of this) and stamped all over her selfesteem. And for what? For something that could have been accomplished by taking the steps I mentioned and with less damage to her daughter.

This is not about the girl; this is about a frustrated woman with nothing better to do. This woman just took the issue and ran to the media; and no-one is going to convince me that that was the right thing to do. When I was being bullied at school and the school did nothing, my parents just quietly took me out of school and enrolled me in a new one. If they'd gone to the media, I'd have never forgiven them for splashing my face all over the local paper and it would have made things all the more worse.