Teachers involved with private conversations

[The Mystery Machine]

DS had better not ever call his teachers jerks where they can hear him. If so, I'll be totally in favor of detention.

Ditto.

 

[glitterkittyy]

It's a detention. I mean, honestly, what's the big deal? I got tons of them in 10th grade (on purpose, long story). It's not like it goes on your permanent record, and you won't get into Harvard or something.

 

[daisyduck123]

Sorry But i expect a call for the first offense period!!! the second I can see detention but not the first...

I see you have a teenage boy. Do you really think that he doesn't know that it's NOT OK to refer to his teacher as a jerk? Does he really need a warning about it first? Perhaps he has never been to school (do you homeschool?) and learned the rules that have been taught since Kindergarten?

 

[michellev]

Can teacher suspend students? I always up the princpal

Where did I say that a teacher would be assigning the suspension? The student would be suspended by the Principal or Vice Principal for calling me a jerk.

 

[daisyduck123]

Can teacher suspend students? I always up the princpal

She didn't state that "she" would be giving the detention, just that a detention would most likely be the result.

 

[Planogirl]

This thread illustrates how difficult it can be to deal with students nowadays. Some of us find the punishment entirely appropriate while others don't. Either way the school probably ends up in trouble.

A kid that age should know better IMO. Kids mess up (we all do) but then they have to learn that there are consequences. It's better to learn at this age when the punishment is so light than to have to deal with the fallout when in college and the workplace.

 

[luvmy3]

OP, just tell your ds to suck up the detention and that his opinion has only been validated by this punishment, but next time he should just keep it quiet or send it in a text.































I'm kidding, I swear

 

[cheermom1]

i don't understand why this is such a big deal

all kids have done and said things like this and no i don;t think it was a good thing he said what he said but i also think that given this was his first offense that they should have let his parents deal with him first - if he did it again then yes give him detention...how hard is that???

it's not like he really did a lot of harm???? he was letting off some steam and it wasn't even directed at one single teacher...

i know most of the teachers at my kids school and they would have called me first....I do know that for a fact as I just got a call from a teacher and we worked something out...and NO i will not give details as some here are rather not nice people and can really rip people apart for just having their own opinions if it differs from theirs...sad really - i'm defending the op b/c someone needs too...

 

[Magic Mom]

i don't understand why this is such a big deal

It's not a big deal. He did something wrong and got a small punishment for it. Not suspension, or expulsion, or a beating or kicked off a team....just detention.


Did you really ask EVERY single person you know about this?

 

[TwinsinCA]

There are words he could have used that would warrant a detention IMO, but jerk is not one of them. When did "jerk" become so offensive? It is like people who do not allow their kids to call anything "stupid" or say they "hate" something. I really don't get why some words are seen as SO terrible to some people. Sometimes they fit. It wasn't a FCC frowned upon curse word. He didn't call a specific teacher that to his/her face. It was two teens talking. I think the teacher overreacted.

And to me detention is huge and should be saved for serious offenses.

 

[Gabes_mommy]

And to me detention is huge and should be saved for serious offenses.

Really? I was in detention EVERY SINGLE WEEK in 7th grade....for talking too much in class. What can I say - I was chatty. My friends and I actually learned some sign language so we could communicate in detention.

Honestly as a former teacher I don't think detention is a big deal at all. Suspension? Now that's a big deal, but detention is nothing.

I am a former middle school teacher and students at the school where I taught automatically got a detention if they got a referral. Referrals were given for all kinds of reasons - talking in class, uniform violations, tardies...etc.

 

[pearlieq]

For me a lot depends on where the kid said it. If it was during lunch, passing period, in the bus line, etc. (all "free" times) and it was in a private conversation, then I think the teacher was out of line both eavesdropping and then taking action on something that was said.

I could see the teacher clearing their throat or raising an eyebrow, just to let the kid know they had been heard, but formal discipline smacks of a thin skin and a tendency to abuse power--in short, a jerk!

If it was during class/study hall/library time, then I think the teacher was within their rights to issue a detention.

 

[TwinsinCA]

Really? I was in detention EVERY SINGLE WEEK in 7th grade....for talking too much in class. What can I say - I was chatty.
.

And I never had detention once in all my years of school. It was seen as a fairly big deal if you got one.

 

[ginna74]

hmmmm, I think that detention was appropriate for that. Saying it withen earshot about a teacher could have meant they wanted teacher to hear it?? and the teacher wouldn't really know either way so I think it was a correct decission. Commiing home and saying it was "private" is a good way to get his mom going. But I don't see there being ANY privacy at a school. The comment was heard and he was punished as he should.

 

[michellev]

And I never had detention once in all my years of school. It was seen as a fairly big deal if you got one.

That's interesting. All the schools I attended and the schools I've taught at use detention fairly frequently. It is not seen as a big deal at all. I guess that would really shape your perspective on this issue. To me, it's not a big deal and thus quite suitable for the "crime".

 

[happygirl]

Where did I say that a teacher would be assigning the suspension? The student would be suspended by the Principal or Vice Principal for calling me a jerk.

The way you worded it,

 

[daisyduck123]

The way you said it.

In her defense, I don't think it sounded that way at all.

 

[happygirl]

That's interesting. All the schools I attended and the schools I've taught at use detention fairly frequently. It is not seen as a big deal at all. I guess that would really shape your perspective on this issue. To me, it's not a big deal and thus quite suitable for the "crime".

I think detention should be a big deal, If it's not then what the point of it. When I was in school detention was a horrible thing.

 

[happygirl]

In her defense, I don't think it sounded that way at all.

There is nothing to defend I thought maybe things had changed since I was in school LOL

 

[Minnie_me]

well, how about this twist?

What about employees/bosses? I am a teacher, and was absolutely BLASTED by my principal (and lost a subsequent job opportunity, I believe) after she overheard a private conversation that I was having. She missed more than half of the beginning of the conversation, so that what she heard was SO out of context that she took it to mean something TOTALLY different that what was intended. NOT TO MENTION.....she was eavesdropping!!!!

I tried in vain to explain the misunderstanding, but she would have none of it. She screamed at me, berated me, and humiliated me.

Do bosses have the right?