Since When is Silence a Bad Thing?

In North Carolina a high school showed up with a piece of red duct tape across his mouth. “Silence for Christ” was written on it.  He was suspended when he refused to remove it.

I’m not sure, but I think I was in tenth grade when I went to a class with a 45 record on each ear.  The teacher had a perfect, foolproof way to handle it.

(Some background may be necessary for our younger readers.  Back then we listened to music on plastic disks called “records.”  (ri kôrds′)   Singles were sold on smaller disks called 45s.  For some reason they had a much larger hole in the middle of them than albums did.  Large enough that you could stick an ear through it.)

I had been horsing around with some friends and somehow ended up with a 45 on each ear.  Someone dared me to go to class that way.  I was never much for taking dares, but this one was harmless and would only get me in minor trouble. It would be worth it to see how Mrs. Mitchell would react.

She didn’t.  She barely glanced in my direction and started class without mentioning it. I was not only disappointed, but began to feel like an idiot, sitting there with my ears sticking through two hit singles.  I waited three, four, five minutes, for some reaction.  There wasn’t any.  I sheepishly removed the records, and stopped trying to get a rise out of Mrs. Mitchell.

His teacher could have used the same method to achieve the same result, and it wouldn’t have become a news item.

And if ignoring him didn’t work, if he kept wearing the tape, day after day, it would be even better.   How many times have you wished you had a nice piece of duct tape when hearing some fundamentalmidget  spew on and on about. . .well, nearly anything?  We should do whatever we can to make this a huge fad.

4 Comment(s)

  1. The teacher should have repeatedly called on him and made him write his answers on the board.

    Johnny v | Mar 23, 2010 | Reply

  2. WTF? Since when is a child being silent in school a bad thing? So long as he wasn’t doing anything disruptive to draw attention to himself there was no reason for the teacher to do what she did.

    Buffy | Mar 23, 2010 | Reply

  3. Everyone just wants to get into the news these days.

    AthiestInEden | Apr 15, 2010 | Reply

  4. Just noticed I was spelling “atheist” wrong. Good lord.

    AtheistInEden | Apr 15, 2010 | Reply

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