In the news...

http://www.syracuse.com/today/index.ssf/2009/09/baldwinsville_teacher_a_red_so.html

Before I go any further with this post, I tried and tried to think of a way to make this about religion or spirituality, but any way that I could stretch it, the thought was pretty weak.

So I share the link to this article strictly for entertainment purposes, particularly for those outside the syracuse news market. I'll incite God at this point as I pray that this doesn't make it into the national media outlets.

I have two comments. For one, as a yankee fan, I am entertained by the thought that this is a good indication of the mental state of the Redsox Nation at this juncture of the baseball season. Secondly, I find the comments posted after the article to be even more entertaining than the article itself.

I pray that God will help Nate through this difficult time, and that you have a wonderful and peaceful weekend.

Also, and I know this makes me a bad person, I kind of thought it was funny. Not that I want Nate to feel bad--after all, he's only 9 years old.

I haven't the foggiest idea what was in this teacher's head, but I kind of wonder if this is one of those moments when a (male, sorry but it usually is) teacher totally misjudges the line between what is kind of funny for students and what is hurtful. I've seen this kind of thing happen before, actually, where an adult misreads the sophistication level of a fourth-grader and takes something too far. In fact, it's possible that I might be married to someone who made such a faux pas . A high school senior who had a long-running "feud" with the teacher would probably have thought it was funny, even though it was obviously inappropriate. The fourth grader--not so much. It would be nice to hear the teacher's side, though.

I don't actually think they should fire the teacher, and I really hope the student's family doesn't sue the school. It would be really great if the teacher apologized to the family and the kid and everyone learned something, but from what I've seen of the litigious hothouse that is elementary education, everyone is going to back into their corners and be super, super careful, waiting for the lawyers to appear.