Teacher throws away prep football player's Powerade? Do I have a story?

I have. I've been a student put in charge of a class, a TA and an instructor.

The teacher in question here is a dick. Plain and simple. My teacher from my high school days was a tool.

 

TA and Instructor? Congratulations.

I'm sorry, but having taught both, I can tell you that trying to control a college or grad-level class is just a LITTLE bit different than controlling a high school class.

And if you re-read my post, I did say that the teacher in this case was over the top.

I'm sorry your high school teacher was such a dick. I hope you had more than one. And I'm sure none of it was your own doing either.

Edit: something to add. I would hope that whoever started this thread would call the teacher to get his side of the story first before even pitching it to an editor. Because it still looks like there's a lot of context missing.

 

I think it's a story. Not an A-1 centerpiece, but a story nonetheless.

Think of the number of athletes that have died in head like this over the past couple of years. It's definitely something that needs to be addressed.

Could you write a column on it?

 

But what do the teacher's (bizarre) actions have to do with athletes dying of heat exhaustion?

It's not like the kid was hydrating himself at that time anyway.

If it was a coach withholding water on the practice field, that woudl be another issue.

I can't imagine there's a real risk of this kid going out and getting heatstroke because his teacher confiscated a couple bottles of Powerade earlier that way.

Does he not have access to a drinking fountain or drink machines in between classes?

Also to clarify stuff I said earlier -- I don't consider it a violation of the "no food and drinks" rule for a kiid to have closed bottles and food packages tucked away in their bookbag. I don't know anyone who does. Again making me suspicious that there's more going on than what's been described.

By the way, what does it mean to "write a penalty?" I've never heard of that concept. Usually teachers just give kids detentions for excessive tardies, food violations, etc. or knock points off their participation/diligence grade.

 

I have been teaching for 16 years, and I can confirm that there are total dickheads in the classroom who just like to play exactly by the rules to establish their "authority."

I could recount horror stories all day. This stuff goes on all the time.

 

I could tell similar stories about colleagues of mine.

But I don't think it's representative. And I'd still want to know more about what was really going on there.

 

It's interesting, out of the mainstream and would get folks debating/thinking.

Your initial instincts were right. Yes, it's a story. I hope you pursue it.

 

Dammit, Hack. You teach, and you drink good beer, and I just moved from Boston to upstate New York.

I do not know that it's representative, either, but I can think of probably a half-dozen teachers on my most recent staff of 140 that style themselves as real pricks. The "absolutely no exceptions" type.

 

Tell me about it.

Where did you teach in the Boston area (if answering that question doesn't give up your online anonymity)?

 

you also defend bush, don't you?

 

OK, how about this:

I could give you hints, like the fact that one of our former players was the subject of takeouts in both Sports Illustrated and the Globe, and that our long-time football coach was not rehired and then got elected to the school board so he could get back at those who rehired him, but, yeah, I was at Peabody.

 

If the Powerade incident gets in the paper, it needs to be part of a larger story on how athletes stay hydrated under intense heat. It's not strong enough -- or interesting enough -- to be a story, or even a note, on its own.

If you're really moved by it, call the teacher and ask why he threw it away. My guess is that the kid was drinking it, which is against class rules, and got it thrown away, but that's just me.

The South's intense heat also doesnt make it a story. (When isnt the South hot this time of year?) Plenty of times for kids to hydrate. No one says they have to do it during class.