POOP =p
So here is what a teacher did. She decided to play the Reality TV game Survivor with her students.
By a vote of 14 to 2, Alex Barton’s kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class last Wednesday. The 5-year-old boy was made to stand in front of the class as classmates were invited to tell him what they didn’t like about him. The other children called Alex “disgusting” and “annoying.” Alex’s mother, Melissa Barton, says she is considering legal action.
After the vote, teacher Wendy Portillo asked Alex how he felt. “Sad,” he replied. The Florida State Attorney’s office concluded the matter did not meet criteria for emotional child abuse, so no charges will be filed against Portillo.
Now the big deal with this is that this kid is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger’s. The kid is known for having behavioral problems and the principal around the time of this incident told his parents he is probably an Aspie which would be the result of him constantly acting a fool.
The way they are spinning the article is that the teacher singled him out BECAUSE he has Asperger’s. They’re making it sound like she hates “neurodiversity” and made the normal kids call him a retard. Meanwhile none of the articles indicate whether she knew he was being diagnosed or not.
So let’s assume she did know. The kid is acting up, she’s sick of it, so she incites this punishment. Now, we don’t know if this is the first time she’s used this punishment, let’s assume that she does it all the time. She is just treating the kid like all the other kids, is that OK? She’s not a special ED teacher, she probably doesn’t know how to be sensitive to what this kid needs?
Let’s assume she does know he’s an Aspie and this is the first time she is using this punishment because this kid is getting on her fucking nerves, groping girls and shitting on her desk chair, you know… is this scenario OK?
And if we assume she doesn’t know he is an Aspie does that make the punishment justifiable? Is it OK for her to have all your peers rounded up and make them (yes make them) tell you why you suck, regardless of what they really think?
The problem with fucked up people is that, the more you treat them like shit the more they feel justified in acting shitty, but the nicer you are to them the more you positively reinforce their shitty behavior.
I don’t think this is a suitable punishment for most students. I’m sure one kid can learn a lesson from it, but it’ll probably just make most kids unnecessarily more insecure and ensure that everyone really hates them just like daddy said. I can’t believe they didn’t see this as emotional abuse. The whole point of the fucking punishment was to emotionally abuse. It was to teach a lesson through shame, through social shame, through insults.
The reason why the story is getting a lot of coverage now is because the teacher is back teaching. They held a board meeting where everyone that she knew and their mother came to talk about how great she was, meanwhile no one was there to defend the Aspie boy. She was forced to complete the remainder of the year without pay. Is that good enough?
What do you think?
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I’m not sure what her punishment should be. It’s kind of hard to put a price on emotional scars because they almost never go away. But I think she got a good dose of shame having to complete her year with no pay. It would have been less shame in no pay and no work for the rest of the year…..but they are making her show her face and everyone knows she is not getting paid. Guess she’ll be paper bagging her lunch to work…..
Stabbing Westward, what ever happened to them? Could have been a bigger band.
Back in the day we just voted for class president.
The teacher is a bully and needs to get her nose broken by an Aspie. Cops and teachers, two professions that should have higher standards and reflective pay.