Texas School Suspends Student for Answering Call in Class From Dad in Iraq

Please see my previous post in this thread, before it gets lost.


No big quotes please.

Thanks.

Originally posted by jfj123
There are many, many military families that are apart for LONG periods of time and it is VERY common. Schools can easily implement a policy to allow short conversations with loved ones serving overseas. It's called supported the troops and giving back to them a little of what they've given for us.

Thanks for your reply. Your argument falls short for me. The fact that they suffer from loneliness or bouts of isolation is irrelevant. Perhaps they should have chosen a different career path to avoid that. The school however set forth rules and those rules, such as the ones you abide by daily, are there for a reason. The rules can be changed certainly but that is not what was at issue here. The issue of supporting the troops is also irrelevant. Playing that card is weak.

brill

Originally posted by d11_m_na_c05

Originally posted by jfj123
My opinion. I calls em as I sees em.

Thats nice ..

Originally posted by jfj123
No you said all killing is murder so the soldiers were murdered too.

No you said i said it . Please show me the quote.

The soldiers were INVADING.. Not DEFENDING.. Little bit of a difference there . Are you saying you would just stand there as someone ravaged your home country?

Well I can certainly guess where you would come down on the issue. The attackers of our land would have rules. Let’s say the occupied your land. They would implement rules and you would follow them to the letter. You are a rule follower and you follow them at all costs no matter what. That is what you are saying isn't it? Your loyalty to "rules" trumps your loyallty to your country or your family.


Mod Edit: Big Quote – Please Review This Link.


[edit on 13-4-2008 by elevatedone]

reply to post by jfj123


ahh i see it now . But i already replied with ..

"The soldiers were INVADING.. Not DEFENDING.. Little bit of a difference there . Are you saying you would just stand there as someone ravaged your home country?"

Originally posted by pavlovsdog
School is not taken seriously enough these days, children are in school to learn.

What if every father or mother decided to call their child in school each day? It would create an environment that would not be condusive to learning. I'm sure even this one call wasted and disrupted learning time for all the members of this childs classroom.

The phone rings, little johnny goes out into the hall to talk to his dad, then he re enters the room and every other kid wants to know what they talked about, and if little johnnys dad said anything about the other childs dad.

At least 15 minutes before the teacher could get the childrens collective brains back on task. Now, what if this situation occurred DAILY? With only one child each day? What if it happened with 5 children a day 10 20? Heck what if each father called each child each day while in school?

Little Johnny was in school, he's there to do a job. LEARN.

I see this father as inconsiderate and selfish.

Fathers and mothers have deployed for military duty for all of our nations history. In the last decade the separation of family members has been ameliorated to some extent by satellite communications. When I was in the military, during the cold war, I frequently went for two months at a time with no ability to communicate with my family. Now soldiers have the ability to be forward deployed and enjoy modern amenities like phone centers, the internet, email, and blogging.

Thanks to modern technology, todays soldier has the ability to stay in touch with his family like never before. Choosing to call a child during the school day was a bad decision by this father.

[edit on 13-4-2008 by pavlovsdog]

I agree completely. Kids shouldn't even have phones switched on in classrooms. Of course, because it involves a soldier fighting for 'freedom', then rules and common courtesy goes out of the window and anything is allowed.

Did the kid even put his hand up and say "can I take this call from my Dad", or did he just answer the phone and sit there chatting? Absolutely the Father could have gotten hold of the kid at lunch or during one of his breaks. The Mother is as much to blame--when she got hold of him (by Yahoo!!), couldn't she have told him what time he could call so as not to disrupt his schooling?


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[edit on 13-4-2008 by elevatedone]

reply to post by jedimiller


Please don't blame the troops for their presence in Iraq. The existence of a military force is necessary in a modern war, thus soldiers are a necessity for protecting any country. Yes, the Iraq war is not directly protecting the United States in some people's opinion, but what you must remember is that most of the soldiers serving right now did not make the decision to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. Your comment just seems a bit ignorant to me, saying that you don't support a family just because the soldier is serving in Iraq? That's just plain selfish to not care about people simply because their boss told them to go to war. How would you feel if you were the kid's father or the kid in this situation? Honestly?

The public school system is a sham....

I would have fought back or just walked off campus. There is no freedom in schools- When I was in school we we're locked in like prisoners. I didn't learn anything I apply to my daily life in school- I would have told that teacher to F off frankly...A call from a member of our military is far more important (especially if its family) than learning about the Pythagorean theorem or Christopher Columbus....sorry...At the rate the worlds going- anything you learn in school won't matter- especially if we hit a depression.

I think the public school system should be severely reformatted or replaced...The way it is right now is pitiful...

Originally posted by PimpyMcgibbins
The public school system is a sham....

I would have fought back or just walked off campus. There is no freedom in schools- When I was in school we we're locked in like prisoners. I didn't learn anything I apply to my daily life in school- I would have told that teacher to [snip] frankly...A call from a member of our military is far more important (especially if its family) than learning about the Pythagorean theorem or Christopher Columbus....sorry...At the rate the worlds going- anything you learn in school won't matter- especially if we hit a depression.

I think the public school system should be severely reformatted or replaced...The way it is right now is pitiful...

Teaching is every bit a noble profession as being a soldier, you know, and for you to condone telling a teacher to [snip] "??? It strikes me as so trashy and unclassy to encourage your kids to be disrespectful to people...



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[edit on 13-4-2008 by elevatedone]

It seems funny to me that almost everyone on this thread took one side or another. I'll take both sides.

1) Schools have rules. The rules were enforced. Tough break, even though suspension isn't that big of a deal.

2) The student has a father who could die in Iraq at any time. If the student was going to choose a rule to break, then this was a good choice. Accept the punishment and be happy to hear from a loved one in danger. Wear the suspension as a badge.

/tn.

Originally posted by brill

Originally posted by jfj123
There are many, many military families that are apart for LONG periods of time and it is VERY common. Schools can easily implement a policy to allow short conversations with loved ones serving overseas. It's called supported the troops and giving back to them a little of what they've given for us.

Thanks for your reply. Your argument falls short for me. The fact that they suffer from loneliness or bouts of isolation is irrelevant.

Well lets keep in mind that they didn't expect to be serving 15 month terms which are the longest terms in US history. Also many of them have received STOP LOSS orders preventing them from leaving when they were supposed to. They kept up their end of the bargain but the government didn't and are not going to. The least we as citizens can do is try and support them since their government will not.

Perhaps they should have chosen a different career path to avoid that.

I am willing to bet none of them were told about STOP LOSS and over extending tours longer then any other military in US history or many of them wouldn't have joined.

The school however set forth rules and those rules, such as the ones you abide by daily, are there for a reason.

Rules can be bent to help those in need.
Let me give you an example:
I broke a rule to prevent 3 peoples deaths. Now I could have said, rules are rules as you are suggesting or I could have done what I did and saved 3 peoples lives. I was driving down the road doing the speed limit, a car was turning right in front of me and I had no time to stop, I speed up, breaking the speed limit but instead of hitting the car full of people head on, I side swiped it and pushed it out of oncoming traffic instead of pushing it into oncoming traffic.

Rules should be followed but with compassion or we become less then human.

The rules can be changed certainly but that is not what was at issue here. The issue of supporting the troops is also irrelevant. Playing that card is weak.
brill

The whole RULES ARE RULES argument is the weakest of all. Everyone has adjusted rules to fit situations of compassion at times. Why couldn't they have pulled the kid out of class, let him talk to his dad then talked to him about the rule and suggest that some changes need to be made. Again, he didn't smoke crack in class so lets put it into perspective.

Originally posted by YorkshirePudding

The Mother is as much to blame--when she got hold of him (by Yahoo!!), couldn't she have told him what time he could call so as not to disrupt his schooling?

sometimes ya get drawn back in....
i cant believe i'm taking part in a sock puppet debate tho

anyhow the above quote makes my point exactly....

This is not like prior wars, thanks to satellite comms and the internet . Communication between family members is not as sporadic as it once was during war time. If the mother was able to reach the father by Yahoo, can you logically surmise that the father is in a place where it is difficult and rare for him to be able to call his son??? The answer can only be NO.

This is not a question of 'supporting the troops'.

This is a question of poor parenthood in that he was inconsiderate of the school rules. Shame on him, and shame on you for trying to derail this and making it about a question of Patriotism.

[edit on 13-4-2008 by pavlovsdog]

[edit on 13-4-2008 by elevatedone]

[edit on 13-4-2008 by pavlovsdog]

reply to post by teleonaut


Sensible reply. I agree with both of your points. The all out disregard for any kind of rules when it comes to the military really bugs me though. If you don't make allowances for them, then you're unpatriotic and are accused of not supporting the troops.



[edit on 13-4-2008 by YorkshirePudding]

Originally posted by d11_m_na_c05
reply to post by jfj123

 

ahh i see it now . But i already replied with ..

"The soldiers were INVADING.. Not DEFENDING.. Little bit of a difference there . Are you saying you would just stand there as someone ravaged your home country?"

That wasn't the point. You made a blanket statement. I called you on it. You either meant what you said or you didn't.

reply to post by teleonaut


If you look at my first post . Albeit i called the soldiers bio-weapons. I pretty much said the same thing ...

reply to post by jfj123


Originally posted by ME
And your just promoting hate murder violence

Originally posted by jfj123
I have never said or implied that here in any way. I personally believe the Iraq war is illegal and the current administration should be jailed for violating constitutional lawS. (bolded by me)

Originally posted by me
Good then you should see every death as a murder . exactly what it is .

Originally posted by jfj123
You said every death is murder. Soldiers died so they were murdered so why are you not OUTRAGED about fellow countryman being MURDERED?
-----------------------------------------------------For context------

I was saying you should see every person killed by the illegally invading forces as murders. The others were self defense ..


[edit on 13-4-2008 by d11_m_na_c05]

Originally posted by PimpyMcgibbins
...
I would have fought back or just walked off campus. There is no freedom in I didn't learn anything I apply to my daily life in school- I would have told that teacher to F off frankly...A call from a member of our military is far more important (especially if its family) than learning about the Pythagorean theorem ...

If you ever need to lay out a large square that theorem is useful. May be if kids treated and acted different in school there might be different rules. Part of the problem is the students, part is the system.

reply to post by d11_m_na_c05


Maybe that's what you meant but not what you said. Say what you mean and mean what you say.