Wednesday, May 16, 2007

MUST READ

"Whites not immune to racial hostility...., Insults from black students spur lawsuit". Read the article by Kathleen Parker in today's Tribune.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wait a minute! There is an even more fundamental problem going on here. Since when does a child/student even have leave to be either verbally or even worse, physically abusive, to an adult authority figure - the teacher?

It's sad that these kids brought with them to school the bigotry they learned at home or in the media. However, the fact that they felt free - and apparently were allowed for some time - to project their anger/hate onto their teacher tells us that there is a much deeper problem in this school.

Among all the teachers in my life I was either in love, in awe, or in fear of those who stood before me in class. Yes, I was bored by some of them too. I've known of bad apples in a classroom who would - privately amongst themselves - mock or ridicule a teacher for a million stupid reasons. But, really, throwing books at a teacher as noted in the news story? Being verbally AND physically abusive? Unbelievable! Sadly, I know that today a fundamental lack of respect for teachers is a widespread problem. Verbal and physical violence by students should never be tolerated. The children's use of the teacher's race is a secondary insult to the more primary injury of verbal and physical abuse. This is the fundamental problem to be addressed.