First I've heard of this. While it probably doesn't deserve the attention it is getting, I think the teacher was out of line. Being heckled by classmates is one thing, but to have it led by your teacher, in addition to taking an exam on the floor with kids throwing paper at you? Unacceptable. The teacher shouldn't necessarily be fired, but there should be some repercussions for treating a student the way he did. Likewise, the kids cries for attention should be summarily ignored by the press at large. Let the local reporters take care of it.

Whereas:

• I have been to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania (right next to the wonderfully named town of Big Beaver), and I know it for the isolated and clannish jerkwater burg that it is,
  
• As a Browns fan, I hate the Denver Broncos and all their players, staff, and fans past present & future with a loathing so grand it is visible from space,
  
• Again as a Browns fan, I despise (yet need!) the Pittsburgh Steelers and their fans in equal measure (you complete me.... you... complete... me!) as a thuggish pack of mushmouthed peabrains drunk on Iron City (sorry, "Arn City") and coal dust, and
  
• Yet again as a Browns fan, I remember when wearing brown and orange in Pittsburgh on game day meant enduring a hail of D-cell batteries, beer bottles, trash, the chance of having your car burned, being shot by an off-duty cop, or (in one memorable case) a beating live on the news,
  

And yeah, I know all the foregoing was monstrously unfair to the good people of eastern Pennsylvania. I married a woman from there. I love Pittsburgh. I root for the Pirates and Penguins and even the Steelers when it has no consequence for my Browns.

But it was super duper fun to write, and I do really get worked about whatever group of clowns is currently wearing Broncos laundry.

Anybody that takes sports that seriously needs to get a life. This whole town needs to be sentenced to public service with the Peace Corps, working with people who REALLY have issues & needs, instead of fixating on a bunch of overpaid jocks.

I'm with Chris Beaumont, teacher-led heckling is unacceptable, as is making a student sit on the floor for an exam while his classmates throw paper balls at him.

Perhaps it is not so grave an offense as to merit firing, but some sort of disciplinary action is in order so that that teacher might learn to use better judgment in the future.

Those of us who are passionate about our favorite teams can understand the "playful" motivations behind this "prank."

However, those of us who are also parents do not want our childrens' teachers to treat them that way, especially during exams.

It is a matter of priorities.

...having taught HS in a former life (late 80s) and being the one of a handful of Cubs fans teaching in the shadow of Comiskey Park (home of the White Sox), I've had my share of "White Sox suck, Cubs suck" arguments. I have no qualms about spirited (sometimes obnoxiously so) mano a mano support of one's team. But singling out a student and having the class gang up on him (even if it's just paper throwing) crosses way over the line...

...I'm far from the model teacher. I taught for seven years before it was time to move on. There are a few things I regret saying/doing in my teacher role. For instance, a student decided he wanted to express himself artistically on the chalkboard. I didn't approve and used him (and the back of his shirt) to erase his drawing. Another time, a student was being a disruptive ass (not enough to warrant a detention but enough that it had to be addressed). So, I took white-out and wrote "ass" on his forehead. On the way to getting it washed off, he passed the Principal, so I caught grief for it. In each case, blame rested on my shoulders, not of my students...

...as for Kelly, not serious enough to be fired but suspension and/or a year's probation seems fair...

This is the stupidest post I've ever read on this site, and I've read some doozies.

If the news story is accurate and there's nothing more to it, then the teacher needs to be fired. There's really nothing to debate. He's shown that he's willing to single out a student and encouraging other students to be abusive toward him. Over a something as trivial as a football jersey (not that the reason matters -- would it have been better if it had been over skin color or religion?). He's a fucking moron, and by definition, morons shouldn't be teachers. Case closed.

Over a something as trivial as a football jersey (not that the reason matters -- would it have been better if it had been over skin color or religion?).

Here's the difference, bhw: nobody picks their skin color. And while they do pick their religion---sometimes---they don't usually do it with the intention of provoking other people who don't share that religion.

I don't know if that's what the kid in the Broncos jersey did, but there's reason to suspect it.

However, the teacher is supposed to be a professional. He should be suspended and probated.

bhw: This is the stupidest post I've ever read on this site, and I've read some doozies.

Yer on crack. I know for a fact you've read Patfish posts and there is no way this is stupider.

If the news story is accurate and there's nothing more to it, then the teacher needs to be fired. There's really nothing to debate. He's shown that he's willing to single out a student and encouraging other students to be abusive toward him. Over a something as trivial as a football jersey (not that the reason matters -- would it have been better if it had been over skin color or religion?). He's a fucking moron, and by definition, morons shouldn't be teachers. Case closed.

But, "By all accounts, Kelly is a great teacher and a very decent man. He teaches an ethics course and does explain to his students before the class begins that they will be subject to uncomfortable feelings at times."

Any intelligent, well-meaning person can do something uncharacteristically stupid. Should that be the final word on his career? Remember that guy who had the poor judgment to lie about a blow-job? Did that nullify everything else about he did?

Michael, are you seriously saying that the kid in the Broncos jersey "provoked" the teacher or students? That to wear a football jersey -- a fucking football jersey! -- of the team that YOU like is to provoke an angry mob reaction?

So the kid who wore the Bronco jersey HAD IT COMING or should have expected to be abused because he likes the Broncos? WTF?

Why does this line of reasoning sound like, "she should have known what would happen if she walked around in that short skirt"?

bhw: Michael, are you seriously saying that the kid in the Broncos jersey "provoked" the teacher or students? That to wear a football jersey -- a fucking football jersey! -- of the team that YOU like is to provoke an angry mob reaction?

So you're saying that because he liked the team, the jersey couldn't possibly have been a provocation to others?

'Cause you know, some people really like swastikas.

"Cause you know, some people really like swastikas."

I hope you're not equating racial bias with organized-sport enthusiasm...

Exactly, KYS.

I'm saying that anyone who is provoked by a student wearing a football jersey is a fucking moron. And any teacher who uses a football jersey as an excuse to organize an exercise that humiliates a kid deserves to be fired.

KYS: I hope you're not equating racial bias with organized-sport enthusiasm...

If you think about how reductio ad absurdum works, you should find you hope fulfilled.

;)

I'm just bitter about organized sports, what can I say!

Wait a minute, bhw. First you say, Michael, are you seriously saying that the kid in the Broncos jersey "provoked" the teacher or students?

Then you say, Why does this line of reasoning sound like, "she should have known what would happen if she walked around in that short skirt"?

You are not seriously comparing this with RAPE, are you?

First of all, No. I am not saying that the kid in the Broncos jersey provoked the teacher. I'm suggesting there's a possibility that he deliberately provoked the teacher.

I'm not sure if you've ever been a 17-year-old boy, bhw, but I have, and I can tell you from experience that 17-year-old boys do shit like this all the time, with the deliberate purpose of provoking people. It's an adolescent combination of power-trip and venting your young-male angst.

We have it on the authority of somebody who knows the town (see Comment #2) that its populace is "fiercely prideful" and that Steelers fans are particularly fanatical. We also know from the news article linked to from this blog post that the teacher was a rabid Steelers fan. Let me further assert, again from experience, that anyone with any understanding of professional sports knows that walking into a camp of Team-X fans wearing a Team-Y shirt is laughing in the face of danger. Even when you're an adult. Hell, my father was once physically threatened in a sports bar because my mother was loudly rooting for the wrong team.

So while I am not saying that "Yes, for certain, this kid was OBVIOUSLY trying to be provocative," I am saying that "there is reason--based on the age and sex of the kid, the nature of the town in which he lived, and the circumstances of the impending Steelers vs. Broncos game--to suspect that he was trying to be provocative."

bhw: I'm saying that anyone who is provoked by a student wearing a football jersey is a fucking moron.

Well, as the post points out, this quite likely applies to the majority of the class, if not the majority of the population.

So where you going to find this teacher's replacement?

So where you going to find this teacher's replacement?

Denver, maybe? :-D

This territorial, geographic aspect of sports fandom has always left me cold. In high school, I could never bring myself to feel any passion against our rival schools, much less *hate* them because they happened to be in a different geographic boundary. Hell, I didn't even know them, much less hate them. Just seems so shallow and anti-intellectual.

It's part of geographic identity, Sister Ray. No different from loving your own team because it happens to share your geographic boundary.

To everyone else: if you're not convinced that 17-year-old boys love to deliberately provoke, just think about BC's own little Eric Rudolph in training, Anthony Grande.

damn, mike! shit... i still try to provoke people. say what you will about that.

It's true, though, isn't it, zingzing? Anyone who's been a 17-year-old boy, back me up on this.

i have no doubt that this kid knew exactly what he was doing. at some point, at the very least, the thought of "what are all the steelers fans going to think of this?" must have come up in his head. and he decided to do it anyway. so, even if it wasn't his entire point, he knew he was going to provoke a reaction. and he did it anyway.

Well, the teacher acted just as immaturely and doesn't have the excuse of being 17 years old.

Sure he did. But did he really act immaturely enough to be fired? I don't think so. I think he should have a two-week or one-month suspension and probation for the rest of the school year.

That's the funniest thing I've read in a while. An ethics teacher getting the class to bombard a Denver fan! Welcome to western PA.