11th Grader knows more than the teacher, gets punished for it
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We don’t feel bad or look down upon people who aren’t as tech-savvy as the folks who read this site. We actually feel bad for people who, because of their ignorance, actually take it out on those that are savvy. The latest case-in-point is a teacher who gave a student detention for using Firefox instead of the usual Internet Explorer in class. In spite of trying to explain to the teacher that he was doing nothing wrong, the teacher punished him anyway. Make the jump to see the letter that went home to his parents…
Um, he WAS doing something wrong. He wasn’t listening to the teacher… end of story.
It doesn’t matter if he thinks (stress on the word thinks) Firefox is better than IE, all that matters is he didn’t listen to the teacher.
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This is AWESOME! I would love to be that kid.
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Before we jump to conclusions about who was right, Can get more information like what was the students supposed to be doing?
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Although I can’t disagree with the kid’s logic at all, “Bill F” is right - the kid didn’t listen to the teacher. Sucks - but that’s the bottom line.
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He was listening to the teacher as he explained the reason for using firefox.exe. Part of learning is making decisions and developing opinions. He rightfully expressed his opinion. However, the school/district probably has a policy against installing software on the computers.
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It’s called insubordination.. I got busted for it back in high school.. Detention on that one..
Then there was suspension, but I was spelling obscene words with algebra tiles on that.
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Insubordination? What is this, boot camp? Sure, you want kids to listen to their teachers. Doesn’t mean they have to be robots.
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yea on one hand its the kid’s fault for “not doing what the authoritarian teacher says” but on the other, the teacher is a doofus and whatever computer related class he’s teaching he should be fired if he has no idea wtf firefox is.
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While I am willing to agree that once the teacher told him to use Internet explorer, he should have switched, unless there was an explicit instruction to use IE, he was doing nothing wrong.
This could be a case of the kid getting on his high horse, or a case of the teacher flexing his/her muscles, but since we were not in the room, we will never know. Still - once the teacher told him to switch, he should have.
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This is why Bill Gates gives all that money to education folks…;)
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He was given two warnings, he did not listen or follow direction, he got a detention.
Sounds exactly like what should happen to me.
Maybe if he would have stated more than just a “better browser” he would have a better leg to stand on.
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Who cares about the kid or teacher, that picture is priceless!
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If he was using a school computer how was he using firefox anyway? Wouldn’t he have to download it? Wouldn’t the school have filters against running .exe files? Also theres alot you can do with firefox that may have had nothing to do with school work. Bottom line is one the teacher told him to shut it down he should have.
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Reading the letter, the teacher assumed the student was not doing his work. I get the point raised here about insubordination, but I side with the student here.
1. The teacher named the application as Foxfire.exe. Despite the misnomer, why would she know this? She was likely using monitoring software to help her verify that her students were using their computers correctly. If she saw the screen he was using, only a few small details of the screen would indicate that he was using something other than IE. The project he was supposed to work on would be the most prominent thing in her view.
2. If a teacher complains that a student is not writing an essay because she is using a blue pen instead of a black pen, should the reason for punishment be that she was not doing her work, as this letter states?
3. There are several excellent reasons for a person to continue using the browser they started with; namely the history and favorites (or bookmarks) that make working with the browser efficient. Switching browsers midway through a project causes such efficiencies to disappear.
A reprimand may have been in order here. But insubordination is only implied by the letter. Not doing his work is the explicit complaint. There is no proof of that provided.
Side for the defendant.
Next case.
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What difference does it make what browser the kid is using. As long as he is doing the required work it shouldn’t matter.
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I thought teachers were supposed to “encourage” creativity and new ideas. I have been removed from high school for almost 10 years now. We began using using search engines in class and she wanted us to use “Yahoo”. A few students used “Excite”, she did not know what Excite was but after a while she let us use it. No need for detention for learning more than the teacher. A fight, talking back and using Firefox all constitutes the same punishment in todays school.
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If indeed the teacher gave precise instructions to open IE, then yeah, he shouldnt have argued with the teacher. But if the teacher just said “web browser” without specifying which one, then the teacher is in the wrong. There’s a lot open for interpretation, there’s no indication that the student was rude about it, but he might have been. Still, if he wasn’t, then it’s bloody stupid of the teacher to have given detention for that.
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can we call the school and leave messages for the teacher?
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Apparently the school district is reporting this as a hoax.
http://www.bigspring.k12.pa.us/news.php?action=view_article&article_id=2130
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The point is that the teacher asked him twice to do what she asked and he did not respond positively. You assume that “foxfire.exe” is firefox, but maybe it wasn’t. Also, what’s to say the work the students were doing wasn’t written to work in IE? What if it made firefox crash?
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A lot of schools have computer use policies stating that you will not add software to the computer. So if FireFox was not installed by the contractor who supplied the computers then the student is in volation of the agreement.
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This is to Feech:
You don’t have to download Firefox to use it. I had Firefox portable all the time on my flash drive and I used that all the time instead of IE in class. We did our work and did not mess around and none of us ever got in trouble. And with our school computers, it did block us from installing programs most of the times unless the filter was down.
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But i was just looking at Boy Genius Report
at this article but my teacher thought it was some porn or something.
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2007/11/20/mozilla-finally-releases-firefox-30-beta/
Damn you Boy Genius, its your fault.
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“Bill F. Said:
Um, he WAS doing something wrong. He wasn’t listening to the teacher… end of story.
It doesn’t matter if he thinks (stress on the word thinks) Firefox is better than IE, all that matters is he didn’t listen to the teacher.”
You are a moron Bill F. It was the teacher who was not listening. And do you really think that the “master-servent, do as I say” style is a good way to engage and educate youth today? Give me a break.
And for that matter, did you think it was OK when the SS executed Nazi Guards for refusing to send Jews to the gas chambers? After all, they were just not listening…..
(I realize that some people might be offended by that example I just used, so I do apologize to the Nazis for comparing them to Microsoft)
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BGR we need more topics like this. I love to read peoples opinion.
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