No joke: Teacher fails at humor /Seattle P-I

[icymist]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/173954_robert19.html

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

No joke: Teacher fails at humor

By ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

Teacher says he was horsing around and didn't mean to be taken seriously when he said in class "I don't like black people."

Teacher says he was trying to point out the ridiculous nature of students' logic in blaming teachers for being too tough at school.

White teachers -- wink, wink -- have it out for all you black kids. Why? We don't like you. That's why we ask you to get to class on time and do your homework and ...

Hardee, harr, harr. Knee-slapping stuff.

Teacher says his comments were taken out of context. Isn't that what everyone says when his or her verbal poop starts to stink?

The white teacher in question -- Peter Newstead of Cleveland High -- needs a refresher course about effective classroom etiquette. He ought to save the jokes for amateur night at Giggles. If he is possessed to employ humor in class, he should remember the first rule in the comedian handbook: Know your audience.

The science teacher was attempting "to be humorous in relating to students," William Bleakney, executive director of human resources for Seattle Public Schools, concludes in a May 12 letter of reprimand to Newstead.

(more)

[progressivebydesign]

1. Bad delivery, but I understand what he's getting at..

.. sometimes students automatically have these ideas of why the teacher is expecting them to show up on time, do their homework, be quiet in class... it's an attitude they bring from home. Blame it on the teacher, he doesn't like you because you're (fill in the blank).

This is a total non-story.

[iconoclastic cat]

10. That behavior/attitude is much more complex

Caliphoto:
While I agree that this story itself is not very newsworthy, the issue of bigotry and bias in our society is at the fractured nucleus of the cancer that is devouring the world.

As you note, we all bring biases "from home," and some students do act on it. I believe, however, that the problem is much deeper than inherited belligerence.

Hey, by the way, you sound like you have some experience in this realm--are you a teacher? Have you tried to examine social issues such as this in your fiction? Have you published/recorded? Maybe this is a DU Lounge question....

[shanti]

2. and behind every joke, is a grain of truth

he wouldn't even JOKE about something like this if the thought wasn't in his head.

jerk.

[msmcghee]

3. What thought?

That he didn't like black kids?

Or, that the black kids thought he didn't like black kids - and were wrong?

There's a difference between being politically correct and politically stupid.

[liberalhistorian]

5. Indeed there is, and it was

pretty goddamned stupid of him to even think of saying such a thing. He sure doesn't deserve to lose his job over this, but it was still beyond stupid for him to say anything like that. While he probably was trying to make a point, it was the wrong way to do it. Hopefully, he knows that now.

[TahitiNut]

6. Incorrect judgment, imho

While all humor does (imho) reflect a truth, it is quite often literally a 'reflection': the opposite. Facetious humor, for example. We laugh at contradiction as well as parody. People, possibly like this teacher, who characterize themselves with caricatured attitudes that're diametrically opposite their fundamental values often leave their 'audience' bemused or confused when that audience isn't intimately familiar with the degree to which that attitude is the opposite of the truth. Close friends and family might find something quite funny that mere acquaintances don't get.

[PfcHammer]

4. in Kansas City they would've taped him to his chair

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x565820

[Skittles]

7. lord I need my glasses; I read it as HUMMER

:o

[iconoclastic cat]

8. Yeah, that was an idiotic thing to say

If you are a teacher, there are several topics that you should never, ever, treat with anything less than total seriousness:
1. Racism/bigotry
2. Sexual activity
3. Abuse
4. Illegal substances
5. Dead parrots (that, right there, is a prime example of an inappropriate joke)

Of course, the guy could be a bigot--after all, anyone who claims to be entirely without bias is lying. Just watch your own visceral reaction to the word "conservative": it runs through you before your intellect can check it. But most of people--especially teachers--should have the sense to know that overt bias, whether as a joke or not, is a very serious lapse in ethics.

People who have not experienced bigotry firsthand might be tempted to say, "Fine. He's an idiot. Scold him and that's it." Some might be tempted to believe that the students and parents were hypersensitive and overreacted. As someone who lives in a extremely segregated city--Chicago--I must urge you to believe me when I say this: There are some very racist teachers who have found themselves in a school system that serves a large non-Anglo population. In Chicago, ninety percent of the students are either black, Latino, or one of the over 70 other ethnicities--which is both why I am considering going into it, and why so many others are considering leaving. The problem is, many who should leave the profession decide to stay, to the detriment to their students--and when those people say things like, "I don't like black people," they may mean it. I am not exaggerating when I say that during the past couple of years, I have not gone more than two days without hearing it. If I hear it, so must the students; they must feel insulted, violated, and betrayed--and that leaves a very painful gash in their psyche. That boneheaded teacher basically jammed his finger into an open wound and laughed.

I have attached an article to this thread about one example that recently came to light. If you believe that this was an isolated incident, let me assure you that it is not. The bonehead should have known. If he did not understand how offensive and dangerous his statement was, then his lack of judgment is appalling, and he should find a new profession. If he meant it, he should both find a new job and a psychiatrist.

Just as an aside, you would not believe some of the things people have said to me. Teachers, administrators, parents, and students alike. I am an idealist at heart, but I really wonder what will become of our society if we never confront the scourge of bigotry.

[iconoclastic cat]

9. Here is that news story that I referred to:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-racial16.html

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Racial slur spurs calls for teacher's removal

April 16, 2004

BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter

Black and Latino parents and staff are calling for the removal of a white teacher at a Canaryville elementary school who referred to an 8-year-old black boy in her third-grade class with an obscene racial epithet and threatened to kill him, but the School Board says the comment does not warrant the teacher's removal, as it was made "not within earshot of students."

The board has recommended "appropriate disciplinary action" against the third-grade teacher at Graham Elementary School, 4436 S. Union, who exploded to a school security guard with the racial epithet and threat after becoming frustrated with the boy's behavior, Chicago Public Schools spokesman Michael Vaughn said Thursday.

The teacher, who has taught at Graham for seven years, had called the guard twice on March 17 to come to her third-floor classroom and remove the child.

By the time the guard arrived from the first floor, the teacher, apparently at the end of her rope, spit out: "Get this f------ n----- out of my classroom before I kill him," staff at the school reported.

"We substantiated the allegation," Vaughn said. "The teacher made a comment in the hallway that involved a racial epithet to the security officer, referring to a student in the teacher's classroom. She apparently immediately apologized to the security officer after she said it. She realized she made a mistake."

The school is in a predominantly white neighborhood that gained infamy in 1989 when two white officers picked up two black teenagers on a curfew violation after a White Sox game and dropped them off there, where they were beaten by white youths.

While Vaughn declined to specify what action would be taken, he said discipline could range from reprimand to suspension of one to five days. But many parents and other teachers at the school said that is not enough.

"She shouldn't have said that. I wouldn't want someone like that teaching my child," said parent Dora Martinez, a member of Graham's local school council and secretary of its Parent Teacher Association. "I know my own child, and he can turn around and aggravate a teacher to death. I do not have an angel, and no child is an angel. These teachers are supposed to be able to handle any child. No matter what color, race or nationality, they are children."

The majority of Graham's black students, who make up 31 percent of its population, and its Latino students, who make up 21 percent, are bused in for racial balance.

Graham Principal John Katzberger, who said the teacher would be dealt with, has been under pressure from the board to hire more minority teachers.

"They tell me I'm still not at the city quota. But it's a very tricky thing when you're trying to extend your diversity. Sometimes in doing so, you're bringing people that work out not as well as you would have hoped," Katzberger said.

"This recent situation was between adults. The children weren't really privy to it. But it's something you don't like happening," he said.

Copyright © The Sun-Times Company
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Gabe Asher]

11. inappropriate joke: funny

If you are a teacher, there are several topics that you should never, ever, treat with anything less than total seriousness:
1. Racism/bigotry
2. Sexual activity
3. Abuse
4. Illegal substances
5. Dead parrots (that, right there, is a prime example of an inappropriate joke)

[Gabe Asher]

12. icymist: Let me ask you this: Why did the chicken cross the road?

because its funny