3rd Graders plotted to harm their teacher

[IDrinkaRum]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080402/ap_on_re_us/children_s_plot

9 3rd graders (ages 8-9) were mad at their teacher for telling one of them to get off a chair. So they decided to get back at the teacher & brought a broken steak knife and other implements to hurt teacher with.

[Dorath]

Screw NCLB, expel all of them.

[XCashier]

Or ship them all off to military school...

[LadyMage]

Wow, evil kids... What bugs me more is if a kid makes a slingshot in school but does not intend to use it, just show it off, he gets expelled, which may or may not happen to these kids who where going to hurt someone. They did mention long term suspention but still, what the? Learning disabled or not, the parents should have taught these kids a long time ago that you can hurt someone with a knife, heck I knew that at 2 and I was one of those kids a long time ago.

[Saydrah]

Someone should really be looking into what's going on at home with the kids who organized this plan, stat. Kids that young should NOT be this willing to commit violence. If they are acting out aggressively, they may be receiving abuse at home.

[Spiffy McMoron]

A couple of things that came to mind reading that article:


How could kids be that organized? I meanfor a lot of kids, it's tough enough for them to keep track of their hat.
How strict or lenient was the teacher in the weeks and months before this "plot"?
What was the teacher's discipline for the student that stood on the chair?
Did any--or all--of the kids really know what was going on? Or did they get swept up in this?
When would they find the time to get organized like this?

[crazylegs]

Or ship them all off to military school...

Maybe not the best idea to trot a bunch of kids who have that degree of lack of empathy and concern for others, then teach them further skills to hurt people...

[Norton]

Little kids can have some dangerous ideas... For example:

When I was in third grade, kids ganged up on me. The first time, they tightly tied me to a tree with jumprope. I remember my teacher walked by me after they left, said "Aw, how cute!" and took a photo of me. :confused: I wasn't rescued until someone realized I hadn't lined up to go inside after recess.

The second time they ganged up on me, a couple of kids restrained me, while another had made a noose from a jumprope. They were just putting the noose around my neck when a teacher stopped them. To this day I'm not sure whether they really intended to kill me or not.

How could kids be that organized?
Did any--or all--of the kids really know what was going on? Or did they get swept up in this?

I'm guessing the plot started with one or two kids with an imagination for violence. I don't think it's really uncommon. I seem to remember all boys at that age being fascinated with guns, explosions and death. Anyway, one or two kids could easily get the others swept up in their idea, rather like a game of pretend. I doubt all of those kids realized what they were really doing.

I wonder how much time elapsed between the teacher disciplining the student, and when the weapons were brought in. Kids that age tend to act on their feelings immediately.

[LadyMage]

yeah, little kids can be dangerous, I remember a boy trying to drown me in a pool twice in the same day. I got away each time cause I was stronger then most (I was tall for my age) the first time I just stayed away from him but the second time he held me down longer and I ran like hell when I got away. He was very disabled mentally but that wasn't an excuse, he got banned from the pool for that, thank god. Still there was something very wrong with those kids, someone needs to look into it big time, and teach them what they did was very very wrong

[rahmota]

I'm not sure what to think about this one as this sort of thing just does not happen around here in rural schools. At least not on the scale of organization the article tried to imply.

And military school would not be bad as it would teach discipline, respect and obedience to authority. And at the very least if they still didnt have empathy when they got old enough they could go into law enforcement or the real military and be quite accepted.

[Boozy]

I'm not sure what to think about this one as this sort of thing just does not happen around here in rural schools.

Its incredibly rare for these things to happen at all, despite popular belief.

The reason many people believe this to be an urban thing is because when something like this does happen, odds are its in an urban area; because that's where the majority of the US population lives.

[rahmota]

Boozy: true. Although thinking back I cannot think of many events that are tied to rural schools other than the one amish school last year that had the shooting. 99% of the ones I can recall are all urban schools.

[blas87]

This actually does not surprise me. Hasn't anyone else noticed the growing trend of violent kids and teenagers?

[Boozy]

This actually does not surprise me. Hasn't anyone else noticed the growing trend of violent kids and teenagers?

Everybody thinks they live in dangerous times.

Youth are no worse today than they have ever been. In fact, I'd hazard a guess and say they might actually be a bit nicer.

We're not clubbing each other over meat in caves anymore, after all.

[XCashier]

This actually does not surprise me. Hasn't anyone else noticed the growing trend of violent kids and teenagers?
Check this out: eight teenagers beat up another kid and videotape the beating to air it on YouTube. (http://http://www.comcast.net/news/articles/national/2008/04/08/Teen.Beating/)

[IDrinkaRum]

XCashier - the link doesn't work. :(

I did read a similar article. Some people were saying that she brought it on herself for stuff she said about the bullies on her MySpace page.

The bullies deserve whatever sentence they get. No one deserves that.

[AFPheonix]

Everybody thinks they live in dangerous times.

Youth are no worse today than they have ever been. In fact, I'd hazard a guess and say they might actually be a bit nicer.

We're not clubbing each other over meat in caves anymore, after all.

Bingo. We just hear about it more these days is all.

[IDrinkaRum]

http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=8132283

Girl was given history project to make a sign for or against something. She made a sign against illegal immigration. It got passed around during lunch, and Latino males attacked her. Threatening her life and threatening to rape her. When asking for help, was told to go back to class AND was NOT allowed to call her parents. :eek: :mad:

[DesignFox]

http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=8132283

Girl was given history project to make a sign for or against something. She made a sign against illegal immigration. It got passed around during lunch, and Latino males attacked her. Threatening her life and threatening to rape her. When asking for help, was told to go back to class AND was NOT allowed to call her parents. :eek: :mad:

That's horrible. I can't believe the teachers sent that girl back to class after she was involved in a fight....I remember if kids fought they got sent to the principal's office- bullies and victims together.... you didn't just waltz into your next class! Sheesh.

[Boozy]

This teacher decided that making a protest sign, for or against any issue, was a good idea for a project.

How exactly did this play out in this teacher's mind? How does someone with a brain NOT see this as possibly inflammatory?

This person has questionable judgment at best, is a complete moron at worst, and they are teaching children. Good lord.

[DesignFox]

...This person has questionable judgment at best, is a complete moron at worst, and they are teaching children...

I don't see how it's a bad project. The class could have discussion about different "hot" topics and why they are for or against them.

Perhaps the teacher should have discussed the student's choices with them ahead of time, or picked the topics for the students beforehand and let them choose one to research- that way there would be some level of control over the level of controversy involved.

I can see why just making the sign would be a bad idea, but I feel that the teacher probably had a different motive for the project than the one we are seeing.

What I think is stupid is the school's reaction to the fight that ensued.

And yes, MAYBE, controversial debate would be better suited to a college classroom, but I can recall studying some pretty sensitive issues in my high school classes and no one ever got threatened because of their opinions.

Granted I was in Advanced Placement and Honors classes...but we don't know the level of education these kids are at- they could be, too.

[Boozy]

I don't see how it's a bad project. The class could have discussion about different "hot" topics and why they are for or against them.

But a protest sign is not a discussion or debate. Protest signs are inflammatory by their very nature. They are meant to be.

[DesignFox]

I see the assignment as a segway into, "why would you protest this issue?"

Maybe not the clearest line of thinking, but I can see it.

[Sylvia727]

That's horrible. I can't believe the teachers sent that girl back to class after she was involved in a fight....I remember if kids fought they got sent to the principal's office- bullies and victims together.... you didn't just waltz into your next class! Sheesh.

I can believe it. I saw milder versions every day at my high school. Of course, we were the only school in the county that taught English as a Second Language and the only school that "desegregated" by bussing black kids in from the impoverished inner city. So yeah, no one gave a shit about the 'minoirity' school.

Four black kids from deseg ambushed and sexually harassed my sister - then she got called racist for specifying what they looked like. The school moved the boys out of her classes, but she still passed them in the halls every day. One of the boys had assaulted a girl before, so he got a one day suspension.

Bastards.

[XCashier]

XCashier - the link doesn't work. :(
Try this link (http://www.comcast.net/news/articles/national/2008/04/08/Teen.Beating/).
And military school would not be bad as it would teach discipline, respect and obedience to authority.
And if they try that stunt on a military school teacher, they'll learn PDQ that it's a Very Bad Idea. ;)

[Nekojin]

There are stupid and abusive kids in every school, unfortunately. And many times, the Administration's hands are tied with regard to what to do with them.

During my Freshman year in high school, I went to Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, CA. For those who don't know the area, it borders on major gang-land territory. The school itself was ringed in 15-foot-high chain-link fences (replaced with 15' high wrought-iron fences, after I left).

At one point, I was beaten up. Nothing serious, just a few bruises. But not only was my assailant suspended, so was I, even though I did not fight back. I didn't mention it to my parents, and went to school the next day to appeal the verdict. The admin staff that I talked to said that was the rule, and there was nothing that could be done about it. So I went to sit and read at the nearby Public Library, where I spent a great deal of time after school. Around noon, my grandmother showed up - the school had called my parents, and they had called her, to have her come talk to me.