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  • TUESDAY FEBRUARY 22 2005 2:39 AM

Teacher Yanks Chair Out From Under Student For Refusing to Stand During National Anthem

Submitted by Attack_Macaque

Edited by Sean

In an ugly display of hyperjingoistic douchebaggery, Stuart Mantel, a high school teacher and wanna-be drill sergeant in Brick, New Jersey, was recently filmed flying into an unhinged rage when one of his students failed to stand for the national anthem. The episode ended with Mantel yanking a chair out from under the student.

Indymedia.org has a copy of the film here, and it's not pretty:

The class started out that morning with Mantel yelling, "I don't want to hear a sound! Not a sound! Morning exercises will come on, you will stand, you will stand quietly, you will pay attention! Any Questions? ...Now stand up and keep your mouths shut!" Students stood up as the national anthem began playing.

In the middle of the anthem, Mantel walked over to Jay and demanded that he stand up. Jay silently refused, and Mantel yelled again, "Stand up!". Jay then said "I don't have to stand up". To which Mantel insisted "You have to stand." Jay said "No I don't". Mantel then reached over and pulled Jay's chair out from under him. Jay responded to Stuart Mantel's outrageous behavior by asking Mantel, "Are you serious?", to which Mantel yelled, "I am damn well serious."

Incredibly, Mantel remains unpunished for his abusive (and unconstitutional) actions, while the student who filmed the incident was suspended 10 days for "violating the teacher's constitutional rights."

According to the student who filmed the incident, this was not the first time that something like this had happened in Mantel's classroom, and the students decided to bring a camera into their classroom in case Mantel flew off the handle again, so they could have evidence of his behavior. When they presented their evidence to the school's principal, however, they were met with hostility:

"The teacher and school principals wanted him (Mantel) to press charges against us...they tried to blame it on us like it was premeditated, like we did it just to get him on tape, which is false. We knew he was gonna go nuts because he frequently used to," said Corey [the student who filmed the incident].

One of the hallmarks of fascism is hyperbolic patriotism, and another is compulsory patriotism. To see them both displayed in an incident like this is disturbing, but what's even more disturbing is the indifference of school administrators to behavior that is not only clearly inappropriate but also illegal. Worse yet is the possibility that episodes like this may be happening with less fanfare in classrooms all over the country.

Hat tip: PissedOffPollyana @ Daily Kos

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Comments
Tawnya

Tawnya

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

FEB 22, 2005 02:46 AM

I have to say the kid who had that happen was MUCH calmer than I wouldhave been in a similar situation.

Callahan

Callahan

Seattle, WA
February 2005

FEB 22, 2005 03:04 AM

I had a fourth grade teacher who used to fly into rages. Not about that, but other stuff. It was pretty startling.
So yeah, they fired his ass.

Doesn't matter if it was patriotic whatever or anything else. Teachers of all people should remain calm and in control. They're role models for christs sake.

In my highschool they really didn't care if we stood for the pledge, but I suspect most people who didn't were just plain lazy.

_Sarah_

_Sarah_

Kalamazoo, MI
January 2003

FEB 22, 2005 03:09 AM


Jay said that he didn't have any political reasons for his refusal to stand but that he wanted to sit because he feels it is his right to do so and that right was being threatened by Mantel.


I'd be so damn proud if this were my kid. I love that he stood up to that jerk.

OH MY GOD. Has anyone listened to or watched this video? Unbelievable. It's school, not the military.

[Edited on Feb 22, 2005 by Sorcha]

Gitsie

Gitsie

I'm lost
June 2004

FEB 22, 2005 03:13 AM

i did that with a tape recorder in highschool. the teacher left the following year.

Jeff_Fries

Jeff_Fries

Humptulips, WA
September 2003

FEB 22, 2005 03:15 AM

I recognize he did a wrong thing, and is way too unstable to be teaching woodshop or whatever, but here's the problem: are those kids being dicks because he's a raving lunatic, or is there some kind of discipline issue going on with the school or this particular group of students in this class? Not to mention that being 'forced' to salute the flag by having your seat pulled away is relatively small potatoes when your teacher is too enraged to speak in anything less than a scream. The guy has issues; the kids were being rebellious dicks either in response or in general; and when his control issues manifest themselves in his telling a student he has to stand up for the pledge, they choose that moment to pout to a left-wing watchdog org that, help help, they're being oppressed. Based on that one clip, I can't see how those conclusions are less reasonable than IndyMedia's.

Attack_Macaque said:
One of the hallmarks of fascism...


What in christ are you babbling about?

[Edited on Feb 22, 2005 by Jeff_Fries]

lowroller

lowroller

Australia
May 2008

FEB 22, 2005 03:26 AM

That brings back some memories. Good ol' school. I'm sure most people remember a teacher that reminds them of that guy .... but not so much in that particular situation.

Huck

Huck

United Kingdom
July 2004

FEB 22, 2005 03:27 AM

Jeff_Fries said:
I recognize he did a wrong thing, and is way too unstable to be teaching woodshop or whatever, but here's the problem: are those kids being dicks because he's a raving lunatic, or is there some kind of discipline issue going on with the school or this particular group of students in this class? Not to mention that being 'forced' to salute the flag by having your seat pulled away is relatively small potatoes when your teacher is too enraged to speak in anything less than a scream. The guy has issues; the kids were being rebellious dicks either in response or in general; and when his control issues manifest themselves in his telling a student he has to stand up for the pledge, they choose that moment to pout to a left-wing watchdog org that, help help, they're being oppressed. Based on that one clip, I can't see how those conclusions are less reasonable than IndyMedia's.

Attack_Macaque said:
One of the hallmarks of fascism...


What in christ are you babbling about?

[Edited on Feb 22, 2005 by Jeff_Fries]



christ, what does difference does it make? a) the guy has no right to make the student stand up, and b) he has no right to pull a chair out from under him, potentially causing harm - in which case it would effectively be assault. regardless of whether or not their planting a camera was "entrapment", this fucker belongs in barracks, not a classroom.

so it looks like he's getting away with it... if this happened in the UK, he'd be fired out of a cannon. good thing we don't have to stand for the national fucking anthem in class. the very idea is hilarious!

Jeff_Fries

Jeff_Fries

Humptulips, WA
September 2003

FEB 22, 2005 03:29 AM

Huck said:
christ, what does difference does it make? a) the guy has no right to make the student stand up, and b) he has no right to pull a chair out from under him, potentially causing harm - in which case it would effectively be assault. regardless of whether or not their planting a camera was "entrapment", this fucker belongs in barracks, not a classroom.


So fire him. This isn't a political issue; this is a anger management issue.

dem_z

dem_z

United Kingdom
June 2004

FEB 22, 2005 03:34 AM

I agree with Jeff_Fries. The guy clearly shouldn't be teaching. Had those students seen anyone about his rages before?

Bastardo

Bastardo

Boston, MA
January 2005

FEB 22, 2005 03:35 AM

Jeff_Fries said:

Huck said:
christ, what does difference does it make? a) the guy has no right to make the student stand up, and b) he has no right to pull a chair out from under him, potentially causing harm - in which case it would effectively be assault. regardless of whether or not their planting a camera was "entrapment", this fucker belongs in barracks, not a classroom.


So fire him. This isn't a political issue; this is a anger management issue.



I think they made it into a political isse when they tried to sue the kids. And ANYTHING to do with the national anthem is going to become political, like it or not.

Bastardo

Bastardo

Boston, MA
January 2005

FEB 22, 2005 03:40 AM

So I just watched the film and it looked like a bunch of dumb kids pulling a prank. The guy was clearly out of control but it wasn't a sit-in movement or anything. The school board was stupid to blow the issue up the way they did.

Lain

Lain

Astoria, NY
April 2004

FEB 22, 2005 03:45 AM

I had this happen to me in highschool who was singling me out for not standing.... and its your right NOT TO STAND.

She was fired a week later.

Agata

Agata

United Kingdom
September 2004

FEB 22, 2005 03:46 AM

It all seemed a little bit of an anticlimax if you ask me. I was kinda expecting the kid to have fallen to the floor or something. Dont get me wrong, the teacher was out of line and a complete twat. Im totally on the students side, why the fuck should he stand!? Because tradition says so!? Fuck off. Still, at the end of the day, the teacher is all bark and no bite. I had plenty worse teachers throughout the course of my school years. Not overly sure why this story made breaking news.

Pauillac

Pauillac

Canada
April 2003

FEB 22, 2005 03:52 AM

Didn't anyone else but me think that the kids were being dicks?

None of them looked the slightest bit scared or taken aback by the teacher's rampage. It was almost like they set him up.

I had a vague impulse to lay a beating on a couple of the little pricks myself.

James_

James_

United Kingdom
March 2003

FEB 22, 2005 03:56 AM

he didn't seem that angry to me. Just frustrated at a bunch of goofball kids.

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