>Students told the newspaper that "a whole bunch of kids went to complain" about the assignments because it did not seem relevant to the story and the teacher had to give an alternative assignment to those students who did not want to plan an assassination.
I actually agree with the students that complained about this. Pit and the Pendulum wasn't about assassination per se, and what with these "zero tolerance" attitudes sprouting up in schools, not too bright on the teacher's part. posted by ethmar at 2:11 PM on October 5, 2000
I agree, ethmar. Not a good career move on the teacher's part.
But isn't there something that could've been done to this teacher short of firing him? Seems like an awful waste of a creative (though misguided) teacher. posted by ratbastard at 2:20 PM on October 5, 2000
Mmmmaybe, we don't have the whole story. We just have a snippet care of the "Odd News" pages at Excite.
If this teacher never had any problems in the past, then yes, I agree that flat-out firing him is extreme. But I'm reserving judgment as I am without solid facts. posted by ethmar at 2:44 PM on October 5, 2000
I agree with ethmar... this is the kind of snippet reporting that may be at odds with the actual facts. Still, you do have to wonder about the guy, teaching kids that the Poe story is just about plotting murder. Poe has more to offer than being the 19th century's version of Scream 3. posted by Bootcut at 3:56 PM on October 5, 2000
I wonder if that eunuch story is really about a eunuch. Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope wrote an item about a news report warning eunuchs to use safe sex at their convention. It turned out that eunuch was a mistranslation of another word for a group of people who often lead a hedonistic sexual lifestyle. posted by rcade at 9:52 PM on October 5, 2000
posted by m.polo at 2:08 PM on October 5, 2000