Thursday, March 5, 2015

News Response

So today I read/watched several news reports about something that is rather concerning, and upsetting to me.

The most basic way to sum up the information is that a high school teacher called one of her students a Taliban. I, myself, do understand the full meaning of the term, but I grew up believing it to be the name of an Islamic terrorist organization. It either means that or it is another racial slur for someone who is Muslim. I just know that the term is a derogatory term for sure.
If it doesn’t mean what I’ve stated, then please feel free to correct me. The internet went out so I can’t exactly check the internet for a definition real quick. Man, I need to buy one of those really thick dictionaries and keep it on my shelf.
But back to the matter at hand. A teacher, you know, the people we trust to nurture us and give us the means to better ourselves, called her student a Taliban. I say her, because the boy who she called Taliban referred to the teacher as such. The boy stated that she called him Taliban on several occasions. The kids in his class just laughed, all of them presuming it was a joke.
The boy, himself, didn’t know what Taliban meant until he asked his parents. His parents are outraged and upset. I haven’t seen anything with the mother speaking, but I have seen his father. You can hear his voice quiver with hurt knowing that this has happened to his son. He is very upset. The boy states that he’s disappointed in the teacher. The teacher used to be one of his favorite at the school, but I doubt that is the case now.
I’m just really upset that it happened. What makes it worse is that the teacher is only getting suspended for 5 days. The father is not happy with it and I understand. He wants the teacher to be suspended for a whole year without pay or fired. I agree with him on this. You can’t just give an adult a slap on the wrist for calling someone a racial slur. Especially if they’re a teacher. A teacher is supposed to strive to teach their students and make them better people. A teacher teaches people how to fish so they can feed themselves for the rest of their lives.

Frankly, I feel like 5 days suspension is a slap on the wrist for the teacher and that she should be given a tougher punishment. She is an adult and knew what the word meant when she said it. How can anyone trust schools to put an end to bullying if they allow the teachers to get away with it? I mean, come on! This isn’t something that can just be handled so lightly as giving 5 days suspension.

No comments:

Post a Comment