Apocalyptic Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 In most cases, when you're discussing discrimination in school, judging by the topic, you'd assume that we're speaking in regards to an issue pertaining to two students. In my case, this wasn't what occurred. In fact, something that should never be the case, but was. I'm a student in a public high school in Puerto Rico. For those of you that don't know anything about Puerto Rico, it isn't a state of the US, however, it is a territory receiving all of it's benefits from the US. There are three political parties in Puerto Rico. One of which aspires to see Puerto Rico as an official US state, another which wants Puerto Rico to remain a territory, and another that aspires to see Puerto Rico as an independent republic similar to Cuba or the Dominican Republic. My Spanish teacher was originally a very nice woman who unfortunately suffered a heart attack and was out of school for several months. There was a substitute during this time. He was a male teacher. He seemed to be a decent person, and was in the US army with my grandpa. Together they served in the Korean war. This will seem very ironic to you all when you finish reading this thread. Apparently, this substitute supported the political party known as the PPI, which basically want Puerto Rico to become an independent republic. We were reading a novel in Spanish class pertaining to the oppression that some people on the island were made subject to. He alleged that the United States is responsible for all of the drastic changes in the Puerto Rican culture, and that the United States was in his perspective equivalent to Hell. Now, aside from myself, there are several other students in my class who speak English, and have lived in the United States most of their lives. We all sit together in class, and he looks at us, knowing that we all speak English, and he tells us that we should take the American flag that we love so much and shove it up our asses, that we're worthless, similar to our country. The irony in all of this is as stated above, he served in the US army in the Korean war. The other English speaking students and myself voiced our concern with the rest of the class, and they agreed with us, at which point we all went into the office to file a complaint against the teacher. He remained the substitute for some time, and we were basically fed the BS that he would be removed as soon as possible, but it took our parents to get involved for actual action to be taken against him. It turns out that he had never been reprimanded, and that there were no plans for that either. The next day after our parents went to the school, there was another substitute who was much nicer and even spoke English. My point is.. this teacher really irritated me to the point of my blood boiling. What do you all think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 I think that he could have used his viewpoint as a teaching experience. Instead of being insulting, he could have made points to help you learn to question things that you believe in. Not necessarily to turn you against your beliefs, but to get you to learn more so you can support your beliefs or change your viewpoint so that you believe in what you want to, instead of being a blind follower. However, it sounds like he's bordering on being a traitor. He should watch his step because he could risk time in jail for his actions. The school was stupid to not take immediate action, and put themselves at risk for actions as well. Stupid I tell ya. Purely stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocalyptic Posted January 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Well, he was in the wrong for several reasons. Aside from being an ass and cussing at us, his students, he also spoke in English in a Spanish class. He didn't need to bring political parties or his personal opinion into the flow of the classes. In addition to that, speaking English in a Spanish class so that only we would understand his insults is wrong according to the social worker and counselor. Heh. He's a substitute in the building still, I just saw him the other day. He's just not in my classroom anymore. So yeah, agreed. Stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.