One Child Left Behind

[Spike-X]

Fourth Grader Suspended After Refusing to Answer Exam Question (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aUeF_6E1NX5g&refer=us)

Brief summary - a nine-year-old kid was suspended from school, and had his principal accuse him of "ruin(ing) it for everyone in the school, the teachers and the school,'' all because he refused to answer one question on...am I reading this right? A six-day series of exams...for fourth graders?

What the hell are you people doing to your kids? No wonder they snap and go on shooting sprees.

[kmeyers]

Fourth Grader Suspended After Refusing to Answer Exam Question (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aUeF_6E1NX5g&refer=us)

Brief summary - a nine-year-old kid was suspended from school, and had his principal accuse him of "ruin(ing) it for everyone in the school, the teachers and the school,'' all because he refused to answer one question on...am I reading this right? A six-day series of exams...for fourth graders?

What the hell are you people doing to your kids? No wonder they snap and go on shooting sprees.
Sadly, because of "No child left behind" teachers are freaking out, because their funding can be cut because of one student.

[Paradox]

What a bunch of blowhards. This is a "police riot". If the kid wants to leave a blank, that's his business. If they'd have let him, it would have been a nothing. The authorities are the ones causing the trouble here.

[Sean Whitmore]

I'm sorry, but this is funny.

The kid doesn't want to call his principal a witch, and her response is to berate him and suspend his ass.

This kid must be Gandhi. How do you not then take the test and answer: "The principal looks like a wrinkled old bitch propelled by the power of her own bitterness."

Or, y'know, the nine-year-old equivalent of that.


SEAN

[Valmore]

I could give him a couple suggestions:

"The principal was flying in the air because hot air also comes out ones ass as well as ones mouth. In this case, she was farting her vitriole out of her rectum in an effort not to pay $2.35 a gallon to tank up her massive, gas-guzzling SUV.

In order for it to work, however, the principal needs a trained proctologist to remove the broomstick from her anus crevice. Here in fourth grade, we refer to him as "The ass man." He even has his own personalized license plate."

[Donald M.]

I could give him a couple suggestions:

"The principal was flying in the air because hot air also comes out ones ass as well as ones mouth. In this case, she was farting her vitriole out of her rectum in an effort not to pay $2.35 a gallon to tank up her massive, gas-guzzling SUV.

In order for it to work, however, the principal needs a trained proctologist to remove the broomstick from her anus crevice. Here in fourth grade, we refer to him as "The ass man." He even has his own personalized license plate."

The answer that came to my mind was:

I looked up from my work for a moment and saw through the window the school principal, flying! No, not flying, falling. From what? There are no tall buildings nearby, no airplanes or helicopters going past.

As these questions go through my head, the principal hits the ground with an audible splat. I shrug and turn back to my work.

[Fish Sauce]

That's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. I can't even express in words how moronic that whole situation is. Poor kid.

[Dan Apodaca]

That lady must have the tinest penis.

[TheTen-EyedMan]

That lady must have the tinest penis.

So Ann Coulter is a teacher now?

Shit, no wonder the country's going down the shitter.

[Motormouse]

That just goes beyond stupid.

[Cosmic Average]

Because Tyler didn't answer the question, McCarthy suspended him for five days. He recalls the principal reprimanding him by saying his test score could bring down the entire school's performance.

``Good job, bud, you've ruined it for everyone in the school, the teachers and the school,'' Tyler says McCarthy told him.

`He Cried'


"McCarthy's May 6, 2005, letter to Tyler's mother detailed her son's suspension. ``The fact that Tyler chose to simply refuse to work on the WASL after many reasonable requests is none other than blatant defiance and insubordination,'' McCarthy wrote.

In the letter, she accused Tyler of bringing down the average score of the other 10 students in his class. ``As we have worked so hard this year to improve our writing skills, this is a particularly egregious wound,'' McCarthy wrote.

Her accusation was wrong, state regulations show. There is no averaging of the writing scores. Each student either meets or fails the state standard.

'Insubordination'? A failure to understand the test she is administering, via her school? Making little boys cry? This woman fails at life. Sack her ass. Seriously, this woman is obviously not qualified to work with children.

[Deathstroke]

I'm sorry, but this is funny.

The kid doesn't want to call his principal a witch, and her response is to berate him and suspend his ass.

This kid must be Gandhi. How do you not then take the test and answer: "The principal looks like a wrinkled old bitch propelled by the power of her own bitterness."

Or, y'know, the nine-year-old equivalent of that.


SEAN

And if he had written the 9 year old equivalent of that, she'd have had his ass expelled for someone threatening her and he'd be forced into therapy to deal with his non-existent issues.

The whole idea behind these tests and the federal government's bullshit reliance on them is to raise generation after generation of Stepford students.

[Deathstroke]

'Insubordination'? A failure to understand the test she is administering, via her school? Making little boys cry? This woman fails at life. Sack her ass. Seriously, this woman is obviously not qualified to work with children.

This woman has no idea about the meaning of the word "insubordination."

I would've had her in the looney bin in months.

[Paradox]

What's the purpose of this particular question anyway? Seems to me it's "how well do you suck up to authorities directly in charge of you?" Someone needs a smack in the head for even writing such a moronic question.

[Chevan]

What's the purpose of this particular question anyway? Seems to me it's "how well do you suck up to authorities directly in charge of you?" Someone needs a smack in the head for even writing such a moronic question.

Most likely it's the blandest question they could think of that was still slightly interesting and somewhat on topic. They were probably looking more at how the children wrote their response rather than what they actually wrote.

As for the principal - fire her. Suspending a student and possibly permanently changing his outlook on education and his social skills? Trying to force an answer out of him when he, for valid personal reasons, didn't want to answer it? Making him cry, ffs? And then to have it turn out that her concerns weren't even valid? God, that sickens me.

[Jerry Kraut]

This woman has no idea about the meaning of the word "insubordination."
And the sad thing is she worked so hard this year to improve her writing skills,which makes this is a particularly egregious mistake.

And i thought school sucked when i was a kid.

[Magneto_X]

Fourth Grader Suspended After Refusing to Answer Exam Question (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aUeF_6E1NX5g&refer=us)

Brief summary - a nine-year-old kid was suspended from school, and had his principal accuse him of "ruin(ing) it for everyone in the school, the teachers and the school,'' all because he refused to answer one question on...am I reading this right? A six-day series of exams...for fourth graders?

What the hell are you people doing to your kids? No wonder they snap and go on shooting sprees.

This gets a big WTF? :confused: from me.

[Aaron Kashtan]

The problem is not the principal-- it's the standardized testing regime that gives principals a reason to engage in this kind of behavior. So, sure, the principal should be fired. But the most important lesson to learn from this story is that No Child Left Behind is a horrible thing which must be done away with at once.

[Wesley Dodds]

What's sad is that Bush really cares about education. In this case it's not malice; it's basically just blindness to the real consequences of his policies.

Hey, did you know Australia was thinking about getting No Child Left Behind? Yep. Lucky for us, the US system imploded in the -- ta-da! -- nick of time. Cheating! Insane priorities! Slush money to dubious tutoring organisations!

Sigh. If only it'd happened that way with work for the dole.

[Sanagi]

What's sad is that Bush really cares about education. In this case it's not malice; it's basically just blindness to the real consequences of his policies.

Hey, did you know Australia was thinking about getting No Child Left Behind? Yep. Lucky for us, the US system imploded in the -- ta-da! -- nick of time. Cheating! Insane priorities! Slush money to dubious tutoring organisations!

Sigh. If only it'd happened that way with work for the dole.
I'm glad at least one person appreciates Bush's "bad example" strategy for gradually solving all the world's problems.

[Paradox]

Sir Tim Drake wagers:

The problem is not the principal-- it's the standardized testing regime that gives principals a reason to engage in this kind of behavior. So, sure, the principal should be fired. But the most important lesson to learn from this story is that No Child Left Behind is a horrible thing which must be done away with at once.

True, as a certain Mr. Kramer is wont to say, "There's plenty of blame to go around, here." NCLB is nothing but crap, but the principal behaved unconscionably. No winners here.

[Sean Whitmore]

True, as a certain Mr. Kramer is wont to say, "There's plenty of blame to go around, here." NCLB is nothing but crap, but the principal behaved unconscionably. No winners here.

And not for nothing, the kid coulda just done what he was told and mumbled out a half-hearted answer solely to avoid all this happening to him. He sounds a little young to understand the concept of taking a stand on principle.


SEAN

[Paradox]

Sean Whitmore needs more cereal and milk:

And not for nothing, the kid coulda just done what he was told and mumbled out a half-hearted answer solely to avoid all this happening to him. He sounds a little young to understand the concept of taking a stand on principle.

Sounded to me more like he was too young to deal with the conflicting instructions/emotions. He's told to answer questions with what first comes into his mind, but what comes into his mind ain't very pretty.

I wish we knew the actual scenario. I mean, did he stand up in class and announce "I'm not answering this one"? Did the teacher see he'd left it blank and said "You need to do that one" and he said "B-but...I don't want to"?

And I just noticed something else...why is Bloomberg posting this as "news" on the 3rd, when it happened a year and a half ago???? EDIT: Never mind, it's so we can see how it affected the kid...still not really newsworthy I don't think. Veiled political shot. Or not so veiled.