TBE on 6/2/2007 at 01:42

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:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Is that good enough?

This kind of thing sucks. I get paranoid when I let people use my computer at home, and I think I would do the same thing at work to make sure it was spyware and virus free. This teacher sounds like she was just dingy and knew nothing of computers. Most smart people would have sent the children away or something while she tried to fix it or call in some support from the rest of the staff to take care of it. She's guilty of bad judgement for letting children remain in the area while she was trying to stop this mad house popup loop.

Here's a lesson for all people who are not real computer literate. Push and hold the computer power button for 5 seconds, and it will turn off. Then call for support.

Ultraviolet on 6/2/2007 at 02:59

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I was just thinking of what it would be like to be in the teacher's situation, or to be a juror on such a case.

In the teacher's situation, I'd be all "oh shit oh fuck shit fuckshit porn in my classroom is coming out of nowhere," and there would probably still be a delay in my actions preventing me from shutting everything down as quickly as I could. Kids would still see porn. Was I negligent? Fuck no. Flawed, human, shocked and kept from responding as quickly as I theoretically could, had I been prepared? You bet.

The ONLY reason the TEACHER is seeing prosecution is because it would be impossible to prosecute the people who are TRULY responsible -- FUCKING ASSHOLE INTERNET ADVERTISERS. This shit behaves in viral fashion, and it's by design. It is clear that somebody in that field is to blame, not some dumbstruck teacher.

Now, even if state prosecution could prove that the popups were there because of some action on the part of the teacher, the teacher obviously didn't sit there and open up porn sites on the big projector or whatever in front of all the kids. The teacher didn't have any idea it would happen. Even had the teacher been browsing porn intentionally after-hours or something, that's just misuse of school resources and deserves being fired. It's certainly not criminal indecency.

Reading the linked articles here... WHAT IN THE FUCK? "On January 5, a six-person jury found former Kelly Middle School substitute teacher Julie Amero guilty of four counts of risk of injury to a minor." The hell? Almost died of AN ERECTION or something?

I suppose we Interwebs types just know better about these things than laypersons who end up selected for juries.

And this bit about the prosecution not having full disclosure of the testimony of the first TRUE expert to review the case -- now that's just retarded. That's something you delay a trial for. One deserves the best possible defense, especially given a clear and obvious chance of total innocence.

And another sick thing: If the school is found to be responsible (which it should be, I think -- lesser of the few possible evils, since you can't really prosecute the advertisers), the state would probably fine the school rather than put in enough money to get the fucking technology up to date to prevent it from happening again.

Reading all that I had trouble figuring out what was happening then and what was happening now. Either way, there's the outrage, as requested.

demagogue on 6/2/2007 at 03:41

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I'm not sure Japan is going to "wise up" any time soon.

I've seen so many messed-up things happening while I was teaching English at a public/state Middle school here (I'm staying in Tokyo now, but I was teaching on a small island in 2000) where my first thought was, man, if this were America somebody would be suing or getting prosecuted faster than you could say doitashimashite (you're welcome).


* Mentally ill students are kept in the back of the classroom where there is a convenient room-wide curtain (normally used to "cover" the girls while they change for gym class from the boys changing on the other side, although it doesn't do a good job. Heaven forbid if they had a wall separating them). If the ill kid starts babbling too loud, the teacher can just push his desk back and pull the curtain over him. I actually started laughing when a teacher started doing this -- ha ha! you can't be serious... -- but in all seriousness she did it, and I was a little taken aback. Lol, literally pulling a curtain over the problem!



* Clean-up time has girls wearing tiny gym shorts pushing wet rags across the floor on all fours while the boys, who get to stand pushing mops, get to take shots at them as they whiz by. Then again, when a student disobeys, she has to kneel before a teacher at his desk as he takes a whap at her head. It's not hard, but it looks humiliating more than anything else.



* My friend got invited to a strip club by, of all people, his Vice Principle, and a few people from the board of education. Basically, they (the Japanese guys, my friend just watched) bough some hostesess, drank, played some strip rock-sissor-papers, and laughed as the girls whipped them, spike-heeled them, and dripped hot candle wax on their backs. The next day at school the VP just came up to my friend and said "Thanks for all your hard work yesterday." Eww...



* I saw our PE coach literally palm-slap a girl to the ground, --I guess for being late to gym? (it's probably not a coincidence so many bad things concentrate around gym class??) -- not once but three times, and each time he dragged her back up by her hair! I was watching absolutely mortified; I literally got sick and threw up a little in my mouth and started shaking (because I wanted to walk up there and punch the guy ... but I wasn't really in a position to do so), as another student stretched next to me, sort of smiled awkwardly, and probably wondered what was wrong with me. I went to the board of education office and told them about it, and I kid you not, they looked at me and started uncomfortably laughing. The next day at my leaving ceremony I noticed her face had a big gash in it, but thank God at least the teacher didn't come; they had the foresight to know I wasn't about to shake his hand as custom demands. I later learned from another teacher that he'd been beating students for 15 years; when things got too hot for one school, they'd just move him to another school! I swear to God that guy should not be around children.


America may be all sorts of screwed up (my mother, an elementary teacher, couldn't spray aniseptic on a student's cut without parent permission because of liability fear), but if my choice is between over-protectiveness and absolute obliviousness ... well, at least I feel the US has the right motivations in mind. It just shouldn't push it to such absurd lengths.

By the way, in the interest of full disclosure I should note that at the time I was boinking one of the middle school English teachers surripticiously ... because it's a huge forbidden for teachers to be seeing one another; I never knew for a whole year my own English teacher was seeing the History teacher -- It had to be surripticious to protect students' morals, I guess? (Well, that and in my case I later heard she had a serious boyfriend, maybe engaged?). Also, my students literally had a "morals" class and regular moral lectures by the prinicpal, etc. I don't remember that in the US. Anyway, this is just to point out that what I said above is just one perspective and doesn't tell everything.

Scots Taffer on 6/2/2007 at 06:19

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I'm not questioning your manhood but I see any guy slap a young female child to the ground and even if he's twice my size, I'm swinging for the fuck. Especially if it's a teacher. That's really quite sick though and I can understand your horrible position, even if I doubt I'd keep a reign on my temper in the same situation - just my upbringing, you know? Instinctual.

I'll have to point this post out to my friend who's teaching in Japan to get his view on it.

Scots Taffer on 6/2/2007 at 06:33

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The reason I'd swing for the guy is not due to my size, on the contrary, I tend to avoid confrontation as a whole. But due to the fact that what the guy did is so overwhelmingly wrong and utterly without bravery, I'm convinced that anyone with even part of a spine would stand up and pitch in if I was getting dominated - those quiet sideline people tend not to make the first move but will get involved once someone else gets the ball rolling.

Sincerely though, allowing that sort of thing to happen without recrimination is beyond disgusting - I applaud demagogue taking it to a higher authority, that was the very least that could be done. Personally, if I for some reason didn't take a shot at the guy, I'd at least let her father know so he could beat the everliving shit out of the guy.