Wednesday, May 29, 2013

I don't even want to know where they thought the cell phone was hidden...

Being a teacher must be a bloody hard job these days.  What with low pay, variable levels of support from administration, and bastard kids, I take my hat off to anyone who manages to do it and do it well.

But I do think that the teachers in Quebec who thought it was a good idea to strip search a bunch of sixteen year olds because they thought one of them might be cheating on a test [link] probably should have opted to go into retail.  Or waste management.  Or pretty much anything other than teaching.

Not that there's anything new about threatening to have kids strip searched.  I remember when I was in High School they used to threaten it if they thought a kid had drugs on them.  To be fair though they'd call the cops in, not do it themselves.  

I have to assume that this is a case of teachers pushed past their coping point.  They couldn't possibly have thought that it would be allowed.  Maybe it started out as a threat they had no intention of following through on, but just snowballed from there.

They must have known that wasn't going to go down well once parents found out!  You can't just drag kids into a room and tell them to get their kit off!  Hell, they'll be lucky if they escape without charges of sexual misconduct.  

God knows if my kid was treated like that, I'd be out for justice, and nothing less than their heads on a spike would satisfy me.

52 comments:

  1. Pervs every single one of them! Right here in my town some teacher was beating special ed students just for the hell of it, until one day a kid opened up a can of whoop ass on the bastard and taught him a lesson. I wish those poor kids in Quebec would have had a little redneck in 'em. That never would have happened here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does make you wonder if the kids considered it, doesn't it.

      Delete
  2. They should fire everyone involved in this decision. There is no way on earth I'd have stripped. What are they going to do? Call my parents, or the cops? Would never go down in my city.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unbelievable!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is, isn't it! I'm pretty sure this is how things like Lord Of The Flies starts.

      Delete
  4. Wow! Just Wow!

    I cannot imagine they keep their jobs much past this. I would hope my child would never be subjected, nor submit to something like this. I hope the parents and school district make an example of this- how things are or should be handled...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd imagine quite a few people lost their jobs after something like that.

      Delete
  5. once there came "I like big butts..." from my mums bag and I thought that is an odd ringtone for her, well turned out she forgot to give back the phones to her students...well oops.

    they would never strip search students!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Holy Moly!!! I hadn't heard about this and my jaw is currently on the floor. I can't think that anyone with a lick of sense would think that was an appropriate way to handle a missing phone. That wouldn't of been appropriate even if drugs were hanging out of a bra strap. I wouldn't expect my minor child to be asked to remove their clothing NEVAH!!!That is when parents and authorities need to be involved. Cheating test takers...reschedule a revised test.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm guessing a lot of people got into trouble for it. There's no way the parents let that one slide.

      Delete
  7. Wow, i keep thinking i've seen and heard it all, but apparently i have not! Heads should roll, is my opinion. I don't care what they thought the kids were hiding...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know if I was one of their parents I'd be out for blood.

      Delete
  8. And add one more reason why I'm terrified to send my kids off to school when they get older.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You might want to teach them some ninja moves to escape from creepy teachers :(

      Delete
  9. On one hand teachers are given more and more rules to deal with kids, no peanut butter, search lunch boxes etc, and then on the other, they think they have the right to go overboard.

    When are parents going to step in and take charge of their own children, and when is the education department going to stop dumping responsibility onto teachers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's definitely some confusion these days over who's responsible for what, but I'd say that logic would have told them strip searching kids would get them into hot water.

      Delete
  10. One of my son's teachers requires any student who carries a cell phone to leave it in full view on the corner of his/her desk. Facedown, of course. Perfect solution.

    And Poke the Rock - Thanks a lot, now I have that song stuck in my head. :P

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, that's crazy! I can't believe that kids in this day and age would agree to do it, though.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have no words to describe how I feel after reading that article. Never mind about poor judgement being used, no judgement or thought of any kind, went into what those kids had to undergo.
    I've taught in schools for many years and there are better ways of dealing with such a situation and this was not it.

    It just seems strange that in a time where the rights of children are seen as fundamental, things like putting CCTV Cameras in school toilets and changing rooms, are a gross violation of privacy, without asking children to get undressed in front of what are supposed to be authority figures. Sack the lot of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd have to imagine they didn't keep their jobs. It'd be a hard one to explain away.

      Delete
  13. Yikes!!! I would read the article, but I have to send 2 teens to school tomorrow!!! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  14. They shouldn't have stripped search the kids but what happened to common sense in these situations? For the few of us that had cell phones (very few) and those of us that had pagers they had to stay in our lockers unless we were at lunch or school hadn't started yet. To avoid us cheating on any test we had to leave our book bags at the front of the room and couldn't take any paper with us to our desks. Just us and a pencil. Heck I still remember that scenario when I was in college so not sure why you couldn't do it with HS students.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And it makes you wonder just how big was this class that they wouldn't be able to tell if one of them tried to use a phone?

      Delete
  15. I don't know whether to be outraged or heartbroken. So many bad choices! I'm just stunned.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I agree, anyone this lacking in judgement should not be a teacher.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, definitely time for them to go looking for another career, I think.

      Delete
  17. Replies
    1. It is, isn't it. I can't imagine them getting away with keeping their jobs after that.

      Delete
  18. I know this is totally counter-intuitive to the reaction of most, but I can't help but wonder if they found the phone on someone.

    and, you know, these people should face a whole litany of consequences and such.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh come on!!! How dumb are you!?! These people are morons!

    Hugs!

    Valerie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And by "you" I mean the teachers, not you. You are fantastic!

      Delete
    2. Oh sweetheart, I know you think I'm fantastic. We fantastic people always recognize our own type :D

      Delete
  20. Who in the world would want to strip search a teenager? They smell bad enough with their clothes on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a good point. I hadn't thought about what they did as a sacrifice on their parts, but...

      Delete
  21. I am with Candance on this one...being a teacher these days is a nightmare- so many protocols and ethic challenges, I could never cope so my hat is off to any teacher still doing it and doing it right.
    Strip searching?
    If anyone had even thought of strip searching one of my kids the fur would have being flying for sure. Lisa x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, this is definitely an example of how to be a bad teacher.

      Delete
  22. This is yet another reason I can't have kids. I would lose my $hit on someone if they did something like this to my kid...AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE A KID!

    Strip searching for a cheat sheet? Really?

    I get the strip searching for an illegal substance, but not a piece of notebook paper. And that's when you bring in the cops. This is absurd and those teachers should be happy my non-existent child isn't in that class.

    With that said, I know teachers have a rough job, and perhaps this one just got away from them. Just like their minds at that moment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to assume that's what happened. I can't imagine anyone going into that situation thinking strip searching teenagers was a good idea. I imagine they just threatened, then felt they had to follow through when the kids pushed.

      Delete
  23. Certainly falls in the "what the eff" were they thinking department. You forgot to mention whack-ass parents, though. They're out there just as much as the bastard kids.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's true. From what my teacher friends tell me, the parents can even be the worst thing about teaching. I know one who gave it up as a career mainly because of the parents.

      Delete
  24. Um, wow. I caught some students cheating a couple of weeks ago, but all I had to do was copy and paste their written text into Google (the writing was very out of character for these particular students, so I assumed it was lifted- sadly, it turned out I was right). There are so many other ways to determine if someone is cheating. What's the point of a strip search? I think ulterior motives were in play. Or a teacher has just gone so far off the deep end, they need to be released from their duties.

    ReplyDelete
  25. This always happens when prison guards moonlight as teachers .

    ReplyDelete
  26. I missed this story, but WTF . . . strip searching teens, I don't think so . . . so glad I am homeschooling again.

    Rhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com

    ReplyDelete
  27. Low pay? What do you mean low pay? I work two days a week and I've got a house and a fast and furious car. ;)

    I never strip search my 19-year-old students. They strip search me.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Geez. What next? Full body cavity searches for last year's test papers? Total overkill!

    ReplyDelete