Hey folks,
I was a high school teacher for 7 years in a previous life and this entire debate reminds me of something I learned very early on in my career: don't punish the class for the actions of a few bad actors.
The really bad teachers I knew made spur of the moment rules and punished the entire class when one student did something bad: no more plastic water bottles in my class! (when Johnny is the ONE who used his water bottle as a club during lab); no more bathroom passes during tests! (because Lucy was the ONE who took 30 minutes on her last bathroom break), etc., etc. Rulings like that only serve to turn the rest of the class against the teacher. It's kind of like when you're ON TIME for a meeting and the moderator announces that "we'll give everyone another 15 minutes to get here before we start...", when you were the one who was responsible enough to show up on time. Or, why force your entire class of tenth-graders to sit through a 20 minute lecture on cheating, when it was ONE student who got caught? Why punish the class for the actions of a few?
This post by Kat and the previous one by Wendy are a mystery to me as I'm not "in the know". I really have no idea what either of you is talking about. I'm sorry that anyone is feeling left out or harassed, but with all due respect- why am I being lectured to about it? This seems like a job for one-on-one, off-line intervention by the moderators. If someone, anyone, has violated the rules of this forum then it falls on the people in charge of this forum to revoke membership. It's done on other websites, why not this one? My understanding of a Moderator's position is that they're here to help the newbies find their way, but also to enforce the rules if it comes to that. If there has been a rules violation then ban the member who violated the rule. If there has not been a rule violation then the complaining member should change the channel. Don't read or respond to a post if you find it personally offensive (assuming no rules violation exists).
And before anyone reacts to this post let me clarify: this is not directed at anyone in particular. I literally have no idea what any of you are talking about. I'm speaking for the silent majority out there who is sitting on the sidelines of this debacle wondering just what the hell everyone is talking about! Take it off-line. Moderators and site administrators should step in and make a ruling. Please don't make the rest of us sit through this any longer. I know that I'm going to change the channel on all of this and won't be replying on this type of thread again. I find too much of value in the rest of KA to spend any more time on this topic.
