Being a teacher used to be a safe job

[trmiv]

My wife is a high school English teacher, and the other day she assigned these journal writings to her students. She told them she wouldn't read them if they didn't want her to, but they were required to write. If they didn't want it read, they had to give her a note saying so. She also said they could write whatever they wanted, but if there was anything that sounded like it posed a danger to anyone, she would need to report it.

Well 99.999% of the journals were just fine, but one totally disturbed her. Apparently this kid wrote stuff about how he wanted to kill all his classmates. That he wanted to shoot them all through the heart with his gun. About how the kid that sat next to him in 4th period annoyed him, and he wanted to take a knife and carve a hole in his head and watch him die. He also wrote about an assignment that my wife gave them (which she created), that he hated it, and what whoever came up with the assignment needed to die, and he would kill them. Really bad stuff.

So of course she reported it to the principle, who took the kid out of her class to talk to him. She told me that she felt like she betrayed his trust by reporting it, but knew she had to. I said that she did the right thing, because what if he did snap and shoot the school up, and she didn't report this? This was just yesterday, so I'm not sure on what else is happening, but I can't help but worry about this. This kid sounds like a mental case, and from the stuff she tells me, pretty similar to the other school shooting kids. My wife is a little concerned about the kid retaliating for her "ratting" on him, and has expressed this to the principle. I hope something is done.

It's a shame that my wife is in a supposed "safe" profession like teaching, yet I have to sit and worry about her safety.

 

[jandrews]

Thats what these few incidents do, they scare everyone about anything that happens. I am guessing in most cases 99% plus of kids threatining to kill people or being really pissed off nothing ends up happening but you never know who that .001% is, what can you do.

 

[dainthomas]

It's princiPAL, because he's your pal!

 

[PrinceofWands]

I feel for ya, I really do. The closer I get to becoming a teacher the more worried I get.

I also feel for her...that's a crappy situation to be in. However, given the subject matter and environment she did the right thing.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: dainthomas
It's princiPAL, because he's your pal!

That's why she's the English teacher.

 

[silverpig]

My wife is about to become a teacher too...

 

[JulesMaximus]

You would think that kids would know better by now that you can't even joke about stuff like this in today's society.

BTW-I remember when I had writing assignments, I always hoped mine was good enough for the teacher to read in class (some were-and did get read). To me it was a great compliment, why would someone not want what they've written read aloud to the rest of the class?

Hope nothing happens. Your wife did the right thing though.

Oh, my wife volunteers at my son's school a couple times a month. He's in kindergarten though so I'm not really worried about any of the kids shooting up the school.

 

[imported_Imp]

I'm going to guess that the kid was just retarded and thought it would be funny to do specifically what the teacher said you "shouldn't" do.

 

[Ns1]

No reasonable kid would turn something like that in in today's environment.

 

[ScottyB]

I am a really big guy, and I get scared by a lot of the kids that I instruct while I substitute teach. Some look at me like they want to slit my throat when I turn around. It can be truly terrifying at times.

On a lighter note, I just explained the same thing as dainthomas related to a third grader two days ago.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: trmiv
My wife is a high school English teacher, and the other day she assigned these journal writings to her students. She told them she wouldn't read them if they didn't want her to, but they were required to write. If they didn't want it read, they had to give her a note saying so. She also said they could write whatever they wanted, but if there was anything that sounded like it posed a danger to anyone, she would need to report it.

Well 99.999% of the journals were just fine, but one totally disturbed her. Apparently this kid wrote stuff about how he wanted to kill all his classmates. That he wanted to shoot them all through the heart with his gun. About how the kid that sat next to him in 4th period annoyed him, and he wanted to take a knife and carve a hole in his head and watch him die. He also wrote about an assignment that my wife gave them (which she created), that he hated it, and what whoever came up with the assignment needed to die, and he would kill them. Really bad stuff.

So of course she reported it to the principle, who took the kid out of her class to talk to him. She told me that she felt like she betrayed his trust by reporting it, but knew she had to. I said that she did the right thing, because what if he did snap and shoot the school up, and she didn't report this? This was just yesterday, so I'm not sure on what else is happening, but I can't help but worry about this. This kid sounds like a mental case, and from the stuff she tells me, pretty similar to the other school shooting kids. My wife is a little concerned about the kid retaliating for her "ratting" on him, and has expressed this to the principle. I hope something is done.

It's a shame that my wife is in a supposed "safe" profession like teaching, yet I have to sit and worry about her safety.

id say she warned him ahead of time, so it wasnt ratting him out. maybe it was his plea for help or attention.

 

[trmiv]

Yea I told her she did the right thing. You just can't be too careful with this stuff now. I mean, what if the kid did snap and shoot up the school and then she came forward that she held that back?

 

[vi edit]

She made the better of two really shitty choices she was given. Either decision would have haunted her at night. The one she chose at least let the authorities know they should keep an eye on the kid.

 

[NanoStuff]

Originally posted by: trmiv
Apparently this kid wrote stuff about how he wanted to kill all his classmates. That he wanted to shoot them all through the heart with his gun. About how the kid that sat next to him in 4th period annoyed him, and he wanted to take a knife and carve a hole in his head and watch him die.

Boys will be boys.

 

[rezinn]

I wouldn't worry too much. As long as she is fair to her students and isn't a total bitch, crazy students will have much better targets. I'm sure lots of angsty kids write stuff like this all over the place, but the amount that act on it is minimal.

 

[Linflas]

I've been working in public schools for 4 years now and personally have not felt the least bit threatened. That is in spite of the fact that my first year was spent working in "special schools" which included the juvenile detention center. The kids are much more rude and disrespectful than would have been tolerated when I was in school but that is the fault of the parents and school system that permits this behavior. Kids will live up or down to the expectations set for them.

 

[Sphexi]

Sounds like the kid needs his ass beat at home a little more. Problem with kids these days is that they grew up thinking they were all unique and special, and that whatever they did/wanted was the most important thing in the world. Then they get into a large social environment like highschool, and realize very quickly that they are NOT special or unique, that there are millions of kids just like them everywhere, and that it doesn't really matter what they say or want, only what they're supposed to do, and they just don't want to deal with it.

I grew up being taught that I was part of a community, and I needed to help that community, and what I did in my life should be geared towards making my family's life better, and my community better, and my country better. I liked the idea of being part of a society like that, so I was always getting into groups at school, community service stuff, organized sports, had a great time with all of it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Oh, one more thing...

:camera:'s of wife?

 

[SludgeFactory]

Chances are it's just an idiot kid trying to provoke a reaction, but you gotta report that stuff.

 

[coldmeat]

there's 100,000 kids in her english class?

 

[TecHNooB]

My 6th-7th grade english teacher drove me nearly loco. My friend and I suddenly got into story writing and we started getting competitive about it (read more books, noted different styles by different authors, memorized vocab to use in our stories, etc). The results ended up spreading to our English papers. Got accused of plagiarism several times and even got dragged into a special meeting where all of my teachers were gathered (this was during the middle of the day; god knows how she rounded them all up to be in this one room). Needless to say, I hated her guts! Did not do anything to cause trouble except write a damn good first draft (I didn't believe in drafts back then as my first was always my best not true anymore). I was a very angry child as a result of this teacher. Anyways, just felt like ranting about that

ANYWAYS! Your wife sounds like a good person. At least she considered the kid's feelings before reporting him. Much more humane compared to my english teacher ~

EDIT: FYI, had the same english teacher from grade 6 to 7. She ended up becoming our permanent english sub in 6th grade, my actual teacher in 7th. She actually went out of her way to inform others teachers (ie. my 8th grade english teacher) about how I would plagiarize in my papers.

 

[trmiv]

This is actually the 2nd kid from the school to do something like this, this year. There was another kid in another teacher's English class that wrote something similar. He had a history of mental issues and some other issues from what my wife said, he is no longer attending "normal" classes apparently.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
You would think that kids would know better by now that you can't even joke about stuff like this in today's society.

BTW-I remember when I had writing assignments, I always hoped mine was good enough for the teacher to read in class (some were-and did get read). To me it was a great compliment, why would someone not want what they've written read aloud to the rest of the class?

Hope nothing happens. Your wife did the right thing though.

Oh, my wife volunteers at my son's school a couple times a month. He's in kindergarten though so I'm not really worried about any of the kids shooting up the school.

Because most assignments are turned in with: OMG, Kewl, KEKEKEKE, LOLz BFF, and an assortment of other texting crap in them because kids today are dumb.

PS, kids like the one the OP is talking about should just be taken out back and put down like a dog. They're never going to amount to anything and just be social lepers and deadbeats their whole life.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
You would think that kids would know better by now that you can't even joke about stuff like this in today's society.

BTW-I remember when I had writing assignments, I always hoped mine was good enough for the teacher to read in class (some were-and did get read). To me it was a great compliment, why would someone not want what they've written read aloud to the rest of the class?

Hope nothing happens. Your wife did the right thing though.

Oh, my wife volunteers at my son's school a couple times a month. He's in kindergarten though so I'm not really worried about any of the kids shooting up the school.

Because most assignments are turned in with: OMG, Kewl, KEKEKEKE, LOLz BFF, and an assortment of other texting crap in them because kids today are dumb.

PS, kids like the one the OP is talking about should just be taken out back and put down like a dog. They're never going to amount to anything and just be social lepers and deadbeats their whole life.

You should probably be taken out back and put down like a dog

 

[Indolent]

You might have left out a little part of the story. Did the kid in question give her a note saying not to read it?