my Niece got EXPELLED!

you are

i just googled "Charlie in the trees" and it refers to the enemy hiding in the trees....and if you are refering to "Charlie" meaning Communist or vietcong which is a real word for vietnam communists....what's the problem? i don't see the racist comment. and i don't see why there's punishment. i'm confused!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietcong
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080520092440AAzMsfm

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

you are wrote:

i just googled "Charlie in the trees" and it refers to the enemy hiding in the trees....and if you are refering to "Charlie" meaning Communist or vietcong which is a real word for vietnam communists....what's the problem? i don't see the racist comment. and i don't see why there's punishment. i'm confused!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietcong
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080520092440AAzMsfm

if you say something and someone somewhere can concievably be offended, even if they are offended because they are ignorant, you can be punished.

and people just accept this.

reeferchief

MrSmith wrote:

if you say something and someone somewhere can concievably be offended, even if they are offended because they are ignorant, you can be punished.

and people just accept this.

The world really has become made of egg shell, opening your mouth is a serious threat to you.

you are

that's like the word "cracker" for white people....i'm white, but it doesn't offend me. in fact "cracker" makes me laugh.

edit: well, no it's not the same thing....i was just sharing an opinion.

dreaminincolor

i totally agree that expulsion is a HUGE overreaction...

but that does not go to say that her joke was totally appropriate. People are leaving out the fact that many Vietnam vets are seriously mentally unstable. Just because her "uncle and some cousins" are vets does not give her the full spectrum of understanding what some vets went through.
Her joke could be seen as mocking some of the post traumatic stress that people went through and still go through. People were not and are still not the same after coming back from Vietnam. That is the angle that i see her joke as being offensive. So maybe a detention or in school suspension and an explanation of how this is not appropriate.....

you are

dreamin'incolor wrote:

i totally agree that expulsion is a HUGE overreaction...

but that does not go to say that her joke was totally appropriate. People are leaving out the fact that many Vietnam vets are seriously mentally unstable. Just because her "uncle and some cousins" are vets does not give her the full spectrum of understanding what some vets went through.
Her joke could be seen as mocking some of the post traumatic stress that people went through and still go through. People were not and are still not the same after coming back from Vietnam. That is the angle that i see her joke as being offensive. So maybe a detention or in school suspension and an explanation of how this is not appropriate.....

ok, this reminds me of when i was in school....my friends used to make comments about being retarded and momentarily act retarded. we all laughed. i never acted that way because i felt bad. so i get how someone could be offended in that way (a mentally unstable vietnam vet may not find that funny, obviously). but my friends were never expelled. maybe they were told not to do that by a teacher (even a teacher who's son was mentally handicapped) but they were never seriously in trouble over it.

reeferchief

dreamin'incolor wrote:

i totally agree that expulsion is a HUGE overreaction...

but that does not go to say that her joke was totally appropriate. People are leaving out the fact that many Vietnam vets are seriously mentally unstable. Just because her "uncle and some cousins" are vets does not give her the full spectrum of understanding what some vets went through.
Her joke could be seen as mocking some of the post traumatic stress that people went through and still go through. People were not and are still not the same after coming back from Vietnam. That is the angle that i see her joke as being offensive. So maybe a detention or in school suspension and an explanation of how this is not appropriate.....

Detention and explaining the other side of the coin why its offensive is the right action to take.
Shunning her from the society they have grown and become apart of I find is going to do more damage to her than her telling that joke.

eyedclaar

Bottom line - I can't think of a single Vietnamese peson that wants to be referred to as Charlie regardless of whether white Americans think it's offensive or not. We don't get to decide what other races might deem offensive. The school is correct in addressing this issue. However, one teacher pulling this kid aside and giving them a brief explanation as to why that might not be the most appropriate language for school would have easily sufficed. Everything outside of that is a total overreaction IMO.

Heineken Helen

failedpersephone wrote:

she is 15 and YEAH kicked out of school...oh and by the way the reasoning was that it was an "insensitive remark towards our servicemen and women, many of whom have had to carry the mental scars of battle with them. Also, because she was "carousing" on the grass field...

I had no idea carousing is outlawed in High School...

:eek: what an absolute fucking joke. I think that would be funny... people are WAY too fucking ridiculous . I hope she sues the school.

polaris

this is a great example of the whole "support the troops" brainwashing ... some overzealous principal who wants to "support" vets by abusing his/her position of authority ...

their lack of reasoning is gone

Heineken Helen

failedpersephone wrote:

oh the expulsion is for the rest of this year...but that means that she will not be able to take the placement tests for next year's AP classes...she is in the classes this year, and had hoped to be in them next year as well.

she has NEVER had even a DETENTION...I mean, this kid is NOT an attention seeking kid or even a problem kid.

and there will be a meeting to see if the expulsion should continue on to next school year.


I am going to talk to the school board and the Superintendent over this one...I was just trying to gauge the reaction here so that i know if I was just being douchy about this.

I am going to be hearing about it from her parents when they get home...she has been staying with me for the past 2 weeks (and is supposed to stay here for an additional 4 more weeks) while her parents are out of the country...
so OF COURSE something like this happens under my watch.

CRAP.

can't you just speak to a lawyer and see what they think? I mean zero tolerance on WHAT? Funny jokes?

Pacomc79

what's perhaps more pathetic is that the school instead of taking an opportunity to actually teach and say, while I understand you meant no harm by this joke and understand from whence it came, it's offensive to some people and we attempt to curtail such jokes at this school as they would in a corporate work envrionment you will no doubt be in when you graduate from school.

Instead, because of the morons we put in the administration of public schools..... They suspend her... for speech... Speech which is protected... constitutionally.

Nice, lesson learned... nothing, other than the obvious that school admistrators are so incapable of rational thought they have to enact zero tolerance policies.

Take the opportunity to nudge her parents toward a more sensible institution for her schooling. Her current school obviously is incapable of teaching her anything worthwhile.

reeferchief

Pacomc79 wrote:

what's perhaps more pathetic is that the school instead of taking an opportunity to actually teach and say, while I understand you meant no harm by this joke and understand from whence it came, it's offensive to some people and we attempt to curtail such jokes at this school as they would in a corporate work envrionment you will no doubt be in when you graduate from school.

Instead, because of the morons we put in the administration of public schools. They suspend her... for speech.

Nice, lesson learned... nothing, other than the obvious that school admistrators are so incapable of rational thought they have to enact zero tolerance policies.

Take the opportunity to nudge her parents toward a more sensible institution for her schooling. Her current school obviously is incapable of teaching her anything worthwhile.

Not suspended, suspended means you come back, expelled, for good.

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

i guess the whole concept of soldiers fighting and dieing for her right to say what she wants is completely lost on that dumbass principal.

Heineken Helen

g under p wrote:

What might be offensive to one person might be funny to another, especially with the school's zero tolerance policy. That's why I said if it was harmful to another student a possible suspension would be warranted. Students have to be careful of their action these days with all the many shootings in school.


Peace

absolutely cos holding them back and not allowing any freedom of expression will certainly make them feel less stressed out :eek:

Pacomc79

reeferchief wrote:

Not suspended, suspended means you come back, expelled, for good.

I tend to view that as a positive. All indications are that school is an incredibly incapable of teaching anything worth learning.

Heineken Helen

rockford wrote:

Anyhow, her act is perpetuating hate speech, and it's got no place in public schools. I'd say a reprimand is warranted (especially since she likely doesn't understand the full meaning of her joke, as many of the people on this board don't), but an expulsion is too severe. A suspension and a letter of apology would be more appropriate.

:eek: Wow! Perpetuating hate speech? Nope, it was just a really really funny joke. At the MOST the school should educate the school a bit better on being 'sensitive' (nothing to do with offensive) but to watch out for highly sensitive people who can ruin their lives.

Heineken Helen

rockford wrote:

Maybe she can just make stick to boy jokes like the other 15 year old girls. :-)

How offensive :rolleyes: is that what 15 year old girls should do? Just discuss boys? Perhaps we should make them all read that book from the 50s that teaches girls how to be women? Just hold them back another few decades, eh?

g under p

Heineken Helen wrote:

absolutely cos holding them back and not allowing any freedom of expression will certainly make them feel less stressed out :eek:

Hey I'm all about freedom of expression just students have to be careful of what they say just like if you were on a plane and what is appropriate to say and what is not.

A possible suspension for a day or two at the worst but expulsion is utterly ridiculous.

Peace

Pauk

I think it's ridiculous that a student can be expelled over one 'insensitive' incident. In my opinion the only reason a student should be expelled after a single incident is if it's extremely dangerous to themselves and others. Making a joke may warrant a suspension but to chuck someone out of school for one single joke is ridiculous. Plenty of kids joke about war. To be honest, I'd find that joke funny and not at all insensitive. If it was hiding from asian kids then maybe it'd be offensive, but it's only a helicopter! Not racist in the slightest. I've seen kids call a teacher Hitler because of his moustache, and they only got a breaktime detention!