An attempt at anti-bullying went awry at Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin, leading to a teacher getting punched in the face.
Ridwaan Mohamud, a 17-year-old of Somali background, broke his teacher’s nose on December 21 after stewing all weekend over comments the teacher made the previous Friday.
Allegedly, in an attempt to assure Mohamud that he is “not ugly,” the instructor jokingly had told the student “I would date you.”
Mohamud’s family says that “the interpreted homosexual comment is extremely offensive.”
The Green Bay Press-Gazette reports:
[Mohamud] is charged as an adult in Brown County Circuit Court with substantial battery and disorderly conduct and could face 3½ years in prison if convicted.
The school’s associate principal, Jeff Vanlannen told police he’d been made aware of the discussion on Friday and assured Mohamud the teacher wasn’t making advances to him, the complaint says.
Mohamud’s mother told school authorities and police that she had tried to talk Mohamud out of being angry over the weekend, the complaint says. Mohamud entered the teacher’s first-hour class Monday, called out his name, then approached and punched him in the face, the complaint says. Witnesses who intervened said the teacher made no effort to defend himself, the complaint says.
WBAY.com reports that Mohamud’s parents don’t condone what he did, but say they wish that “the school would have gotten involved after the teacher’s comments were made.”
The political correctness hierarchy question aside (who garners more … “sympathy” here — the gay community or the racial minority/Muslim immigrant constituency?), it wasn’t a good idea by the teacher to make such a remark. Though I certainly appreciate his good intentions, consider: Would it be appropriate for a (male) teacher to make such a comment to a female student?
But this judgment should not be considered harsh. I don’t envy classroom teachers these days; everyday they must, to the best of their abilities, successfully navigate a veritable labyrinth of student needs — not just pedagogical, but emotional, physical and psychological.
h/t to EAGnews.org
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