Well, as a member of the angry mob, I apologize for wrongly believing the report from the New York Daily News. It doesn't change my view of the cops actions of course (which I had prior to the report about her mother), but I am glad the death of her parent did not directly precipitate the events in the video as we were temporarily led to believe.
My issue is with people that cause problems for themselves by acting like fools then trying to blame everything on cops who are just trying to do their job. I'm not for cops abusing their power or excessive use of force but there's just WAY too many cases where people get themselves into trouble by refusing a cop's orders that they have no reason to refuse other than just wanting to be a prick. In this case, I'm glad the cop got fired because he was way too rough with that girl, but why was the girl causing problems for herself? Sure, we can go the "she's young" route, but given that we see fully grown people doing the same types of things every day it makes you wonder. Are Americans really just such entitled little assholes that they can't help themselves?
Can we produce something like that for proper behavior of students in a classroom, or proper procedure for student compliance to directives?
I honestly think people are just tired of being over policed, over incarcerated and the degree of police militarization and misconduct in the country. This is a country based on anti authoritarianism, and yet we have the highest incarceration rate in the world and we have countless cases of police misconduct or police killing people each year. The problem is that what the law says it is ok for cops to do no longer matches what most of the population thinks is right. Just because something is law does not mean it is correct. For instance, there was a case in Turkey this week where two teenagers (12 and 13) are being put in jail for tearing down a photo of the authoritarian (yet democratically elected) president of Turkey. Did they break the law? Yes. Did they act in a foolish manner considering the level of authoritarianism in their country? Sure. But the point is that the laws and authoritarianism in their country is out of control. And many of us think it is out of control in our country too. Are people who challenge cops like the girl in the video acting recklessly and foolishly considering how dangerous and authoritarian our criminal justice system is? Sure. But what people are saying is that the level of police aggressiveness towards the population and authoritarianism in this country is out of hand and is unacceptable.
That second video shows so much more than the first video. She was told to leave and she didn't. She was being removed and she took shots at him. I don't have a problem with it.
From my experience, that battle is not worth the fight, BUT, if a kid is a turd, and the teacher is sick of it, he has every right to enforce the rules.
So enforcing rules is "epic fail" in your opinion? The cop was overly aggressive, and the girl was a complete and total moron. Asking students to put away cell phones isn't fascism. Asking disruptive students to leave the class isn't fascism. The girl should be expelled and the cop got fired. Case closed.
I've taught for over 20 years, including at Prairie View where students missed class because they were in jail for assault, students were ex-crack dealers (yes, they sold crack before entering college), etc. I never in over 20 years had to send a student out of the classroom, much less ask a cop to come save my ass from a cell phone. I blame the student pretty much 0%. Cell phone problems are part of the territory, the same as throwing spitballs, passing notes, whatever. When you go to teach a class nowadays, you know cell phones are going to be one of the discipline issues. I even have an "attention" grade, which pretty much means "not playing with your cell phone," and it is 7% of your final grade, because that's how much of a normal predictable issue cell phones are. When students mess with a cell phone in class, they don't bring my class to a screeching halt. I don't call the cops like an incompetent p****. The class continues without interruption. How the hell is a little bi#$% with a cell phone going to interrupt a group activity of 20 people? (Yes, I often consider cell phone users--male or female--little bi#$%es.) That school looks like it sucks from the top down, and so does the cop. P.S. I never mentioned fascism.
There's a difference between teaching in what is essentially a half ass community college like Prairie View A&M and how you have to teach in a public high school. The expectations are vastly different. There's no reason to care about classroom disruption at a place like Prairie View A&M because it's not like you are actually expecting students to learn anything. At a public high school, if kids don't learn anything, the teachers can get in trouble for it.
Please read my previous reply. Some of you people seem to think a cell phone is totally unknown to teachers--"OMG stop everything. WTF is that thing?"--or it is menacing like someone pulled a gun. Cell phones in class are the same as whispering, passing notes, sleeping, whatever. How about calling the cops on a sleeping student? It's exactly the same thing.
Nice insult to historically-black Prairie View! It goes well with your racial inclinations. Sure, to you, high school is a step up from Prairie View. But I know for a fact you never attended a high school like that one, because of your racial views. Have you even been inside a high school that is mostly minority? Look at the students in the video. I've been in ones on the GA/SC border and they are run like juvenile detention centers. You probably like that, though: "School is about learning to follow the RULES [of p****-ass teachers]!" You and that teacher and that cop can get thrown off your game by a teenager with a cell phone. Not everyone can.
I am a teacher, and I don't have a cell phone issue in my class, and not because I ignore it. Effective teachers handle students effectively.
So, in your mind, I should give them more credit than they deserve academically simply because they are a "historically-black"? That's an interesting theory. My high school was "mostly minority", in fact, it was and still is one of the most diverse schools you can go to.....growing up with that kind of diversity is probably why I don't buy a lot of the BS that people like you spew.
You have to understand . . . . people who are not the victims often can see alot of justification and freedom than those that are the victims. I doubt the SS generals thought Nazi Germany was oppressive Rocket River
