Debate Humiliation Warrants Firing?

First, the link. It's one of the saddest, most cruel things I can imagine doing to a 13-year old boy:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040504/ap_on_fe_st/crybaby_award_1

The story is beginning to garner national attention, which means more pressure on the superintendent to fire the coaches.

What do you think should become of the coaches? Should they be fired? Suspended for the rest of the year (And if so, with or without pay)? Or should they just issue an apology and be done with it?

 

Well, while I find this to be enourmously amusing in it's own right, it is a pretty nasty thing to do to a kid. Then again, perhaps the kid needed it. I don't know all the details based on the news story, therefore I decline to pass judgement.

- Ark

 

I think it was a terrible thing to do to that kid. These guys have no business coaching so I think they should be fired.

 

*snickers*

Erm.. Uhm.. Yeah.. That's not funny!

*chuckles*

That was just... wrong!

*chortles*

It was cruel!

*giggles*

And mean!

*laughs uncontrollably*

The look on that kid's face must've been priceless!

Anyways, on a more serious note... sure it was rather ****ed up, but as Ark said maybe the kid needed it... besides it's a harmless prank. If the kid is sane, he'll grow up and get over it. Perhaps some reprimanded is needed, but not getting fired.

Besides.. if the kid had to whine and complain about getting into the game, must've not been much of an athlete anyways.

 

First, whether the boy "needed it" or not isn't the point. If it was necessary to make a point to him, then it should have been done in private. Preferably, the parents should be the ones responsible for telling him to get a grip. It's not a teacher's right or privilege to publically humiliate a child, or single a student out to be picked on.

It's also not harmless. I remember being thirteen, and while this would certainly be funny if everyone, the victim included, was able to be mature and laugh it off - thirteen-year-olds are not mature. This kid is going to be rediculed for the rest of the year, if not the rest of his time at that school. Things like that have a nasty way of following you until you leave behind all your classmates.

Kids, especially teens, want to fit in. One of the ways they give themselves a sense of community is by finding people who are different and mocking them. This kid's just been dealt a huge blow to his self-esteem, and I'm sure his peers will keep rubbing it in as long as it amuses them.

Honestly, if this kid isn't a great athlete, how do you think he feels now that his coaches have completely demeaned any effort he might have been making? I hope the coach gets slapped with his therapy bill.

I say the individuals responsible should be fired. They would be in a second if they'd given him a "white boy award," or given a girl a "little sl*t award" for wearing a shirt that was cut too low. It doesn't matter if the coach thought the kid was a crybaby - it's not in any way appropriate for anyone to be cut down like that in front of their peers and friends.

 

Because your two mentioned awards would bring about more controversial stupidity in parents such as racial comments and some could even go as far as pedophilia, prostitution, statutory(sp) rape for the other... so, yes, I applaud you on your oh-so-excellent examples. Bravo. Bra-vo.

If some one is embarassed by something that happened to them when they were thirteen by the time they're even eighteen or so, then there's something wrong. Everyone goes through bull**** like this and we all cry and ***** and moan about it but we get over in it. Forgive and forget and all that ****.

I mean, really, if the kid needs to go into THERAPY over something as trivial as this...

Something is REALLY ****ed up with America.

If the kid is going to let it bother him and eat away at him so then maybe he DOES deserve that award. Oh. Boo hoo. Kids will pick fun at him. Sob sob, whine whine.

Get over it.

 

Not enough info to pass fair judgement.

 

You're completely missing the point, Amon. You're right in that things like this will happen to everyone when they're young. What is unusual is that a *coach* is doing the humiliating. The coach, who is supposed to be encouraging ALL of his players to try their best. This was not an off-the-cuff remark or even just a prank that went too far. The guy well in advance paid a store ten or fifteen bucks to have the special trophy made and told the kid he was going to be a 'special trophy,' which probably made the kid feel really good. Then, with what was likely a speech fully in mind, he humiliated the kid in front of his parents, his teammates and his teammates' parents. That goes far, far beyond normal pranks kids play on each other.

What's even more ****ed up is that a coach, an educator and authority figure in the child's life, would do such a thing just to get some laughs.

I don't think it's going to be the kid who's going to do anything about it - He's probably already too ashamed. The people who are going to go after the coach are his parents, and rightly so. Their child was brazenly and psychologically hurt by a man they had entrusted to be their son's coach. And there's also the possibility of the rest of the school or town siding with the boy in saying the coach should be fired.

And he should be.

 

Okay, apparently, it's obvious that YOU'VE never seen the inside of any school sports team. What this coach did is beyond commonplace among coaches every where. Things much worse than this have been done and these coaches have kept their jobs. What you're implying, Hell, there wouldn't be a single coach left, anywhere. Really, it's you people that are missing the point.

[EDIT] Okay, I decided to take this part out to save people the trouble since it's obvious no one here has ever, in their entire existence, come across some thing that is, what we human beings, refer to as a "joke" or, at best, a "sarcastic remark". I can understand how this concept could be very, very, very difficult for you folks, namely the folks that didn't get it (IE everyone but izzy) to understand so I will spare you all the horrible, nerve-racking pain that would shoot through your brain, thus caused by having to think about it.

I am sorry about any headaches and migraines caused by this [/EDIT]

But.. sure.. go ahead, nail 'im to the cross and burn him at the stake. Who needs sports, anyway. So, okay then, yeah, I'm all for firing the poor *******s.

 

I played water polo for six years in middle and high school. Yes, the coach was rough with us and called us names. But that was either in the middle of a game when passions were running high, or it was in private. My coach was an excellent guy who would *never* have humilated his players in public.

He wasn't a professional. He was a 13-year-old boy. There's a difference.

Pioneer Press (twincities.com) has a report saying the Pleasantville Board of Education did indeed vote to fire him, and the motion will be passed onto the Superindendent to decide once and for all. The link is http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/8589300.htm?ERIGHTS=2687240019426887853 but it requires registration with the paper to view. I'll post another link when a news source everyone can view puts it up.

[Edit for spelling and to provide this link - http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/040504/w050484.html It's identical to the other one mentioned and provides a lot more backstory into the incident]

 

All right, I find the whole incident to be downright disgusting. I mean, I realize that coaches aren't usually known for their brilliant bedside manners, but really, that's a complete blow to the pride. I mean, judging by the scenerio, I can assume that the boy in question was already not exactly the most popular guy in school. It's one thing for coaches to pick on the tough guys with backbones, who usually take it as a joke and laugh right back, but it's quite another for a coach to single out someone who probably never had a very high self esteem to begin with.

After all, this ISN'T professional football. This is a bunch of 13 year old boys, and judging by some of the 13 year old boys that I know, it would definitely be a hard knock for the ego. I mean, can't you just imagine the kid's ecstacy when he was notified that he would be recieving an award? After all, he probably didn't recieve such honors very often, and he probably felt like it was his big day, like he'd finally made it and proven himself to his fellow teammates and coach, who I suspected never liked him much from the beginning.

And then when he gets there, he watches all of his friends and teammates recieve awards, and he becomes excited when he realizes that it'll soon be him strutting up into the spotlight and getting showered with glory. But instead of his minute-long fame, he gets humiliated in front of everybody, the people who he'd probably wanted so badly to fit in with in the first place. I realize that most of you posting on this board are probably much more mature then a 13 year old boy, but try to rewind a few years in your mindset, then put yourself in his shoes. How would YOU have reacted?

And if you're one of those people who could honestly say "I wouldn't really care", then good for you; you're probably much more mature then this particular boy is. But you can't really blame someone his age for being immature, since most people his age are probably immature anyhow.

 

Hell, if that's only being immature I must've been Hella' mature, being called a ***got when I was bloody six years old for not being able to stop a soccer ball and almost breaking my fingers in the process and shrugging it off (the name calling that is.. the almost breaking my fingers hurt like a mother****er).

Anyways, after reading the updated news report, I even more strongly and firmly stand by my previous statement that the coach doesn't deserve to be fired.

 

Professional athletes are much older and experienced. They know what to expect and how to handle ridicule from coaches and fans, but this is just a 13 year old kid not a pro. This kid's interest in team sports may have been ruined by someone's sick idea of a joke. Something like this can be emotionally damaging to a kid that age and it's NOT that easy to "just get over it"

 

As the coach of a team and as a member of the school's staff the coach is susposed to stop this type of behaviour not incurage it. The other members of his class or year group will probably say "if the coach can do it then so can we", so as an effect he is encouraging the other pupils to pick on this kid.

I don't think that this incedent will be totally out behind him, this can be really damaging to a kids mind. He may laugh about it at some point but it will probably still hurt, and to add to that insult it was the coach that started the whole thing, the last person you would expect do this type of thing to you on purpose and in public like that.

The coach is suppose to be the most mature person of the team, but the way he ated it was like he was just as young as the boy he did this to.

 

... Wasn't funny at all. At least it didn't make me laugh or smile.

Those asshats need to be fired now. There's never any reason for adults to pick on a kid like that. All you claiming that "maybe he needed it"/"not enough info to pass judgement" are way off. Stuff like that never needs to happen. It's a good way to squish a kid's ambition for who knows how long.

I'm horrified that someone in a position of authority would do that. Hurrah for you if you are thick skinned enough not to care about something like that, but your average 13 year old likely isn't, especially the honors student/benchwarmer type. Show a little compassion for those different from you.

 

There are some people who simply cannot be convinced that thier way of doing things is wrong or incorrect until it bites them in the ***. I've seen plenty of kids who's parents pampered them and kept them so sheltered from reality that the only way of cracking thier idiocy would be something like this.

I'm not claiming that this is the situation that was there, but merely that such situations exist. I'd have given a lot to see this kind of thing happen to a few people I knew in school. If the kid was one of those people who was taught that by whining and complaining he can get whatever he wants, then I really don't feel that wounding his pride publicly deserves firing. If he was only acting as an ordinary 13 year old, then I would think that the coaches deserve to be fired over this, for sure, but since the article does not tell, I cannot say.

The world's not black and white, saying something like this should 'never happen' or is 'absolutely disgusting' isn't really much better than considering this to be totally acceptable. School isn't just for learning basic knowledge, it's for learning social skills and human interaction.

Again, I will not pass judgement with the information I have at hand.

- Ark

 

What if this kid had ADHD or something similar? One of my brothers has ADHD, and yes, he whines about everything. However this is entirely due to his disability and his disability alone. He is also a very bright child. If this kid did have ADHD, what right does the coach have to humiliate him like that? Then yeah, it would be really hilarious, just as funny as teasing the mentally challenged.

 

ADHD has nothing whatsoever to do with whining. Check this site for the symptoms of ADHD.

- Ark

 

Although whining may not be a symptom for diagnosing ADHD, it is directly linked to other symptoms.