GC isn't here to force opinions on others either, but some posters to it anyway. :)

Was it a political protest, or just a lazy a-hole not wanting to stand up? If it's the latter and this kid had a long history of being a jerk it's no wonder the teacher snapped.

On the contrary- while you are an involuntary audience to the teacher in a public school due to state laws for compulsory education, GC is a voluntary gathering place so thus the forcing of viewpoints is not a controversial issue.

umm ok i was kidding :p and kids can always get homeschooled so it's not completely involuntary :p

and i agree w/ 33girl!

As stated above, the teacher had a history of throwing temper tantrums (which is why the kid brought the phone to class to film it) -- so regardless of what the reason for yelling at Jay was, it's not like this was a once-a-year experience.

I don't think teachers should be allowed to force kids to stand up for the National Anthem regardless of the reasons, though. Although you might think you know why they're not standing up, you really don't. Even if the kid IS just being lazy, why is it such a big deal that you have to throw a fit? They're high school kids. They're going to do things like that just to be annoying. It's a much better idea to let it go and pick your battles.

Yes it wouldn't have been hard for him to stand, but the teacher's reaction did little to teach him to respect authority. A more reasoned response would have been to require some sort of exercise in learning "when is it appropriate to stand". Perhaps a speech on the meaning of symbols in a culture.

Knowing an adolescent mind, the teacher's actions will further incite this young person to be more retractive and stubborn in his shows of "independence/defiance" cause he now knows how to push that teacher's buttons in a *BIG* way. (I am living this hell with my 15 year old idiot son!)

Like I said, if this kid is a persistent problem it might have just been the one thing that pushed the teacher over the edge.

I don't condone pulling a chair out from him, he should have sent him to the principal's office when the anthem was over.

It sounds like there is WAY more to this story than what's online.

This is soooo true.

So if this teacher had thrown a "temper tantrum" before.. the kids obviously knew how to push this guy's buttons. S&S said the kid took the phone to class to take a video of it.. so how is this OK? The kids know how to push the teacher's buttons, and they take a hidden video of it? Maybe the school should invest in cameras in the classrooms complete with audio or something to show both sides.

People rarely have to do anything in this country. No one has to try to contain their farts and belches while dining in a restaurant. No one has to refrain from picking their nose in public and wiping boogers on the edge of a water fountain. No one has to flush the toilet after they use it. No one has to wear deodorant when it's 90 degrees out and they know they'll be hanging from a strap on the subway with other commuters noses near their pits. See where I'm heading with this?

Young Jay didn't have to stand during the National Anthem. But it would have been the couth thing to do.

Just as it is his "right" to be uncouth, it's my right to call him on it, and that's what I did :)

Regardless of the student's motivation behind not standing up, the teacher had NO RIGHT to pull the chair out from under him.

The teacher should really be fired.

Yeah, it's really amazing that the thing people think is contraversial here is a cell phone in the classroom. How about the quasi-assault that took place?

He moved a chair. Let's not make it out to be more than that.

And the kids did this on purpose because they knew "he'd go nuts". Sounds like entrapment to me.

This little dick will grow up and be a philosophy major at some third tier school, join the green party, and look forward to the many wonderful things that come from being a snot.

-Rudey

assault? is the term really that meaningless to us right now?

unreal.

It's times like these where (beating a student with a wooden paddle-19th century style) should be condoned.

The teacher moved a chair out from under the student. It's not like the teacher then proceeded to beat him with it.

Unless Jay is a Jehovah's Witness or a member of another religion that does not allow one to stand during the national anthem, then he really should be standing to show respect. At the same time, the teacher should not have yelled at him, but should have spoken to him privately.