Sorry, this is gonna be a long rant, but I've gotta gripe to somebody!!

First off, today did not go well from the start. My truck could not get out of the drive due to 1 hub not locking (didnt know this at the time, thought the t-case was broke ). So I got steamin mad over that, cussing and yelling untill my poor mother came out and tried to reason with me (I dont reason too well when I am that mad), so I basically argued and yelled over the matter . Finally, I let her drive me into school(yes, let). Fine and dandy. Mad as all get out over the now petty issue of the stuck-truck.

Go to BOCES (pretty much like a certification/trade school) and cheer myself up cruisin these forums and listening to music. Get back at normal school, me and my buddy goin to the office to sigh out for work study, teacher says to take our hats off. No big deal, l said sorry didnt mean to have it on and we took 'em off. Sign out, put hat back on so I could put my coat&book bag on and call my mother (who was waiting for me to call) to tell her that I didnt need a ride home. Same teacher sees us with our hats on and says he wants them. I think "If I give him my hat, he'll just leave me alone and Ill get it tomorrow in the office." Nope, gives us a big speech(While Im still tryin to get ahold of mom) and then yells at me for bein on the phone(whil eIm talkin to her). Tried to tell him it was my mother but didnt let me get a word in. I hold my tongue and try not to explode on him. Finally he let us leave and said he'd write us up if he caught us with our hats on again. I am so glad I had a good hold on my temper or esle I'v prob be suspended for a good while!! GAAAAAAAAHHHHH .

I know ita a very petty issue, Im not that mad over it anymore. I still think he was in the wrong, not letting me explain my situation. What do yall think, was the teacher wrong? Should he have took my hat when the temp was 20? Heres a short list of things that we're not supposed to wear in school

1. NO HATS
2. NO COATS
3. NO BOOK BAGS

 

Sorry to say this but,rules are rules.Although the teacher could have handled the situation a little better,In a way you were showing him disrespect by wearing it in school.But,not really anything to get mad over.And if you were already on the phone,trying to converse with your mother,then HE was the one being rude.He should have waited until you hung up the phone.

 

You shouldn’t have to put up with this, but…

College or Trade School is a lot about hazing. Now, I’m not talking about the type of hazing as in an initiation ritual as most of us are familiar with. The type I’m talking about is the subtle academic hazing whether realized by the student or not.

Part of higher education is not only about making the grade, it’s also about making the cut. Those who can’t put up with the never-ending barrage of required reading, writing, researching, unhelpful professors (or in your case arrogant ones) etc., will most certainly drop out. Thus, leaving only the cream of the crop. Yes, this is the hazing I am referring to.

So, did you break the rules? Yes you did. Could your instructor have handled it better? Probably so. Did you handle it correctly? Yes you did.

Welcome to the cream of the crop.

 

Glad to see you handled it correctly, not blowing up, me I woulda blown up at him, just kinda fuss back, I don't cuss around people unless its my friends, but family members, gf and her family, authority members, etc, I won't go that far. I don't really see it as that big of a deal about a hat, I remember getting yelled at for a bandage on my head in high school bc it looked like "gang gear", but I had just had my ear lanced for a hematoma or something like that, can't remember what it was exactly, mainly a blood bubble. I got to visit the principal and all bc I wouldn't remove it. Why should i, but thats different from your situation. I never wore a hat into school, I'd leave it in the truck, and put it on for my off campus classes, the one time i was fussed at about it, i forgot to take it off, the teacher wanted it, but I didn't give it up, and that was that. no write ups or nothing. I personally think the whole rule is stupid, but it is a rule, a minor rule, the teacher shouldn't have gotten hateful like that.

 

Your not allowed to wear hats in school now?

 

Nope, no hats coats or book bags, gotta leave them all in the locker(which I dont have). Sometimes it seems that the "officials" are waiting right inside the door and yell at you as soon as you walk in. I have no problem with the hat rule, in the classroom I agree that its disrespectful. But I dont have class at regular school, Im ther for about 15 min in the morning then I go to BOCES and 20min after for lunch . Technicaly, I wasnt there, I signed out to leave school for work study, wasnt even 20 ft from the exit door and we get yelled at. I wasnt trying to "show him up" or be a bad ***, I just had to put the hat on to put my coat & bag on. I should've taken it off immediately after but I made the call to mom instead. If I was really thinking, I would've hooked my hat onto my key caribner like I normaly do in the morning. But, again frustration and a fried brain dont help too much. It is a stupid rule and stupid to get mad over but when yer mad over sumptin something as stupid and petty as that set me off. But it was my hat, I bought it, it was quite cold and I feel naked without it .

 

I graduated a very long time ago. You know, 1995. It is absolutley amazing how school policies and teachers have changes in such a short time. Sad really.

 

Be happy around here only the black kids can wear hats..All others get detention for wearing them Racial equality in action there Anywho I think you did a great job in holding your tongue and handle the situation great

 

Which part of the "No Hats" rule didn't you understand? Should teachers interview each student every time there is an infraction of the rules to see if they have a good reason for not following the rules? Not enough time in the day.
This comes from a teachers perspective. Look, I know you think that this is a petty thing, but the guy told you to take it off once. He wasn't an idiot about it then. He cut you some slack the first time. When he saw you with the hat on the second time, he probably figured you hadn't been sincere the first time you apologized for wearing your hat in the building and you were just paying him lip service.
I don't want to get into a long argument about it, but it is part of my job to enforce the rules of the school. Whether or not I agree with them, it is part of my job.
My .02

 

You handled it alot better then I would have, actually now that I'm older and been out of school for a couple years now you'de think I would have matured and gotten over that, persoannly, I've gotten worse, I've taken on a real attitude of I'm nice to you untill a certain point then thats it I dont care who you are I'm gonna say whats on my mind and if you dont like it you can stuff it. Dont get me worng I'm not a cocky person, I'm ussually pretty quit, nor do I talk back if I was honestly in the wrong and was in school as well, one reason why I reserved the right to stand up for my self in school, but now its gotten worse, somebodys gets me mad and there gonna know it.

Actually I've been known to start stuff because the teacher wouldnt teach, one of our math classes was being taught off a computer program because the teacher was to lazy to teach, I had some real issues with the computer and the teacher wasnt helping, then on top of that he knocked points of my grade because I couldnt learn the stuff thru the program as fats as the other kids, i wasnt at the class average learning speed, at the parent teacher confrence my parents had to throw me in the hall cause I just about jumped over his desk and grabbed him by the throat
I dont think there was to many days that I didnt argue thru the whole class. whats the ol' sayin, the computers only as smart as the user?

 

Just a point to ponder.....

In the beginning of your post you told us how bad the day had started. Maybe this teacher had the same kind of start. Yes, it does sound like he over-reacted, but didn't you do the same thing earlier getting upset with the truck and as I take it, being somewhat abusive to your mom?

Teachers are not super humans, I seriously doubt if he changes clothes in a phone booth like Superman..........

 

Teacher may not have handled it the best but you were breaking the rules. As a teacher, I know that I am responsible for enforcing school rules. I might not agree with them but they are still rules. Part of education is learning citizenship which means that you have a responsibility to follow laws.

There are a lot of laws in society that I don't agree with but if I choose to break the law then I have to pay the consequences. So if I get caught, I should keep my mouth shut an accept it.

As a teacher I also know that 9/10 students that I "bust" for a violation have an excuse. I have heard them all. It gets to the point where you can't listen to all the excuses and you just have to enforce the law. To the teacher I am sure it looked like you removed your hat until he was out of site then put it back on, which is essentially what you did. That is defiant to authority. He did give you the first warning.

Amen, the Sermon is over.

HD

 

I am going to disagree with most of the responders, but first I think you realize that you have a problem with anger from the way you worded your response: you let your mother take you to school? Also, I don't see why you would be so angry about something being wrong with your truck, unless you just bought it from someone who told you it was in perfect working order, or unless you think that someone deliberately sabotaged you. Maybe this attitude showed through to the teacher and got his hackles up.

Having said that, I don't think under the circumstances the teacher should have taken your hat. I was not in the military, but I was in ROTC in college and we were taught that you did not take your hat off in a large enclosed area like an auditorium and that you did not take your hat off if you were carrying something that took both hands, until you could lay your burden down. We did not take our hats off when entering the building and going down the hallway, just upon entering the classroom and then maybe not until laying our books down.

I wondered as a child where this rule came from and finally found that it came from the old Jewish Laws. These same laws also said that a woman was not supposed to cut her hair and was supposed to keep her hair covered. What happened to that law? And what happened to the principle of separation of church and state? (There were a lot of other laws too; none of you Southerners eat pork chops or catfish, do you? ).

On the other hand, some of the rules about dress code have a logical basis. At the local high school, a girl told me that they were not allowed to have a bookbag in the school, unless it was either transparent or of mesh material so that any weapons could be seen. For the same reason, some schools have banned baggy clothes. I saw a high school kid on TV that, after I thought he had hauled out all of the weapons he possibly could out of his clothes, pulled out a full length double-barreled shotgun.

Good luck, and don't kick your truck! Brady

PS: Forgot to mention; I taught in public school for nine years.

 

You said you were by the door to exit the school, right? I don't think that it should have been taken given the weather and the fact that you were on your way out. True, rules ARE rules... but I don't think they apply to every enclosed area in the school... for example, you said you're not allowed to wear a coat or carry a back pack. If you have to take your coat off in severe weather *just* outside the door, while carrying books, do you realize how many parents would sue? Some kids would have the coat off faster and be waiting outside in potentially damaging wind chills... etc. Personally I find that a lot of the things public schools do are messed up, but mean well. Like right after the Columbine incident, my school decided not to let anybody in without going through a metal detector. One metal detector. They lined the ENTIRE SCHOOL up, in a straight line, for about an hour or two... along the parking lot. Now, I'm no criminal expert, but something tells me that if someone wanted to hurt a lot of students at my school, they would have just done a drive by while 90% of the students are standing like sheep in a convenient line. At least you're going to get your hat back and be no worse for the wear.

 

Having went through school with the no hat rule, I don't see why its necessary to wear it inside, but that's just me (Grad 2001). Now, my brother's school has applied a dress code, which has many kids there upset. No hats, no coats in class, no backpacks. And I agree with all these rules. They aren't so much worried about kids carrying weapons, its a drug problem here. People can easily concele themselves with a hat, hoodie, and coat. People who weren't even students have been caught in the halls, trying to "melt into the walls" for one reason only, peddling dope. Thats what the main problem here is, and to fight it, they need to impose some strict rules. But back on topic, the hat thing makes sense. I prefer to talk to somebody when I can clearly see their face, rather than have it hid in a shadow.

Trevor