Red Tory v.2.0
His peers didn't seem to mind.
It was a bit hit, apparently. I watched this with my daughter and she said that many kids were just appalled at the reaction by the school and the stir it seems to have caused.
Brilliant.
I suspect heads would have exploded at my high school if someone pulled this off.
They'd give us detentions if our khaki or navy blue pants didn't have a 1x2cm school logo patch just under the waist band. The one, I believe gender neutral, kid who tried to get around this by wearing the female issue kilt got suspended for his trouble.
The librarian also removed most of the books from the library because he felt that (this is early 1990s) that everything would be on CDROM soon...issued to detentions to anyone who referred to it as a library and not a "knowledge resource centre" or some such crap.
It's amazing how reactionary they get over kids that figure the game out early on.
It's not entirely sure what their objections were, but apparently the remark about one of the teachers having "a great rack" was deemed to be particularly offensive.
Red Tory...exactly - that is the key - she is a good friend of mine and is struggling with this - what isn't considered is the fact that now that this is all over the net and media, it is likely her whole school where she is now will know (her last name is unique and will be obvious) - she now has to wonder what all the whispering is about, whether people will stare at her when she walks down the hall, what her co-workers think, what hormonal kids will say out loud, or even if she has to change who she is so she and everyone else can forget about this and move on. As a younger teacher, its hard enough getting ahead in the public teaching system and she was only just getting established - this now becomes a very uncomfortable workplace situation thanks to the kid that posted the video. Damage control would have at least been much easier if it was kept inside the gymnasium! Kids just don't think about that though. Put yourself in her shoes and imagine how uncomfortable work will be Monday in a school of grade 10-12's...
Dave — Maybe I’m being obtuse here, but while I’d certainly agree that it was an inappropriate, disrespectful, and rather gratuitous thing to say about a teacher, I’m having some difficulty seeing that as being insulting or deeply offensive in any way. If she does in fact have a “great rack” as stated, well then surely this can’t be something that’s altogether escaped her attention up to this point in time. Would you be insulted if someone said you had a “great package” or a “nice ass” or something of that sort? It certainly wouldn’t be a crippling blow to the ego of most men I’m fairly certain, although we usually have less concern about such “objectification” than is the case with women. But again, if the said “rack” is indeed “great” then surely she must have come to terms by now with the juvenile prurience of most men, especially younger ones.
and in todays society, if someone said that out loud in the workplace, you get sued for sexual harassment and fired. It's one thing on a micro-scale - she has caught kids a few times in her career making comments/gestures - but it can be dealt with in the classroom and you move on. Now that this is been thrown on youtube though, its at a macro scale and now something that unnecessarily will have to be dealt with at a grand scale involving ALL the kids at her school. Not appropriate on a teacher/student level - this isn't one of your peers making a comment, this is like an employee saying something like that about a CEO and then the video of it being posted on the net - how would that go over? She's tough, she will get through it, but you wonder why the controversy in the school, this was a big part of it.
I guess I’m being a little boorish and insensitive in this regard because I’m still failing to appreciate where any real harm is here. To me, it just seemed like a mildly “naughty” or “cheeky” thing to say — a quite entirely typical remark that a 17 yr. old would make. As I said, I thought it was unfortunate because it detracted from the more trenchant criticisms he was making about the whole phoniness of the event. For that matter, as did his facetious little dig at one of his competitors (e.g., that he “pees sitting down like a girl”). There were a few other things that were also in questionable taste.
I suppose it’s unfortunate that it received wider play on YouTube than it would have done otherwise, although to be honest I didn’t key in on that at all as being what the school officials may have been taking issue with until my daughter pointed this out to me. She, by the way, thought all the fuss over it was pretty silly and overblown, which I gather is representative of the general sentiment amongst the kids at school aware of the situation.
Maybe if I was in her position I could better understand how that would be embarrassing and just really uncalled for. Which it was… I don’t argue with that at all. It would have been better however, if the officials at Belmont had just had a little sit-down with the student to explain why they felt it was inappropriate and may be have asked him (or whoever was taking the video) to perhaps omit that specific part from the recording, rather than making a huge stink about it to the point where it gets featured in the local paper (as well as the Canada.com network of online publications) and becomes the topic of controversy.
By the way, I think it’s a bit unfair to draw a parallel between an off-the-cuff remark made by a 17 yr. old student at a valedictorian audition and a workplace situation were a fellow employee or an employer to make a similar comment. I understand what you’re saying but I don’t believe them to be directly or equally comparable.
Yes, totally agree there - I'd imagine they weren't aware of the video beforehand, but certainly before the media caught wind of the situation, they should have put the heat on the student who posted the video to cut that part of the recording. At least his competitor had a chance to rebutt - she did not.
As to the parallel - I would have to disagree - this isn't peer to peer, this is student to authority...just like employee to boss. I believe it's quite different.
As I said - this would essentially be a non-issue if kept inside the walls of Belmont, but thanks to youtube, and the TC making the association, it has become an unfortunate situation creating very uncomfortable workplace for someone that didn't deserve it and certainly didn't want it.
Gee, I feel kind of bad now. Am I aiding and abetting by posting the video? Maybe I should take this down... What do you think?
As for the comparison, it’s awkward in my opinion because the relationships involved aren’t of the same nature. I think we could probably make quite an elaborate case out of it if we were so inclined and were willing to delve into the fine distinctions between the two. For example, I believe an argument could be made in the case of student-teacher that what was said constitutes “fair comment” but this most certainly wouldn’t hold any water in the more tightly regulated environment of an employment situation. We could also consider the “offensive” nature the statement itself and perhaps wonder if, for example it had been said that the teacher in question had “great hair” why this may have been acceptable, but the compliment in question was regarded as so much more troublesome (I realize that speaks to broader and more involved issues about the way we talk about sexuality and so on…)
It's possible to get quite complicated and involved about these things. Save to say for now that the comparison is somewhat problematic.
I don't think so - the damage was done by moohu by posting on youtube and now the teacher gets the pleasure of walking on eggshells with her head down next week hoping the jerk of the class doesn't scream out some sexist comment because he now thinks its acceptable and it'll get a bunch of laughs like it did with Brandon.
Guess it hit home for me since this guy gets idolized for the speech while my friend gets to deal with the aftermath (something I don't wish on anyone, especially my closest friends), and the fact that my wife, who is also a teacher, has to deal with the same thing on occasion and it hits home with her as well.
Okay dave buddy, she doesn't even teach at the school anymore, and yeah she has a big rack, do you honestly think brandon was the first one to point it out, I think not. She told my entire grade 10 socials class that she had a breast augmentation, so if she is allowed to talk about it in a class full of 15 year olds why isn't he allowed to talk about it in his speech?
So Lindsey, what block of socials do you claim that was in? What's your last name? Easy to say what you want when you are anonymous. I'd like to ask her and see if she did in fact say that to the class, since what I know of her says she would never say such a thing unless she was making an obvious inside joke/haha (and even that is a stretch).
Dave just chill out, she has said it before, And if she can joke about it so can others. I went to that school, i saw her and yes she does have a "nice rack" So what. Its a compliment not a diss. Im just saying everyone is going overboard over a 17 year olds speech at a school THAT WAS MEANT FOR THE STUDENTS OF 08. Not for the Teachers, not for the parents, but for us. So in my opinion the media is fucked and should just let it be. People will say what they want. That is all.
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