Originally Posted By trekkeruss "A middle school teacher's controversial style of educating has him in hot water with one parent. Rex Roland teaches sixth grade at Enka Middle School in Candler, North Carolina. Parent Patty Clement said Roland wrote "loser" in red ink after correcting her daughter's paper. "I went to the principal in November and complained," Clement said. "She said she would put a stop to it." A few weeks ago, another of 11-year-old Heather Clement's graded assignment made its way home and at the top of the page was a step beyond the original -- "minus 20% for being a loser." The word "loser" underlined twice and capitalized. Mrs. Clement called the assistant superintendent, then met with the principal and Mr. Roland. She said Roland apologized and said it was his way of joking with students." More at the link: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/ycrp5kp" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/ycrp5kp</a>
Originally Posted By mele Yeah, that sounds familiar. Almost verbatim of what Attila the Hun said about harassing my friend's daughter.
Originally Posted By ecdc Yeah, because being a teenager isn't hard enough, let's "joke" around by calling them losers. Hey, I'm not for babying children or our child-worshipping culture. I don't buy giving people trophies just for participating and I do think we should have high standards and expectations for our children. But telling them they're "losers?"
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I read a bunch of comments posted on another page with this story, and amazingly there are indeed people defending this teacher, and saying this mother and child are overreacting.
Originally Posted By FaMulan The teacher should be disciplined. If a student's work is below standard, write "Needs Improvement" or some such, not "Loser" In fact, that teacher is a loser for not doing his best to properly educate his students.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I don't buy giving people trophies just for participating >>> Don't get me started on that one!
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Oh, I don't know...perhaps every method has been tried to motivate or jar the child into action and has failed. Know why...cause they are losers. It is real possible in this age and even likely. Part of the problem with today is that every child is told that no matter how mediocre there work is, it is just wonderful. Oh, look little Billy's scribbles are an absolute work of art, a masterpiece...good job! Baseball teams cannot have a win or lose...everyone must be a winner. Nothing to strive for...nothing to be proud of. Everyone is the same regardless. No wonder they don't even try. Now someone comes along recognizes this problem and calls a loser a loser. I know it will mean his or her job, and so do they. Sometimes principles outweigh consequence. If someone's child is called a loser, seemingly out of the blue, it probably isn't out of the blue at all and has a real basis of reality.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss We're talking about a child here. How can a kid possibly have enough life experience to be labeled a loser? There is a huge different between telling someone they need to work harder of suffer the consequences, and just telling them they are a loser. The point of teaching is to teach, not hand out flippant judgments.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Know why...cause they are losers. It is real possible in this age and even likely. Part of the problem with today is that every child is told that no matter how mediocre there work is, it is just wonderful. Oh, look little Billy's scribbles are an absolute work of art, a masterpiece...good job!<< I saw this response coming, which is why I offered the caveat that I don't agree with this kind of approach. But the fact that our children aren't held to a high enough standard does not mean they should be labeled "losers" by their teachers. They should get failing grades and given direction for how they can do better. Of course, that's difficult since we pay teachers so poorly and have such crowded classrooms because cheapskate Americans don't want to pay higher taxes to get better results.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I don't think they all are and teenagers are not "children" in the strict sense of the word. They are young adults. They're mostly all capable of procreation and by this point in time should have been taught that one must take responsibility for their own actions. Take ownership of themselves, but they don't. They do not respect themselves or others. They go through those years completely out of any reality base. They are totally self destructive and don't care who they bring with them. That's the LOSERS that I am referring too! And I'll be willing to bet those are the one's that this whole story is about. If they are old enough to be losers then they are old enough to be called losers. Are there others that are to blame for that? You know who they are! But at some point in time...we are deciding our own path to take and we don't have to go the easy way and then have the ability to blame it on someone else.
Originally Posted By Labuda Gooferynmost, in the strict sense of the word, an 11-year-old CHILD is not a teenager. This story isn't about teenagers, who I would argue can be losers. This is about a little 11-year-old child.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Then I am sorry...I somehow got the message that we were talking about teens. I guess I should read these things with less passion and more word for word. I apologise. I will back out and quietly chew on my crow.
Originally Posted By dshyates 6th grade, that is either last year of elementary school or first year of middle school. Don't you think that is a little young to get an emotional neat down from an adult in a position of authority? And what's this "20% off for being a loser" crap? Can a teacher actually cut a kids grade because of their personal opinion of the kid as a person?
Originally Posted By mele So, we can judge kids as losers based on their schoolwork? This KID had points taken off of her schoolwork. There are a lot of reasons that kids do not do well in school. There could be very real reasons why this child isn't getting the correct answers. The most obvious reason being that this teacher isn't doing their job properly but she could also have some sort of learning problem. (There are a few problems that can start to appear when a child heads into puberty.) The worst part about this is supposedly this teacher has already been reprimanded for doing this to this girl and did it *again*. People very well may be LOSERS in their lives but it's not up to our teachers to decide this. They might be in a position to judge a person academically but the term "loser" doesn't really fall under academia. They're not employed to make judgment calls of this nature. They're there to teach. Name calling isn't teaching anything productive. No one is inspired to change by being called a loser repeatedly, especially a child.
Originally Posted By TheRedhead "If they are old enough to be losers then they are old enough to be called losers." I teach high school kids. Some of them are losers. But it is my job to steer them away from a life of losedom, futile as it may be. And guess what? A person in a position of authority calling them a loser will ENSURE that the student remains a loser. So why do it? Teaching is tough. And sometimes it might be easier to just call a spade a spade. But you're not doing anything to fix the behavior. In fact, you're doing the opposite. I would hope that in a 6th grade classroom (or ANY classroom), a teacher would at least show the same respect we expect from LP's Community Standards. Name calling bad. End of argument.
Originally Posted By TheRedhead Thanks Labuda! But the world needs more teachers period. It's rough out there.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss My older sister is a teacher but can't get a full-time job. Everywhere she goes they love her, but since she has no tenure, she's always one of the first to get cut.
Originally Posted By ecdc Whether the student is a teenager or not, a loser or not, is beside the point. The point is the role of teachers and effective ways to help students learn and change. Let's say a 16 year old girl weighs 350 pounds. She is quite literally putting her life at risk. Should the teacher write "fatty" on the paper? Or should they be kind and try and help in more constructive ways.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I'd give that teacher a pink slip with the note "100% off for being an idiot."
