by Tina Grazier
Children as young as five have been scolded and dismissed from school for something as innocent as forming fingers in the shape of a gun or drawing a picture that features an explosion. Ridiculous! Children naturally play and draw pictures of things that attract their attention. They have no intention to do harm and presumably will have many years ahead to be instructed at home and at school about good and evil, right and wrong. The absurdity of scolding over trivial matters is part of the slaughtering of language and meaning that has been going on in America for some time. It is not at all surprising to read this morning that a second grade teacher in Chicago was suspended for bringing ordinary tools (wrench, screw driver, pliers) to his classroom for a discussion. The children were not given access to the tools:
Despite the fact that all potentially hazardous items were kept out of the students’ reach, school officials at Washington Irving Elementary School informed Doug Bartlett, a 17-year veteran in the classroom, that his use of the tools as visual aids endangered his students. Bartlett was subsequently penalized with a four-day suspension without pay – charged with possessing, carrying, storing or using a weapon.
Mr. Bartlett is suing and rightly so. The big lessons of the day in his classroom were that ordinary tools are dangerous in everyone’s hands and you can never really trust adults/teachers. The absurdity has to be incredibly confusing to these young minds
His case is much larger than the humiliation, loss of reputation, and loss of wages this teacher had to endure. A teaching industry that has shown itself, again and again, to be incapable to make a simple distinction between a real threat to students and a teaching discussion on the proper use of household tools, or a child’s imaginative play, has lost it’s ability to properly educate our children. This is no longer a teaching profession; it is a sociological and political mind management industry.
Hmmm. Anybody who thinks that a seven-year-old should be allowed to “imaginatively play” with a full-sized claw hammer … I mean, come on!
But the four days was excessive. “Don’t do that again” ought to be plenty, and in writing, in the personell folder, just to cover the district’s butt, litigiously speaking.
Cause that’s all what this is about … covering the district’s butt, litigiously speaking. Shouldn’t a taxpayer appreciate such efforts?
Libby ” Anybody who thinks that a seven-year-old should be allowed to “imaginatively play” with a full-sized claw hammer”
Nobody did. But I notice your imagination is running full blast!
I agree with your suggestion for a more appropriate response for this silly infraction.
But how stupid that a teacher can’t responsibly show his class a wrench and talk to them about the handy uses of a common tool without freaking out the PC language/behavior modifiers.
The district shouldn’t have to worry about such insane stuff. The taxpayer should be able to count on a DA or judge to toss litigation like that out before it reaches the court with a stern warning to the lawyer not to waste his and the courts time…and the taxpayers money! As it turns out a few smart decisions by a judge would also help bring down the cost of insurance coverage for the school district. Taxpayers win again.
Seriously! What does the word dangerous mean to these administrators? And how in he** are the kids supposed to know how when they are in danger when the school they attend has made the word arbitrary or completely meaningless.
I think it all began in San Francisco. That woman that fell off a cable car and won an fat hunk of money. Said the fall turned her into a nymphomaniac and sued the city.
I absolutely agree that this is ridiculous. The teacher did nothing wrong, and I hope he wins the lawsuit.
Here’s another story showing a similar injustice. Carla Hale was fired from her job as a PE teacher when her partner’s name appeared in her mother’s obituary. Now students are calling for her to be reinstated:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/high-school-fires-teacher-after-her-partners-name-appeared-i
Unbelievable! It’s none of the schools business.
Politically correctness run amok. And in Chicago yet.
Seems that common sense might only be found in schools these days after losing a lawsuit.
Good luck with the suit, Mr. Bartlett.
“Unbelievable! It’s none of the schools business.”
Of course it’s the school’s business. Any neglect of it’s duty to limit liability is a violation of its fiduciary duty to us taxpayers.
Aren’t you always grousing about how the government is careless with your money?
Libby, I think Tina was actually referring to the story I published about the woman who was fired for being gay. Take this as a rare moment where all three of us can agree. 🙂
Chris is right…is it Kumbaya time yet?
Didn’t think so 🙂
Another outrage…example of a school overstepping it’s authority.
Tina, that story would be horrifying if it were true, but one commenter at the Gateway Pundit says that the school denies all charges, and that the program in question is actually sponsored by Laura Bush. I wouldn’t trust anything from the Gateway Pundit. This is a site that once claimed Obama was banning fly fishing.