Foul-Mouthed Teen May Go to Jail

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

"WILMINGTON, N.C. - A teenager may go to jail for using foul language with a high school teacher. Glenn Gattis and his parents don't deny that he cursed or has had other disciplinary problems at Ashley High School. But they say the misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct is an overreaction. "

"Gattis' mother, Judy Lewis, said she could understand if her son had to serve detention at school. But he could get up to 30 days in jail. The family has hired a lawyer to fight the charge. "

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041011/ap_on_fe_st/swearing_student_2

This is kind of ridiculous. If they put kids in jail for swearing at school employees where I used to work, probably half of the students wouldn't be there. I guess it would help reduce class sizes.

[Arancaytar]

1. I think this is a duplicate... n/t

Edit: On the other hand, the other topic was not in the news section I guess.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

3. I thought the story might be here, but I couldn't find it.

[Richardo]

2. Good!

Here's a thought for foul-mouthed teens (and adults for that matter): Shut up!

I'm SO tired of having cater to smart ass punks. When did they inherit the world? Who put them in charge? Note to Glenn Gattis and your ilk: You're a kid - shut up and learn something so you're not an ignorant boor ALL your life.

And when did we decide it was OK for kids to cuss out teachers anyway? Isn't a teacher's job tough and underappreciated enough without having to put up with that crap?

Shut up and show a little respect - it wouldn't kill ya. IF you gotta cuss them out, mutter under your breath like a civilized person.

:grr: (Geezer tendencies ascendant this morning.) :nuke:

[markbark]

4. Oh, I dunno.....

Quoth the poster:
learn something so you're not an ignorant boor ALL your life.


That strategy seems to have worked for Dubya ;)



--MAB

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

5. 30 days in jail is extreme.

I think that's a waste of our corrective system's resources to be sending people to jail for cursing.
Kick them out of school instead.

Although I can absolutely relate to what you are thinking...

[MsMagnificent]

39. Yet we don't know to what extreme the student took it...

...there are degree's of cussing
there's a big diff between muttering son-of-a-bitch or even the f-word and full out raging, swearing at any or everyone who dares to 'inconvenience' that *poor child*

[UpInArms]

6. the problem is that

all those teachers are "terrorists" and "librals" -

if Hollyweird would just quit putting all those dirty words into our kids mouths ('cause they never hear that kind of talk at home) and those behaviors weren't learned from the "libral" media (see: O'Really and ilk) and if the bibble were taught more, we wouldn't have this. :crazy:

[FlaGranny]

7. Your geezer tendencies

are appreciated. I agree with you. I don't know why people insist on being crude and repulsive. Unfortunately culture cannot be legislated. If people want to show their lack of class I guess we have to let them. Do you think these foul-mouthed folks ever wonder why they never get anywhere in life?

Edit: Although I do not believe it is an offense worthy of jail time.

[BOHICA06]

9. As I head toward Geezerhood ...

I can't imagine the total whooping that would have been dealt me if I decided to foulmouth a teacher.

Maybe Mom (wonder where Dad is in all this) is a bit of the problem too!

[struggle4progress]

14. Jail time cause the teacher "can't get no respect"? What a crock! eom

[DrWeird]

26. Fuck that bullshit.

This is fucking America and we should be able to say whatever we God damned please.

Fuck that jackass teacher, fuck the pigs that arrested him, and fuck all the bitchass punks who agree with this shit.

[Dem2theMax]

45. I'm with the geezers too. Must make me one of them.

I occasionally use the F word around here and it's always followed by either the word * or the word repukes or freepers. And that is pretty much it.

I do, however, REALLY hate the fact that people everywhere, not just on this board, do not seem to have the slightest idea that to a person who believes in God (no matter what the 'religion') to see the words 'G-d Damn it' is offensive beyond belief.
I don't think you can live in this country and not know that fact.

I don't see people trashing Allah or Buddha or - pick a name - it's always God who gets it. WHY? Why can't people be civilized enough to stop doing something that is really offensive to a lot of people? Just because a person does not believe in God, doesn't mean that person can't show a little respect to his/her fellow members of the human race.

I really wish people on this board would get that. Maybe some day they will. In the meantime, I use the 'ignore' button A LOT.

And people can flame away at me. This is something that is not just a personal issue for me. I know it has to upset a lot of people. I put up with it for as long as I can stand it, and then I always ask people "will you please, out of respect for the feelings of others, stop doing that?" Even if you don't believe yourself, it's such a simple request, to think of your fellow members on any board, or any friend out in real life as well.

I'll probably get a lot of 'then leave the board if you don't like it' replies. I'm not leaving. I have work to do here, just like everyone else. I'm simply asking for some respect for people. That's all.

[samtob]

28. I gotta side with geezers on this one

The article stated he has had disciplinary problems at school before. He goes off because he gets in trouble for being tardy to class? With all the school shootings, I am sure the teacher had just had enough from this kid and did not want to risk any more.

What about the other kids in the school that are there to learn? This kid should get a free pass, allowed to disrupt the class at will? NO. Teachers do not make near enough to put up with crap like this.

[mumon]

29. When you cater to smart-ass punks...

Do you have those little quiches?

Do you have a dessert cart?

[Richardo]

30. ..it's $10.50 a head - and that's just for the chicken Kiev!

That's why I hate to cater to them ;-)

[MAlibdem]

33. what's the big fucking deal?

just thought i should let my rebellious teen tendencies show.

...swearing is clearly a front for insecurity/social recognition, a perhaps not desirable. but...should a kid go to jail for swearing? that's fucking ridiculous.

[camero]

42. Bush to workers

Shut up and don't ask for overtime! Learn some respect! Preserdentin is hard! Foul mouthed workers are terrarists!

Get the picture.

[JVS]

8. Ha ha!

[Aiptasia]

10. Jail? WTF?!?!?!

Sometimes I hate living in the South. I don't live too far away from Wilmington, NC, and it's a little Jesus-nazi around here sometimes. This is further proof.

Geez, I used to curse all the time in high school, but I don't think I ever stood toe to toe with a teacher and cursed them out. If I had, my parents would have beat the shit out of me for disrespecting a teacher.

Still, jail time seems a little extreme for what was probably an in-class temper tantrum. If the kid was being violent or threatening the teacher in any way, that's grounds for expulsion in my book, not hard jail time.

But jail? Come on...

[Radius]

13. Wilmington

Is quite a liberal place. UNCW is lots of fun and have lots of fun there. College town.

He wont go to jail but the little shit should sweat for a while and be expelled.

[wickywom]

11. Wilmington's jail system

is busting out at the seams... inmates are sleeping on floors..

The "new jail" is still under construction-
it went so over budget they haven't been able to finish it...besides

juvenile jail is a great place to turn a foul mouthed kid into a disgruntled criminal..

what a fabulous idea.

[Mike Daniels]

12. Being suspended for using profanity in school seemed to work for me.

Unless the kid is a disciplinary hard case, I'd would think a week of in-school-suspension would probably have the same effect. Of course, it may not be bad to just have him sweat at home for a few days over the idea that he "could" go to jail.

[JitterbugPerfume]

15. that kid

needs a good butt whoppin'

[2Design]

16. will cheney join him

[KansDem]

17. "...a citation for using language meant to provoke violence."

Really?

Like:

"Go fuck yourself"

or...

"You fucking son of a bitch"

When were the President and Vice-President issued their "citations?"

[aden_nak]

18. Not Good!

It's a matter of what we teach our kids and what we see. Now, we could break down into a careful examination of what constitues "foul language" and why certain words are considered obscene while others are not (go ahead, explain the difference between poo and shit). We could dabble in the Anglo-Saxon origins of the English language and note that most "swear" words were enforced as policy to bring about a cultural shift in a conquered people that would eventually become our blue-eyed ancestors.

But I'd rather not.

And I could go off on a rant about small minded people in positions of minor power trying to prove to themselves that they exist by watching the influence of that petty authority exact bitter retribution. I could suggest in unnecessarily graphic language (which would be appropriate considering the context of the topic) that anyone who would send a teenager to jail for swearing has neither the patience nor the sound judgement to be a educator, let alone a court official.

But I'd rather not.

Fuck that shit.

;)

[Castilleja]

21. Thank you aden_nak!

:thumbsup: someone with some sense....

[KareBear]

19. This is one of my pet peeves

The sheer stupidity of designated some combinations of sounds "bad" and others "good" is mind boggling. I know the case law and that its considered inflammatory and thus not covered under free speech, but the entire notion is absurd.

To prove my point in this I actually told a teach once to go "apple" herself. Now I didn't normally disrespect my teachers, this was more of a social experiment to me. Guess what? I got detention. The words don't matter, its the intent behind them. However its inconvenient for people to police intent, so we get stuck with "bad words" and "good words".

Here's a clue, a word is a word is a word. Sound vibrations made by the human body. That's it, period. Maybe if we'd stop nitpicking each other and learn to live and let live, we'd be a much better world.

I mean what are we advocating here? The fascist FCC? The kid should go free, the education system should be admonished for infringing on his "rights". Let people be themselves period.

Now if this kids words had led to actions, say if he HIT his teacher, throw the book at the punk. :)

[jerryman814]

20. I think this type of biasness is ridiculous...

Cursing at someone else, although a rude emotional reaction, shouldn't be construed as a societal crime. You can surse the heck out of a police officer, but they really can't do anything to you. That's called freedom of speech. Since when does a school offense, such as cursing at a teacher, turn into a punishable societal offense? Jail time for that is wrong.

[napi21]

22. Everything is getting very weird in our schools these days.

My granddaughter brought a note home because she was sending emails to one of the boys in her class "being too nice to him". She's in FIRST GRADE!!!

A lot of parents were very upset when they bought their kids crayons for school, and the teachers insisted that all the crayons be dumped inot one container so no student would "feel bad" because some brought Crayola and some brought theirs from Walmart. This also happened in kindergarden and first grade.

It all seems to start very young, and gets worse as they get to the higher grades!!!

[kslib]

34. We had a similar...

situation back when I was in junior high -quite a while ago ;)- Cheerleaders were no longer chosen, there were no tryouts, anyone who wanted could be on the squad, and then everyone bought uniforms and got to cheer for one or two games (there could only be a certain number on the court at one time). This was done because somebody's mother got upset that her little girl came home crying when she didn't make the squad. Far from making that little girl feel better, people ostricized her and made fun of her. Instead of learning coping skills for life's little failures, all she learned was that mommy would help.

[Downtown Hound]

23. This is so ridiculous

Suspend the kid, give him detention, do whatever you got to do, but jail time? Come on. Do they really think jail is going to teach him how to respect others?

[kayell]

24. Next: Student sentanced to caning for chewing gum.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

25. the slammer?

That's overdoing it. Better use of the kid's time: removing graffiti from the local skatepark, walls, bridge abutments, etc.

[Boomer]

27. Dangerous overreaction

Detention, definitely.

Suspension, definitely.

Expulsion, only if he's a repeat offender.

Jail, only if you really think cussing someone out should be punished by a beating or rape, both likely consequences of putting a teenage boy in with adult men.

[LifeDuringWartime]

31. we dont even know what he said!

it could have been something as simple as "dammit, late again."

anybody with half a brain knows that jail for something like that is nothing short of ridiculous.

now if he had said something along the lines of, "tell me im late again and ill bash your fucking face in," after a series of disciplinary problems, i can understand the drastic measures.

[coalition_unwilling]

32. If the teachers at that school are anything like the teachers

in Los Angeles (CA) Unified School District, they probably deserved to be sworn at.

I've seen some real 'dead wood' in the LAUSD schools my step daughter (age 11) has attended. My wife and I don't get too bent out of shape about it tho, as we just look at public school in Los Angeles as publicly-funded daycare where, if any education happens to occur, it's just an unintentional by-product.

My apologies to public school teachers in other districts.

[Zero Gravitas]

35. Who does this kid think he is?

The Vice President?

[depakid]

36. Well, it's North Carolina. what do you expect?

In Alabama, they might already have slapped the kid in irons....

[struggle4progress]

40. As a Nuth Caolinian, suh, ah object to yoh stereotypin. eom

[Hardcore KY Dem]

37. This is one of those times a good slapping is in order

Now then, to the point this is one of those cases when some smartass kid just needs to be grabbed by the shirt, and smacked around for about 30 seconds. Im not talking about a real beating, just a good old fashion slapping, preferable in public and by whoever he was yelling at. Im only 22 but there are times when im places and someone younger then me (teens, 17 is the worst) and they think its a good idea to open their mouths. You know what solves the problem? slapping them around infront of their friends. Some of these kids ive known for years and years, and we are still good friends but there was just that one time when a few good slaps brought them off the high horse and back to the land of Us.

[struggle4progress]

41. This is one of those times when adults actually exhibiting mature ...

... adult behavior, rather than losing their tempers like hypersensitive easily-offended teenagers with weak impulse control, might really pay off.

It might be really be one of those "teachable moments."

Slapping the kid merely teaches him that the boss is allowed to rough up everybody else.

[St. Jarvitude]

43. No, a good teacher patronizes the little fuck and pats him on the head

"aww, it's so cute when you swear like a big boy." This embarasses and ridicules the little prick without physically harming him.

My Chem teacher and I shared some pretty good burns last year during class (and during Scholastic Bowl practice). I wouldn't go so far as to say there was profanity involved, but there were some good burns thrown around (all in jest, of course).

My point is that I would've stopped making fun of him if he didn't reciprocate - it's just not fun otherwise. A reactionary response like a "good slapping" (:eyes:) will probably just result in either more swearing (but now out of spite), or the kid will just sock the teacher back - which is obviously worsening the situation.

[DrWeird]

38. I hope he gets repeatedly raped in prison.

That will teach him to respect his elders.

[Sean Reynolds]

44. Fuckin Bullshit!

;-)