O Please.......

[Triple_7]

Today i went through hell over such a little thing.

As some of you know im in a Design Graphics class at vocational school.  At the begining the teacher told us we could not do anything religious or satanic...No problem...But today i was creating a freehand peice that involved a cross...Didnt think it was that big a deal and was not meant to mean anything.  Well, teacher saw different.  He told me to get rid of it and that im not supposed to have anything like that.  Sence i had spent a good 2 hours on it i wasnt going to just trash it, so i clicked save and just exited out of it.  He didnt like that eather.  He wanted it GONE.  I refused and not long after he accualy took my disk and deleted it for me.  Couldnt keep my mouth shut over the deal cause that is MY disk and MY work  Long story short...I now have 3 days suspention from class.  All for a "religious" picture that wasnt meant to be religious at all.  Whats the deal with things in schools these days.  I used to draw all kinds of fancy crosses for fun in my notebook and the teachers complimented me.  Not anymore i suppose...Now its to much a "sensitive" subject :-/

But i might be able to get it back...One of my friends said they would try to get on the computer where he dumped it and save it for me if its still there  And for the next 3 days i get to sleep in

[Ben_M_K]

Ouch!!

[jordonj]

...

[Paz]

 Good job, I always had a problem with teachers who thought they were dictators and I never let them push me around, sure I got kicked out of a couple of classes and spent a lot of time in the hall, but that was better than dealing with an a**hole teacher.

 Basically this teacher is taking away your freedom of expression, and it seems to me that if the disc you saved your creation on was your personal disc, then the teacher also was destroying your personal property, maybe you should sue!

 

[Omag 2.0]

That's plain cruel! The fact that he has a problem with u using the symbol in a task, while farfetched, I can understand more or less. But destroying it all together? That's outrageous!

Perhaps you should "delete" his car or something, simply because you don't like it and it conflicts with your ideas...

But that could cost you more than 3 days of suspention.

On the other hand, I've never understood the idea behind suspention. Isn't that more of a gift? Just a little extra holliday...  

[jordonj]

I generally try to avoid the subject of politics and religion when substitute teaching, but I never step on the beliefs of others like that!

I would say your teacher has issues with his own beliefs if he has to do that!

Just a humorous note...often student's say "Oh my God" or "Jesus Christ" over an assignment (or when I stop them from playing computer games online).  My response:

"Sorry, you can't pray here.  It's one of those separation of church and state sort of things"

[ATI_7500]

While I appreciate the basic attitude of the teacher (nor religion), I contrarily think that he's way too intolerant.

[Hagar]

However well-meaning this teacher might be I think this is way over the top. I don't know if it offended him personally but his own feelings shouldn't come into it. This is the danger when people start taking offence on behalf of others & banning things wholesale. There's no telling where it will end up. While I'm not religious myself a cross or any other religious symbol never offended me. Triple_7 says that the cross had no particular significance & I believe him. Some people can see hidden meanings in anything so what else will be regarded as offensive & next on the list of banned subjects? This was an art class for goodness' sake. What happened to freedom of speech - or feedom of expression in this case? This sort of thing causes the discrimination & intolerance it's supposed to stop.

[commoner]

...Sorry to hear of your "problem" triple_7...guess here in the UK that would come under the heading of "PC" (No not Personal Computer) ...don't know if you guys around the world have another name for that modern "desease"..Political Correctness but you are sure to have it by some name or other....it drives me crazy..commoner

[eno]

Here's my 2ps worth.
The teacher had made a specific request at the beginning, for no religious or satanic symbols and although you didn't see it as a problem the request had been ignored. Therefore he was within his rights to ask you to remove it.   If it was onto a personal disc that would be removed from the class and not brought back then his reaction was OTT. However you  got  the suspention for answering back. Had you not made a big deal out of it then the issue wouldn't have gone that far and maybe you would have been able to take the image away and finish it at home.

I can see both points of view..... but unfortunately you are the pupil and he is the teacher. Later in life the same reaction could loose you your livelyhood.

Sorry to be harsh but I don't think the issue of free speech/expression comes into play here.

[Hagar]

Of course, Eno is quite correct & this is a valuable lesson if you take it on board. I originally agreed with his point of view but then I looked at the broader implications of this. Why did the teacher make this condition in the first place? My problem is that I think too much.

Hmmm. Thinks2much. Not a bad screen name & quite appropriate for a silly old sausage like me.

[eno]

I think the teacher made the conditions so as not to cause the issue of religion and its implications to come up. Note the conditions were no religious/satanic symbols. If the teacher had allowed an image with Budda or some other religious sign in it and then kicked off about the cross, the issue of free expression could be brought up. We take a dim view of religious and political postings on these forums because of the trouble they can lead to. We don't see that as suppression of free speech just as a sensible precaution.
The issue here is overreaction from both parties both with grounds to complain. The teacher could and should have reacted differently and so should 777.
A lesson that unfortunately we can't impart to the teacher but may be able to impart to 777.  :D

[Hagar]

I'll go along with that Eno. We haven't seen 777's picture & not likely to from the sounds of it. He said that it was a cross with no particular significance. Now, I could draw a stick aeroplane or a bird that looks like a cross. Do you think this teacher would have taken offence at that? If so I think he's very misguided. Some people can see things that don't even exist if they look hard enough. That's the danger of this sort of thinking. IMHO

[Felix/FFDS]

I would suggest that the class be cancelled altogether.  if shapes that can be considered religious symbols are not appropriate shapes to be used in class, then I offer that ANY shape can be shown to have a religious significance to some religion or other.

[eno]

I'll go along with that Eno. We haven't seen 777's picture & not likely to from the sounds of it. He said that it was a cross with no particular significance. Now, I could draw a stick aeroplane or a bird that looks like a cross. Do you think this teacher would have taken offence at that? If so I think he's very misguided. Some people can see things that don't even exist if they look hard enough. That's the danger of this sort of thinking. IMHO

Yup I agree Doug..... too much can be misconstrued.