Ga. Student Suspended for Threatening Song

[savafan]

I remember this song. My cousins taught it to me when I was younger, and I recall kids singing it at recess when I was in elementary school. I think this is abuse of a zero tolerance policy. Can this teacher honestly say he felt threatened by this girl's humming?

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/09/D8HGAPTO9.html

SUWANEE, Ga.

A high school student was suspended for five days after singing a spoof of "On Top of Ol' Smokey" that includes lyrics about shooting a teacher.

Beth Ann Cox, 16, a junior at Peachtree Ridge High School, said she had been humming the song during German class but denied singing loudly or directing the lyrics at her teacher, Phil Carroll.

"I'd had a song stuck in my head all day, like the tune of it," she said. "This kid in front of me asked me about the song. So I told him the words. I didn't say them loudly."

The song includes the lyrics: "On top of Ol' Smokey, all covered with blood, I shot my poor teacher with a .44 slug."

Administrators pulled Cox out of class later Friday and asked why she had threatened her teacher. She was suspended Monday.

Cox has had differences with the teacher in the past, said her mother, Suzanne Cox.

"We feel that Dr. Carroll has some kind of a vendetta out for our daughter. And he used this to take a stand against her," Suzanne Cox said.

Sloan Roach, spokeswoman for the school district, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, said the suspension was "appropriate disciplinary action" for disrupting class.

[macro]

Can this teacher honestly say he felt threatened by this girl's humming?

I don't think it's impossible. I also doubt we're getting the whole story. This sentence jumps out at me:

Cox has had differences with the teacher in the past, said her mother, Suzanne Cox.

It seems a bit odd that this student would be quoting/humming these particular lyrics while sitting in the classroom of a teacher she'd had differences with. Based on what her mother said about a vendetta, it sounds like there was some lingering animosity between the two. I'm not ready to give the girl a pass without knowing more.

[RedFanAlways1966]

It seems a bit odd that this student would be quoting/humming these particular lyrics while sitting in the classroom of a teacher she'd had differences with. Based on what her mother said about a vendetta, it sounds like there was some lingering animosity between the two. I'm not ready to give the girl a pass without knowing more.

Well said, macro. I agree with you. We do not know the whole story; however, you want to sing about shooting teachers... best not do it while in school. If I had sang or said something about shooting a teacher, my parents would have been my biggest fear. Because my parents taught me the difference between right and wrong... and were not afraid to punish when I went astray. Too bad Ms. Cox' mother doesn't seem to understand that concept. Schools and guns or talk of guns do not mix. Period.

[westofyou]

Mind Police much?

[RedFanAlways1966]

Mind Police much?

Or common sense much.

According to the story the girl sang out loud the following words, "I shot my poor teacher with a .44 slug." Not sure if she meant it or not, but I'd put it up there with yelling "shark" at the beach or "fire" in an eatery. Some things you DO NOT say in certain places.

[westofyou]

but I'd put it up there with yelling "shark" at the beach or "fire" in an eatery.

Hyperbole.

Frankly school officials in Georgia have a long track record in my world of being less than a stellar group. So I'll lean on my experience over a "what if" Orwellian clamp down.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Hyperbole.

Frankly school officials in Georgia have a long track record in my world of being less than a stellar group. So I'll lean on my experience over a "what if" Orwellian clamp down.

Perhaps. And maybe the school is overreacting. But in this day-and-age some things need to be considered common sense. Schools are not a place to talk or sing about shooting teachers.

I wonder if there were people at Columbine who thought Eric & Dylan were just blowhards? I wonder if people there thought those two black trenchcoat wearers were just out for attention and not a threat to anyone? I don't know.

[westofyou]

I wonder if there were people at Columbine who thought Eric & Dylan were just blowhards?

And I wonder if anyone at West Beverly thought Brandon and Dylan were blowhards.

[Yachtzee]

Mind Police much?

I'd prefer these guys...

[westofyou]

I'd prefer these guys...

There are many here among us
Who feel that life is a joke
And for you we sing this final song
For you there is no hope
Sayonara oh suicide hari kari
Kamikaze you won't
See another evening
Goodbye

[Falls City Beer]

How many kids go to school every weekday, how many millions of kids? For how many thousands of days in this country's history? How many teachers have been shot or killed?

You're more likely to step out your front door and be crushed by a talking, breakdancing anvil than be killed by a student in a school in this country.

This suspension isn't "playing it safe." It's an idiotic and political "get tough" message.

[bucksfan]

I think schools can tend to go overboard on some things, but in this day and age it is definitely not appropriate to be singing such words. Actually I never really thought it appropriate, even in jest, to be singing or speaking about such things. As for a 5 day suspension, perhaps too harsh without knowing the background and all the details. My initial thought would be to just talk with the student about how those types of things are inappropriate, especially given recent events, and if such comments persist there would be a suspension.

[Falls City Beer]

What's so incredibly ironic about these school fears is that you are FAR, FAR more likely to be killed by an adult co-worker than you are a child or even a highschooler (for all the emotional trauma of those years). That's just a statistical fact.

There may not be a single workplace in all of a America more safe than a school. (Unless you have to deal with psychotic parents).

[TeamCasey]

I think that song was around when I was in grade school and dinosaurs walked the earth.

[Yachtzee]

What about:

"Row row row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Throw your teacher overboard
and listen to her scream."

Kids have been making up rude songs about teachers since the day teachers and students were invented.