Teacher frightens school children telling them Astroid on collision course

[Cass]

Pupils were left in tears after a teacher told them that an asteroid was about to hit Earth and kill them all. The spoof announcement was designed to teach 14-year-olds the importance of seizing the day but backfired after they became visibly frightened.

Keith Hogan, head teacher at St Matthew's RC High School in Moston, Manchester, said he regretted any distress caused to the 230 pupils.

The head of year behind the assembly "stunt" later moved to reassure them.

He had told the year nine students that the asteroid was on a "collision course".

It is also believed that the students were told that they should go home and say "final farewells" to their families.

Pupils 'reassured'

The teacher then admitted the story was a stunt aimed at underlining the theme of the assembly - "living each day to the full".

Head Mr Hogan said: "Obviously I regret the fact that any student was distressed by the content and delivery of the assembly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/...ter/4025293.stm

Originally Posted by Cass

Pupils were left in tears after a teacher told them that an asteroid was about to hit Earth and kill them all. The spoof announcement was designed to teach 14-year-olds the importance of seizing the day but backfired after they became visibly frightened.

Keith Hogan, head teacher at St Matthew's RC High School in Moston, Manchester, said he regretted any distress caused to the 230 pupils.

The head of year behind the assembly "stunt" later moved to reassure them.

He had told the year nine students that the asteroid was on a "collision course".

It is also believed that the students were told that they should go home and say "final farewells" to their families.

Pupils 'reassured'

The teacher then admitted the story was a stunt aimed at underlining the theme of the assembly - "living each day to the full".

Head Mr Hogan said: "Obviously I regret the fact that any student was distressed by the content and delivery of the assembly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/...ter/4025293.stm

Had I been the father of any one of those students I think I would have brought my .410 shotgun to this teacher's class and ask him or her if him or her had lived a full life, because the one him or her had was about over.

[Porpoise]

I find it hard to believe that high school students would cry over that. It seems like they would quickly be able to realize it was a joke. He must have been very convincing. I could understand that scaring kids in elementary school, but HIGH SCHOOL kids? I'm not saying that what the teacher did was right. It wasn't. I am just amazed that high school students would fall for that. Not even the dumbest kid at the high school I attended for four years would have fallen for such a trick. That teacher ought to consider acting because if he brought those kids to tears he must REALLY be a good actor.

[TW2005]

Originally Posted by Cass

Pupils were left in tears after a teacher told them that an asteroid was about to hit Earth and kill them all. The spoof announcement was designed to teach 14-year-olds the importance of seizing the day but backfired after they became visibly frightened.

Keith Hogan, head teacher at St Matthew's RC High School in Moston, Manchester, said he regretted any distress caused to the 230 pupils.

The head of year behind the assembly "stunt" later moved to reassure them.

He had told the year nine students that the asteroid was on a "collision course".

It is also believed that the students were told that they should go home and say "final farewells" to their families.

Pupils 'reassured'

The teacher then admitted the story was a stunt aimed at underlining the theme of the assembly - "living each day to the full".

Head Mr Hogan said: "Obviously I regret the fact that any student was distressed by the content and delivery of the assembly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/...ter/4025293.stm

In all reality, he's right! Somewhere out there, an asteroid is on its way to us and will wipe out the planet. It probably wont happen any time soon, but there is a lot of space out there to cover and NASA cant see it all. It could happen in 1 year, or in 1,000 who knows.

[Scrat]

I'm all for things like this, you should go to great lenghts to to traumatize your children while they are young.


LIFE IS TRAUMATIZING!!!!! GET 'EM BROKE IN EARLY!!!

Really though. 14 year olds should be able to reason a little better than this.

[jahamaa]

Originally Posted by Jives

Exciting and stimulating young minds is a difficult job. You have to be part mentor, part actor, part MTV entertainer, part scientist, and part stand-up comedian.

Occasionally lessons go wrong and statments are misconstrued...it goes along with the job. When it does, you get this kind of thing. I'm sure that this all looked good on paper. The alternative to this a monotone teacher, pulling out the same worksheet everyday for decades.

Teachers are some of the most imaginative and creative people in our society. Think about it, do you have to be interesting, and creative, in front of seven different audiences, every single day on your job to be effective? A teacher does.

Jives, you and I have butted heads before and here we go again.
Just read about a study done by the Gov. that showed 85 million Americans read at a 4th grade level.

33 percent of YALE for God's sake students couldn't name the country north of the US

I work a part time job with some students from our local College. They were taking a US gov. class and asked me who I thought was the most powerful person in our gov. When I said Condi Rice or Karl Rowe they had to ask me who they were.
While in the middle of a college level Gov. class!!!

Maybe teachers should stop being so imaginative and creative and teach.
Must be a very hard job cause nobody seems to be doing it.

I could go on and on but I'll be as brief as possible. See I'm one of those guys who has no respect for the American teacher. I thnik they teach the little clones of themselves and view kids who don't fit the mold, so to speak, as disposable.
That is why they warehouse them in special classes or alternative schools or dope them up after saying they have ADD.

My own personal view is this. To our nation the top 10 percent of our college grads are indispensable the remaining 90 percent, insufferable.
I don't consider teachers in the first 10 percent.

[Scrat]

Maybe teachers should stop being so imaginative and creative and teach.
Must be a very hard job cause nobody seems to be doing it.

I couldn't agree more. It's the job of the teacher to teach. It's the job of the kids to listen and learn.

Teachers are some of the most imaginative and creative people in our society. Think about it, do you have to be interesting, and creative, in front of seven different audiences, every single day on your job to be effective? A teacher does.

What are you? A teacher or an actor?

Is school supposed to be a fun game? A day at the movies?

Considering the very large amount of semi-literate BA cases I see around here teachers are not very effective.

Fourth grade classes in China are studying algebra not trying to figure out if they are gay, straight, bisexual or transgender. Chinese kids don't beat the crap out of one another in the hallways and spit on their teachers.

I sometimes have to teach on the shop floor, I don't have to be creative or interesting, you will listen and you will learn or you will be gone. Simple as that.

America is not preparing the kids for life out in the world. When they run up against the children of India and China it will be a slaughter.

[jahamaa]

Originally Posted by Jives

Ahhh...but always with intelligence and wit. It's a pure pleasure to fence with you.



Nice statistic...I notice it carries no qualifiers. What is the demographinc of that statistic? Are these rich people? Or poor and low SES people? How many illegal immigrants were included? I could conduct a survey in a church on Sunday and find that 100% of the people believed in God, so your statistic is highly questionable. Even so, with a population of over 500 million in the U.S., that means only 1 in 5 reads poorly.



I teach Math, and I'm damned good at it. Currently, according to standardized tests, my students are up 3.25 years in ability so far this year. I also work with the poor, the illegal immigrants, and the low socio-economic-status students, making my job even harder.



LOL! Oh! Hahahhahaha....don't you get it? It's the imaginative and creative teachers that teach the best! The problem is that we can't attract those kinds of people for a salary that compares to the local McDonald's manager's salary.

The poor students yo refer to that have no basic knowledge, most likely got a teacher that pulls out the same worksheet, year after year, and tells the students "do the problems, If you need me I'll be at my desk."



Really? And yet you, yourself, are very well-spoken. How did you get that way? I'm sure that you will tell me now that you were born gifted.



Nice stereotyping. I'm afraid I don't fit your mold. And even if I was to teach a kid to be a clone of myself....what's wrong with being a person that has flown supersonic planes, has three college degrees, two in Electrical engineering, and has been a top corporate manager?



You couldn't be more wrong. Check out my school:

http://fc.fms.k12.nm.us/~jives/

We treat our kids as human beings and give them a chance to catch up. They have had terrible lives and we do our best to help them to succeed....before they fail in high school. The idea behind the Transition Academy is the exact opposite of yours, we try to help the kids to succeed and transition into a regular school environment. No isolate them.



Well, well....holier than thou, eh? LOl! So teachers aren't needed? How did your "college grads" get into college at all without us?

Oh... What is this paragon-of-mental-exertion-job that you do?

Holier than thou? quilty. A lack of arrogance has never been a problem for me.

I am well read because I had a father that forced me to think and question everything.
He taught me that the world was a hard place and only a fool thinks he can get all the ideas he needs to survive from his own mind. I owe little of my education to the hard work of teachers.

Look Jives I can understand that teaching is a hard job and those who try to do it well have the deck stacked against them with a lack of parental involvement
and modern culture mocking learning. And I am not going to write a book here.
With the dealings I have had myself, with my children and now grandchildren I firmly beleive that most teachers are more interested in the prom dance than educating children.

That they go into education because they like the high school lifestyle and not the job of educating.
This is a cause I have fought publicly in my area and you wouldn't beleive the names I have been called by these highly skilled professionals because I have questioned their methods of teaching.

You seem like a person truly dedicated to your job and I wish there was some way to have a face to face disscussion on the topic ( impossible I know) because it is impossible for me to qualigy all that I should qualify on a post.

Just let me say that I have read much and I mean much on the topic my thinking is not based on prejudice nor formed in a vaccum.

In fact I am in the prossess of forming a group to retest children that have been assigned to special courses and to question the schools placement because I and othes think that, here at least, schools are assigning children just to get enough kids in the class to qualify for federal money. Like to add here that I'm fighting my last post because several of the first to suggest this are profs at the local college.

Complicated topic and I just can't say all I should or want to on a post.

Jives, I admit I don't know you and you may well be extremely dedicated and highly intelligent so with my next point I make no judgements only offer a point of contemplaction. If a person of your age can do all the jobs you have done and still amass three college degrees, could it be possible the degrees were too easy to come by?

[jahamaa]

Originally Posted by Jives

You underestimate me, my dear jahamaa. I had to work nights and take 21 credit hours per semester for one of the degrees, another took me 7 years to complete, since I had to teach in the day and attend school at night.

I've taken Advanced Calculus and Analytical Geometry. The hardest math available. (Theoretical math) This is the limit at which our civilization has reached. The class was so difficult, that despite my 4.0 average, I had to take it twice with a tutor and a study group before and after class, just to pass it with a "B". So no....it wasn't easy by any means.

To change your view and make you feel better, the new "No Child left Behind" law makes it very, very hard to be a mediocre teacher. You should see a lessening of the bad examples that you state very soon now.

And for anyone out there that thinks it's easy to be a teacher....try siting in a small room for the entire day surrounded by children. Now try to make them do something they don't want to do. Oh...and if you don't succeed, you're fired.

Underestimate you friend Jives? Never!!

However, plead quilty to a tounge in cheek smart a** remark to try to get a rise out of you, yeah , sorry. I just couldn't resist.
Should have known you'd be too smart to rise to the bait

As I enjoy my encounters with you, I hope you don't take offense and stop taking me to task when you see the need.