[CNN] Student suspended for refusing to hang up on mother, calling from Iraq

IMO he deserved what he got. From how I understood the article his punishment was for causing a raucous on his way to the head's office (after he had finished his call), not for refusing to hang up on his mother. If he had handled himself in a different way he could have forced an apology from the teacher in the principal's office given the circumstances.

 

damn, it's a school - not a life. they have no right to control every aspect of your life. if i was in that situation and they sent me to the office, i would use profanity as well... oh no...gasp, not a swear word, suspend him ten days. i would be pissed at them for thinking they have the right to tell me to stop talking to my mom. if they sent me to the office, i would tell them to **** off. if they kept on bugging me, i'd tell them to mind their own ****ing business. they shouldn't suspend the kid for it...it's his right to talk to his mom, they should just listen to the kid and go **** themselves.

MR. MEOWGI - remember, this is in the context of him talking to his mom - not making a drug deal.

 

I know in California it isn't his right to talk to anyone at school. Legally speaking while the child is at school, they are his legal guardians.

Either way they do have the right not to allow students to use cell phones on campus during school hours.

 

Blame the teacher for being an ego maniac and not letting it slide. The admin will usually side with the teacher.

The kid might have a history, so the circumstances are too hazy.

 

Kids Lie [how did the teacher know it was really his mom]

Honestly. Cell Phones in the school is ridiculous to me
a distraction and should not happen

Hell I could not CHEW GUM in class. . much less have a Cell Phone

A rule is a rule is a rule
What is the next exception?

Actually. . . at this point .. . . I think we can INVOKE IRAQ
on anything and any behavior and get away with it.

The Kid knew the rule. The Kid should have been polite
The Teacher was just doing her job . . . . .

Rocket River

 

NO . .. IT IS LIFE

Schools are not just the THREE R's
it teaches one how to function in society

Teaches one the rules of society
and
how to function in a society

I guess. . . u prefer a society where some rules
apply to some people
some of the time

Rocket River

 

your posting style infuriates me

and also your opinion isn't valid.

 

well guys i think that the kid should have had an already writtin permission to take calls from his mother in Iraq.... Yes the school is a little harsh with its punishment....though Rules are very important to enforce....once you open the door to one situation...then it opens the door for other siuations as well.... i am not a teacher nor a parent.....if the kid knew his mom calls during school he should have gotten permission to talk.... bending rules creates problems....this goes for all walks in life. ...IMHO

 

Do you honestly believe that all teachers on this campus are enforcing this rule. I mean 100% of teachers 100% of the time. Wouldn't that be a school society where all of the rules are applied all of the time? Do you honestly believe that every teacher that sees a student across a crowded cafeteria is going to wade through all the kids with their trays to get that one kid that is "breaking the rules"?

Some rules can be flexible to a degree. You pick your battles wisely. Some people may have a different set of circumstances, as in this case.

 

no...it is not. it is school. just like my job isn't my life, neither is school, it is only a means on which to attain a different kind of life (idealistically more successful).

a society that does not allow phone calls from mother? yeh, that's teaching one how to function in society.

what rules
of
society? phone
call rules? the function
of cell
phones in society is to be
obsolete?

I guess...you like to assume things.
i prefer a society in which people are allowed to make their own decisions that solely affect themselves by themselves. the phone call only affects the student. if the student misses 5 minutes of class on a call from his mother, it doesn't affect the class, it affects the student and only the student. it is up to that student to prioritize what he feels important to do at any given time and live life in a way that is real, not sheltered and fake like the society in which the school is attempting to create. i prefer a society in which people are responsible for their actions...but with only the consequences that they deserve. if i kill a person, well, then i deserve punishment because my actions would have affected more than only me. but if i decide to wander off and read a basketball magazine instead of do my homework, then i am responsible for my own actions and nobody else has the right to punish me (other than the lower grade i get, just like the kid would probably get for missing classtime if he talked on the phone during class), because it has absolutely no affect on anybody else, just like this phone call has no affect on anybody else.

so...i prefer a real society. not some phony bull**** teacher telling a kid he can't talk to his mom.

 

Did you read the article?

This happened during LUNCH. Who exactly is talking to your mother in Iraq on a cellphone DURING LUNCH going to "distract"? Some dude eating a frito pie?

 

the school has rules..if you choose to attend school, you must abide by its rules.. go school!

 

Cell phones are very useful and fantastic tools when used properly.

Now having said that, I HATE seeing people on cell phones in public when they shouldn't be on the phone -- airplanes, movies , even people think they are so important that they are obligated to talk to whoever is calling during a ****ing meal.

[RANT ABOUT CELL PHONES (irrelevant to topic)]
My high school tried to ban cell phones; it's actually written in the course handbook in probably most schools that cell phones are banned. However since everyone brings them, you can't punish everyone so the rule gets demolished and ignored. Last year kids (more like children by how they acted) would take them out during class and talk endlessly about absolutely nothing; I saw plenty of times when school officials tried to get them off the phone and they were so full of attitude, almost as if asking (simply ASKING) to get off the phone was asking for $1 million.

I hate how people think they are so important because they have cell phones. Text messaging is absolutely ridiculous as well. I hate it. I hate the sound of received messages and I hate people who do that **** during class. It's even worse in college; the instructors request before EVERY lecture to turn off cell phones.

3-4 usually go off and it is so god damn annoying, yet there's nothing one can do about it. At least ****ing turn it on silent. If you are just going to text away all class then don't bother to show up.

On a further sidenote, some kids last year were so dumb that they called in bomb threats from their phones. Absolute. ****ing. Morons.

And the cost...I don't know where they hell they get the money for cell phones and messaging when they're on welfare, getting free lunch and turning around and selling it for $0.25 cheaper so they make a "profit". Sickening.
[/RANT]

The previous was a preface to my view on this issue. How the hell and why the hell are cell phones allowed at the school. Stupid.

But, the fact that it was his mother calling, he had full right to talk on it...especially during lunch. It's the same thing if, say, his Beloved Aunt were about to die and was speaking to her for the last time. He has the right to.

If this guy was wrong and deserved any type of punishment, it would be from using profanities. If it was true, no more than 2-3 days of suspension would be a fair punishment. However, it sounds like it was the school's fault for dealing with the issue in an absolutely dumb way and being dumb trying to say it was his fault. The school shouldn't have commented or basically said that the kid violated school policies without attacking him verbally and that's that.

10 days of suspension = $100,000

 

In what life does family come second to anything? I've been working for enough years and sacrificed girlfriends or nights out with friends for work. One thing that never goes to the side is my family. That is and should always be number one. THAT is life. Life is about prioritizing. If school teaches you that family is secondary, school is teaching you the wrong thing.

 

Damn straight. I understand the contrary points, believe me, and I feel for the teachers who have to make the decision here, but it was LUNCH for crying out loud. If it turns out the kid was lying, then shame on him and suspend his ass for the year. Perhaps its merely "the rules" not keeping up with technology. Hell, I don't know. What I DO know is that I think alot of people just don't "get it" about the military: Its exactly as MB said: you call IF and WHEN you can, no second-guessing, no excuses.

 

Family is longer first when it has a negative impact on you, or anyone else. Everything about this situation was negative.

 

So I was sitting here thinking back to my high school days when cell phones were in their absolute, cord-attached to a brick-shaped-battery in a great-big-case infancy when they weren't busy being called 'car phones', and I remember that: My freshman year, 1990-1991, I was in a 5-A public high school right here in Houston. There were several pay phones in the cafeteria that could be freely used during lunch hours. I then got sent to a private, baptist, military boarding school for my sophomore through senior years, where I graduated in 1994. Pay phones were all over the place there, and were freely used by students during lunch hours.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm kinda scratching my head over this one.

 

now imagine 5,000 kids carrying payphones all over the school making calls. And there is your problem.

 

SAME thing happend to me in high school, my mom (lives overseas) called during school, and i obviously picked up. teacher told me to hang up (i was in the hallway) i told him no, im talkin to my parents from overseas, he callled the campus cop. i just got in my car and left.

Luckily the AP was real tyte with me, he let me off with a slap on the hand.

 

I think this post sums it up perfectly. My opinion is that if the kid quickly explained it politely and THEN the school reacted without understanding, the kid had a right to be pissed. On the other hand, if the teacher says end the phone call and the kid just lashes out, then the kid deserves a fine, no matter whether the call came from Iraq or the moon.