The Price Of Fear And Ignorance
[guest post by Dana]
Greg Schiller, a highly regarded teacher who teaches Advanced Placement biology and psychology as well as regular and honors biology in Los Angeles Unified School District, has been suspended pending further investigation.
From the Los Angeles Times,
Students and parents have rallied around Greg Schiller after his suspension in February from the downtown Cortines School of Visual & Performing Arts. Supporters have organized a rally on his behalf at the campus for Thursday, gathered hundreds of signatures on a petition calling for his reinstatement and set up a social media page
Schiller was ordered to report daily to a district administrative office pending an investigation after two students turned in science-fair projects that were designed to shoot small projectiles.
One project used compressed air to propel a small object but it was not connected to a source of air pressure, so it could not have been fired.
Ironically, “in 2012, President Obama tried out a more powerful air-pressure device at a White House Science Fair that could launch a marshmallow 175 feet.”
Further,
Another project used the power from an AA battery to charge a tube surrounded by a coil. When the ninth-grader proposed it, Schiller told him to be more scientific, to construct and test different coils and to draw graphs and conduct additional analysis, said his parents, who also are Los Angeles teachers.
A school employee saw the air-pressure project and raised concerns about what looked to her like a weapon, according to the teachers union and supporters. Schiller, who said he never saw the completed projects except in photos, was summoned and sent home. Both projects were confiscated as “evidence,” said Susan Ferguson, whose son did the coil.
L.A. Unified School District administrators have told Schiller that he was removed from his classroom for “supervising the building, research and development of imitation weapons,” said union representative Roger Scott.
At this point in time it would appear that a serious teacher is being punished while another employee’s fear and ignorance are being rewarded. One hopes common sense prevails as this is certainly not the lesson one wants to see young people taught.
–Dana
…but Iran can develop a nuclear weapon without any opposition from The Left !
Or whatever.
Elephant Stone (8a7f08) — 4/12/2014 @ 8:37 pmYou will need lots of scotch tape, so head doesn’t explode;
http://jonathanturley.org/2014/04/07/send-him-to-juvie-student-suspended-after-he-allegedly-twirled-a-pencil-and-another-student-said-that-he-felt-threatened/
narciso (3fec35) — 4/12/2014 @ 8:44 pmIf this teacher had been a student from a, uh, “disadvantaged” background, then this whole situation would be characterized as a “cultural” idiosyncracy.
Elephant Stone (8a7f08) — 4/12/2014 @ 8:50 pmOr something.
Unclear on the concept:
http://moonbattery.com/?p=44468
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 4/12/2014 @ 8:51 pmObama’s federal government using the IRS, the NSA, the FBI, and the Bureau of Land Management makes me feel threatened.
So how come they never get suspended ?
Elephant Stone (8a7f08) — 4/12/2014 @ 9:01 pmI’ve said it many times before. Zero tolerance is merely a mechanism that allows people to take an action without any responsibility for that action. Therefore they cannot err. Therefore, they cannot be held accountable. Ever.
Gazzer (6ac6ee) — 4/12/2014 @ 9:02 pm6. Notable, memorable even.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 4/12/2014 @ 9:11 pmI’m not sure how those projects apply to biology… But this is pc stupidity at its worst
Auntie Fraud (55b953) — 4/12/2014 @ 9:14 pmAuntie Fraud,
While the teacher teaches biology, the students apparently did this as part of a general science fair—not a biology class.
Elephant Stone (8a7f08) — 4/12/2014 @ 9:23 pmnone of this proves that Greg Schiller isn’t himself an anti-gun moonbat
does it?
happyfeet (8ce051) — 4/12/2014 @ 9:35 pmThanks gg.
Gazzer (6ac6ee) — 4/12/2014 @ 9:41 pm#2
Kids are still allowed to use pencils???
My 1970 era physics teacher made a potato gun…
steveg (794291) — 4/12/2014 @ 10:09 pmmister happy, none of this disproves that the suspended teacher isn’t a martian.
Elephant Stone (8a7f08) — 4/12/2014 @ 10:09 pmsilly twits…
they better ban tables & chairs from classrooms, and windows, pens, pencils, rulers, books, and everything else i can use as a weapon, or at least arrest & prosecuted the people who allow these deadly weapons in the schools with our chilrens!
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 4/12/2014 @ 10:34 pm“Ignorance is bliss, and i’m surrounded by happy people.”
-redc1c4
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 4/12/2014 @ 10:36 pmWho is teaching the archery class?
mg (31009b) — 4/12/2014 @ 10:53 pmWho needs archery class?
Excalibur Crossbows
Steve57 (078ed2) — 4/12/2014 @ 11:09 pmThat second project…Another project used the power from an AA battery to charge a tube surrounded by a coil…sounds like the basis of a “rail gun”, a model of which the Navy has been working on for years and is finally deploying.
askeptic (8ecc78) — 4/12/2014 @ 11:31 pmA gun that can hurl a non-explosive, very dense, projectile up to 100 miles, at velocities approaching 7K/mph.
They used to grant full-ride scholarships to places like CalTech and MIT to students that submitted science-fair projects such as these (see: Homer Hickam/”October Sky”).
These alleged educators need to find – if they can – other forms of employment.
The type of utter moron we have allowed to take over our schools are doing permanent damage to our society and our children.
SPQR (768505) — 4/12/2014 @ 11:36 pmCrossbow classes should be required in high school, Steve57.
mg (31009b) — 4/12/2014 @ 11:56 pmnow the full rides go to “Public Policy” and “Environmental Studies” majors instead…
(true story!) 😎
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 4/13/2014 @ 12:51 amI read someplace that the complaining employee is an invention of the school administration.
Kevin M (b11279) — 4/13/2014 @ 1:26 amMy high school ended marksmanship and boxing classes in my sophomore year and archery ended in my junior year.
steveg (794291) — 4/13/2014 @ 2:02 amI remember a seagull landed on one of the archery targets and we all started shooting at it… pissed the teacher off. I’m pretty sure a working crossbow would have been worth at least a B in woodshop
If we let them continue they can stifle innovation and knowledge for a generation. It is well on its way.
sdharms (f76bf1) — 4/13/2014 @ 3:45 am“Complaining employee” could be a member of the administration who has a personal grudge against the teacher, or be a fellow teacher who is jealous for any number of reasons.
Hell, it could be the lunch lady who is mad because the teacher doesn’t notice her come-hither looks.
Zero-tolerance policies allow the continued employment and promotion of the maximum number of dues-paying union fools.
Pious Agnostic (ac89e5) — 4/13/2014 @ 6:10 amThe Whigs want to be dominant like the Dhimmicrats.
http://techpinions.com/say-goodbye-to-microsoft
Reaching for extinction.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 4/13/2014 @ 7:19 amConcur.
Chinese cops buy American
I don’t know if that pic is 100% legit. I don’t see why the Chinese who have mastered crossbow technology for thousands of years would need to turn to outsiders for crossbows.
Also, after Tiananmen I’m uncomfortable siding with the Chinese police on any issue.
But this is like saying if the Chinese cops use them, then Glocks can’t be good guns.
Well, Glocks are good guns. Much as it pains me to say it as the Colt .45 Government model is my choice but even I can see it’s not the future. And Lord knows I see the value in killing silently. Hence, crossbows.
Why you need to do that in domestic policing operations I’m more than a bit confused about, but should the need arise, crossbows!
My problem with the Chinese isn’t that they’re Chinese. If the PRC went libertarian tomorrow, their cops would still be using crossbows.
My problem with the Chinese results from their designs on the Senkakus and in the Spratleys.
Steve57 (078ed2) — 4/13/2014 @ 7:26 amAnd these leftists tools say Republicans are anti-science?
Sean (69ccc8) — 4/13/2014 @ 7:48 amOk, maybe my issues with the Chinese run deeper than I let on.
Shaolin master does one finger hand stand
What’s up with this? Seriously, who wants to do this?
Steve57 (078ed2) — 4/13/2014 @ 7:49 amThis blog entry should have been directly connected to the one on “Stupid Democrats,” because probably most of, if not all, the people involved are exactly that.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the ones quite bothered by the teacher and his students designing air-pressure devices are the same “stupid Democrats” who get all warm and happy about public schools in California now being required to have textbooks that talk about famous gays and lesbians, and presumably bisexuals and transgendered folks too.
Moreover, the so-called “zero tolerance” policy is truly ironic since it originates from mainly knuckled-headed liberals who, at the same time, inculcate a culture of “if it feels good, do it!” and compassion for compassion’s sake.
We live in the age of stupid.
Mark (14c5d3) — 4/13/2014 @ 9:41 am“Crossbow classes should be required in high school, Steve57.”
I once had the interesting experience, back when I was a thoracic surgery resident, of operating on a woman with a crossbow bolt through the heart. She survived because we were able to fix each hole as we drew the bolt out. A gunshot wound in the same spot would have been fatal.
You can’t pull a crossbow bolt out no matter how hard you try because they have a barb that lies flat on the way in and springs out when the bolt is pulled back.
MikeK (cd7278) — 4/13/2014 @ 9:42 amHere is your message, Rand:
Hit it hard, do not veer to the left or right.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 4/13/2014 @ 9:58 amIL Policy Institute:
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 4/13/2014 @ 10:21 amSomeone in the comments asked the same question I was thinking.
The guy was also the union rep for the school. I wonder how much a desire to remove and effective union rep had to do with this imbecility?
Smock Puppet, "Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses." (225d0d) — 4/13/2014 @ 11:01 amBoth projects were confiscated as “evidence,”
I must be missing something. Unless there is a crime alleged and reported to the police, what authority does the school have to “confiscate” any private property? Sounds like a theft to me.
Labcatcher (61737c) — 4/13/2014 @ 12:00 pm34. Private pension funds are also in danger:
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/thought-secure-pooled-pensions-teeter-and-fall/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
Sammy Finkelman (c33275) — 4/13/2014 @ 12:33 pmCrossbow bolts are kind of like Porcupine spines. They are only going through one way.
I hope you haven’t soured based on the experience. Because my colleageus joking about teaching crossbows in high school have a point. Whether thye realize it or not.
Math will be involved.
Steve57 (078ed2) — 4/13/2014 @ 2:37 pmAre you sure about that?
Ken (92f263) — 4/13/2014 @ 5:01 pmWait. Your hope is that “common sense will prevail” in the LA County public schools?
Might as well hope for the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus to deliver the exoneration personally…
WarEagle82 (b18ccf) — 4/13/2014 @ 7:19 pmCrossbow classes should be required in high school.
Turned out handy at Sunnydale High. Although not so well for the principal.
Kevin M (b11279) — 4/13/2014 @ 8:10 pm‘Twould be awesome if this teacher were to quit promptly for an engineering job paying him double or triple his current salary. “Thanks for the favor, LAUSD! Good luck with your next teacher.”
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