NEWS: Hot for Teacher: 10 Year Old Busted for Sexual Harassment

Whatever the hell happened to telling a kid "No, dear, that's not the appropriate thing to say."

I guess now we just suspend them, eh? Sexual harassment from a ten-year-old? Give me a fucking break.

No, no, that's paederasty.

(Insert "lollering" icon.)

No, I just kinda' like C3PO. 'Look a bit like him, too.

When I switched schools in 4th grade, everyone in my class signed a big card for me on the last day. One of the kids signed it "Eric the Pimp". A fourth grader. I showed it to my dad and I'm like "What's a pimp?" and he said the kid probably didn't even know. A couple years later, I heard it again and realized what it was, then rolled my eyes at the stupid kid.

Wait, how did this end up in the music forum? Just the "hot for teacher" reference?

That's the real crime here, improper forumming!

was wondering the same thing

+1, but use spell check next time, it's hyperbole.

What are you talking about?

+1

Ummm... I'm pretty sure he was using the plural form.


Latin FTW!

re: He's just a little kid who doesn't know what sexy means.

No. He's probably in fourth or fifth grade and he knows exactly what the difference is between "sexy" and "pretty." He's not just some naive kid. He's about to hit puberty in a hyper-sexualized-media-culture-saturated environment. He should be old enough to be accountable for his own actions.

Yeah, he should have gotten suspended. It's terrible to be uncomfortable due to unwanted sexual remarks in the workplace, especially if they're unwanted sexual remarks from a ten year old who is your student. Also, teachers don't suspend kids, the administration in a school suspends kids. That teacher did the right thing by going to her supervisor about an incident and letting him/her handle it appropriately.

Or, she could have scolded him in the class and not been such a ninny.

Since when are ten year olds responsible for their actions? He's a fucking child. Even if he knew what the word meant, he is not old enough to know not to, or why he shouldn't say it to his teacher. Seeing as the woman is a teacher perhaps she could have taught him it isn't the sort of thing you say instead of making the kid feel like he did something wrong by being attracted to her. If she can't handle something like that, maybe she should find a job working with people who ARE old enough to be accountable and to know all of the ins and outs of polite society. To say the kid did something wrong here is silly. To say it was sexual harassment is plain stupid.

I lived with a girlfriend ten years ago. Her daughter was 10 & 11 those years we were together, and the kid and I are still close to this day. My original comments (essentially, "he's just a kid, this is over-reacting") is based on that experience helping raise a 10-year-old. I still say the kid needs a mild scolding and an explanation why he was out of line and then give him back his baseball mitt or GameBoy and just move on.

"Sexual harassment." Cripes. This is just more ammo we hand over to creeps like Rush Limbaugh to build their case against rampant liberalism.

Ten year olds can and will be accountable for their actions if they're held accountable for them. Ten years old has by far crossed the threshold of "old enough to know better," so yeah he's a "fucking child," but no, that doesn't make it ok to call his teacher sexy.

Secondly, while I do agree that teachers should be able to discuss sexual harassment and the appropriateness of sexual comments in a classroom, this ends up being much tricker in practice than it looks. Because if it comes down to it and kids are going home complaining to parents about Ms. So-and-So talking about sexual harassment and parent A or B decides that this is completely inapproprate for Ms. So-and-So to be talking about in class, then it's pretty easy for that parent to have Ms. So-and-So's ass. In these situations it's almost always better to go to a supervisor or counselor, especially because then you have a third (adult) party as a witnesss.

Why would it be plural? There's no need to it to be plural. FTW.

Twenty years ago the teacher would have laughed it off and lightly scolded the child. Then if the teacher wanted to cover their ass, which you're right is pretty reasonable given the trend nowadays, she could have notified administration, or maybe the kid's parents, and let them know what happened. But the kid getting in real trouble for this is just preposterous.

Unless the kid was like, "Hey mami, you so fuckin' sexy, c'mere and give papi a hug so I can grab yo' ass." But I doubt that actually happened.

I remember one of my friends in third grade getting caught when a teacher walked in while he was dancing on a table singing about her "sexy legs".

Yea, overreacting.

Yes, we *can* hold 10-year-olds responsible for anything we choose. Doing so, on the other hand, would be a fucking retarded way to run a society.

She wouldn't have to discuss sexual harassment in the classroom. All she woud have had to say is that it's not a nice thing to say
And saying that 10 year olds are accountable doesn't make it true.

From reading the original article, I am still siding with the teacher on this one.

a) Smallfry saying the teacher "looks sexy" happened in September. The school social worker contacted the parent and I'm pretty sure that's when the warning of more serious reprecusions went down.

b)That kid's mom works in a public school in the Bronx and should know how whack NYC department of education is. (Though, I am unclear whether the fourth grader in question is in a New York City school). She (mom) should have laid the smack down on that kid back in September: "look, you can't call your teacher sexy. Now that you already have, she's going to think you're skeeving on her anytime you compliment her shoes, tap her on the shoulder, or try and give her a hug. So, just don't do it. It's inappropriate."

c) When the kid asked the teacher for a hug she initially responded, "no, I think that would be inappropriate," which is appropriate. Given that the kid's parents had already been contacted about the kid's "sexy" remark, it does make sense that the next disciplinary step would be suspension.

d)Yes. Saying that 10 year olds are accountable doesn't make it true. But training them, by setting limits and enforcing consequences, to be accountable makes it more true.

e) I worked as a full time teacher for the NYC board of ed. for two years with fourth and fifth graders (i.e. ten year olds). And yes, it is difficult for a lot of them to understand the difference between harmless flirting, sucking up to your teacher, and being sexually aggressive (this goes for both genders). That is precisely why things like sexual harassment in the classroom need to be strictly enforced. The second you start saying "oh, well, they're just a ten year old" in regards to an issue as serious as sexual harassment, you're eschewing your responsibility to help these young people become responsible adults.

f) Maybe I'm completely biased here and missing the point. Maybe ten year olds should be allowed to run buckwild on all their hedonistic fantasies, because, well, they're only ten and they don't know any better. That's probably less of a fucking retarded way to run society... or a classroom full of them.

I'm not saying that. But there is a difference between teaching a kid that something is wrong, and punishing a kid for doing something he didn't know was wrong. What does suspending this kid from school accomplish besides having him miss out on his education?

Excluded middle.

I'm split on this one, on the one hand I like seeing kids getting into trouble and on the other hand that is one of the most retarded reasons to suspend a 10yr old. Either the teacher has major problems or the boy is super creepy like the kid in the Omen, from the pic i'm going with the latter.