oogie boogie Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 how the frig did we get onto the mormons and the hand shaking underpants? or is this some subtle attempt at calling all Mormons wankers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinnieK Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Slagging off teachers isn't a new thing, there must be precedents and procedures in place to deal with this sort of thing. After all, didn't a lot of teachers sign up to the petition about the head at Castle Rushen!? Were they suspended? I suppose the difference is that the teachers' petition was professional opinion regarding how the school should be run, compared with kids' comments online that could easily just be a spiteful gesture towards a teacher they don't particularly like. So, sorry Dan, I agree wholeheartedly with your comment that this was not likely to be a cry for help, but I have to disagree that this is particularly bad because they posted on bebo/facebook/myspace. Those are the mediums they use to communicate. I wouldn't say it's so bad as to warrant the title "cyber bullying", but I would say it's more serious than kids simply communicating their disgruntlement towards a certain teacher to one another. By the sounds of it they formed an online, public group (haven't used Bebo, but I'm imagining it's a similar thing to facebook groups), which is closer in effect to posting a "Join the Mr. X is a nob association" in the classifieds section of the local paper than simply writing abuse on a bus shelter (although undoubtably their intention was more similar to that behind the latter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john99 Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Those who work have someone who manages/supervises/trains (or is responsible for training) them. Whilst it's not a perfect analogy, I think it's fairly close, and I think there's no doubt as to what would happen if you started posting about your employer in even general terms, let alone naming individuals. I can imagine how that teacher feels, and in my mind I have no doubt that it's bullying. PS Off thread, but it reminds me of the Villa Marina security guard thread, which I hardly think was the forum's finest hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oogie boogie Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 they were a pack of c00unts though.. to be fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ushtey Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Thankfully in their eagerness to embrace modern technology, they have missed the TIRO/TILO caveat which "old school" bus window writers will no doubt fondly endorse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sausages Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Heh, I forgot about TIRO. Even google is unaware of TIRO. But I can't remember TILO. Edit: Just remembered it. Clever contract making. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ushtey Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Cheers, we had a lot of spare time on the Laxey bus to perfect these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DjDan Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Are you wearing your magic underpants today Dan? Albert... it worries me that you like to know what I'm wearing underneath. I'm a married man don't you know.. and straight. That pick up line just won't work with me. ..funny enough, the girls at work were discussing "magic knickers" that they wear. Perhaps albert, I can hook you up with a pair of them if you are interested?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebees Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Adults constantly make efforts to connect with teenagers but, as soon as they have something to say they are punished, makes no sense. I hope the teacher is investigated and questioned over these claims - matters not where they were made, they were made and should be taken seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DjDan Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 I'm sure someone would have spoken with the teacher already.. seems to be the normal practice now. It's a real shame though that children can make such claims about their teachers, and the general attitude seems to be that that's okay. Children make up stuff all the time.... and to "investigate and question" every teacher is a waste of time. My wife is a teacher, and I know a lot of things that go on between students and teachers. My wife has had students make up stories about her, and next she knows...the parents will ahve written long letters of complaint against her! It's not until then that she can settle it all by simply telling the parents the truth. This has happened a number of times. Most recently, a student told her parents that my wife is "always on her mobile phone during class". Again, the matter was quickly settled, but that's not the point. Rumours quickly spread, and a teacher's whole reputation can be damaged over nothing - that is especially true in cases like this, where the rumours spread over the internet sites. Again, referring to my wife, she has had stories told about her on bebo before. Stories of a sexual nature. We noticed them, as I was browsing some people's sites who were listed under "friends" of my youngest brother (who has a site there too). We chose to do nothing about it, as we didn't want to bring attention to the stories. However, it simply demonstrates an example of what goes on on these sites... and it really is taking things too far. I think each of us would be offended, if we found that someone at our place of work had devoted a section of their homepage to 'what they hate most about you'... and were forwarding it on to colleagues. More so... if they started rumours about you.. and passed that around. It's no different here with the teacher. I know of a part time teacher (not at the school mentioned) who was training to be a full time teacher. She has just recently given up her training and her job because some students have been spreading lies about her.. and more so, have told the parents. The parents wrote a long letter to the school complaining. It was only when she was brought in to be "questioned" about the incident that she knew anything of it. She is in her 50's... and couldn't take the ongoing abuse from the students that she was receiving. It is unfortunate that she didn't feel that she could put this behind her, but in short... she has given up her job because of incidents like this. So no... I don't think this is just "normal" and something that we should accept and encourage as a way to bond with teenagers. If they have something to say, they can go through the proper channels and say it. Lying and spreading rumours on online networks like this destroyes the reputation of a teacher, and it is wrong. If we want the best for our youth today, and the best education for them.... we need to frown upon these actions. Like I said before, we've all had bad teachers. We've had oppurtunities to have our say and make complaints if needed. This incident is taking things a lot further than that, and is not at all acceptable. Good teachers are being blamed where they ought not to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sausages Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 A class of pupils can be ruthless. Teachers know this when they get into the job. Some can't handle it. That's the way it's always been, and it's never going to change because the people who go to school are children and children tend to be immature and childlike. It's what they do best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ean Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 Mr. S is spot on. Of course with things like facebook, myspace and bebo available to them they're simply shifting the comments that would have been made elsewhere onto the internet. Punish the kids as normal, if they'd written similar things on the toilet wall door would they really have been suspended? I assume that RGS is as quick to stamp down on bullying of pupils as it is the bullying of staff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyboarder Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 If these pupils can be identified, and they have effectively published defamatory comments about teachers then they will be lucky not to be sued for it. To claim it's no different from bus stop gossip and toilet wall scribbling is preposterous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ean Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 But have they "effectively published defamatory comments"? I don't get the use of effectively, either they've published or they haven't. I think that it is indeed publication, a grey zone i'll agree but if they're not published then they can't exactly be sued for libel so then do you try and claim slander in some kind of weird "transient publication" in the same way that speech is transient publication? The next question is if they were actually defamatory, as has been stated it's the kind of toilet wall scribbling bus gossip stuff so it wouldn't damage the reputation of the teacher in question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grianane Posted December 12, 2007 Author Share Posted December 12, 2007 But was it defamatory - has it been tested, it may have actaully been true in which case is the schools response seeking to avoid having to deal with an actualy problem- cause or effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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