Shocking news in this day in age- Teacher's Assistant cuts Aboriginal Boy's Hair

[JLM]

True and most people have picked up on his ridiculous accusation about head lice and lice was not even a consideration. She didn't cut his hair for that. She cut it because in her opinion, it was too long. She would have to really go to town where I live. All the kids are growing their hair long again.

Yeah, I guess it's a sign of the times that this incident has made news coast to coast. What the teacher's aide did was crassly insensitive and stupid. On the other hand, a child who goes through his childhood without adversity isn't very well equipped to handle the real world. He got a haircut and it will grow back in three or four months- HE DIDN'T LOSE AN ARM OR A LEG. We have "bigger fish to fry" folks.

 

[CDNBear]

Couldn't this issue have been resolved by just having the boy either wear his hair in a ponytail or to use a headband to keep the bangs out of his face?:-?

Yep, but that's just sensible and reasonable. ;-)

Um, there were people wandering around bits of North Am from what is now northern France some 18,000 years ago. "First Nations" people are thought to have only been around for 12,000. There have been others, too.
Neat book called "The First Americans" by James Adovasio

Sure is a neat book, but it isn't up for debate, the Treaties were signed, the deals made. All we have to do is live up to them, on both sides of the table...;-)

Les,
Have you read 1491: New revelations of the Americas before Columbus? It puts occupation long before that even. Every time they dig a new hole they find older and older evidence. We have just scratched the surface of the pre-history of the Americas.

This is true, now if only we could all just get along. I wish no animosity on anyone differing from me, and if everyone leaves me alone, I leave them alone. It's as simple as that. It matters not who was here first to me. People born here before me, were here first. I call them my elders and thusly, they get called sir and ma'am. It all boild down to respect.

You gotta admit though Bear, many places have aboriginal names, like Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, (get a Quebecer to admit to that :lol.

:lol: No kidding!!!

Even Canada is a derivitive of the native lingo, though I've heard differing pronunciations and meanings of the word depending on the particular dialect.

This is true and it's from my peoples tongue too.

Many cities, towns, and other locales still bear (sorry) their original native names. Our rich and varying cultures are more intertwined than many are willing to acknowlege.

That's why I always say I'm Canadian. I may be of Native decent, but I have French, Danish and British in me as well. Hell, if you follow my blood lines back far enough, I have Scottish too. And all irrelevant, I am Canadian. But that don't mean I'm not as equally proud of my roots.

Some see that as a bad thing and lash out.

This is oh so true.

Wow Bear! You showed amazing restraint. I thought for sure you would rip him a new one, but I guess you are leaving that up to SCB.

LOL, it's not worth the increase in blood pressure. I know who I am, I know why some people hate me, I could care less. Lots of other people hate me for truly tangable reasons.;-)

I don't understand why 'the Crown' would decide there were no grounds for charges - it sounds like a straightforward case of assault.

It sounds that way to me too.

I would be furious if anyone touched my son, or cut his hair with out my permission (not to mention the school was informed of the reason he was growing it, it was for a traditional dance that he was participating in) ...where does this teacher get off thinking she is allowed to do anything to a child without parental consent ( the child is a minor..7 years old, under the legal age for ANY consent)... if she wanted to be a hair dresser, then she should go back to school...and get the hell away from teaching our children.

There is a lesson they teach our kids in school it goes like this " Keep your hands to yourself" !!That's my girls...

 

[shadowshiv]

Yep, but that's just sensible and reasonable. ;-)

Seems to be a lack of that in the world today.:-|

 

[TenPenny]

HE DIDN'T LOSE AN ARM OR A LEG. We have "bigger fish to fry" folks.

You may think so, but I don't think that a school employee assaulting a student is a minor thing. I think it's fairly serious.

One thing probably has come out of this, though: if he's typical, the student in question will have lost most of his respect for TAs. He will likely not see them as particularly good role models or figures of authority. Having been punched in the chest by a teacher in Grade 7, who simply didn't like the way I walked across the room, I can fully understand if this kid spends the rest of his life with very little respect for teachers and the school system. Take the education system for what it's worth kid, but remember that you're likely brighter than 99% of the teachers you'll meet.

 

[JLM]

You may think so, but I don't think that a school employee assaulting a student is a minor thing. I think it's fairly serious.

One thing probably has come out of this, though: if he's typical, the student in question will have lost most of his respect for TAs. He will likely not see them as particularly good role models or figures of authority. Having been punched in the chest by a teacher in Grade 7, who simply didn't like the way I walked across the room, I can fully understand if this kid spends the rest of his life with very little respect for teachers and the school system. Take the education system for what it's worth kid, but remember that you're likely brighter than 99% of the teachers you'll meet.

I don't disagree with you, I was just trying to put it in context with the thousands of really tragic, life altering incidents that happen across the country every day. Could you please provide us with the verse and page of the book that defines assault as cutting hair? We want to keep the hysterics to a minimum not raise them.

 

[bobnoorduyn]

I don't disagree with you, I was just trying to put it in context with the thousands of really tragic, life altering incidents that happen across the country every day. Could you please provide us with the verse and page of the book that defines assault as cutting hair? We want to keep the hysterics to a minimum not raise them.

If no one is able to provide any evidence of this being an assault, it is probably because under the law it wasn't. That is why we have the law, so hysterics don't rule the actions of the state.

 

[JLM]

If no one is able to provide any evidence of this being an assault, it is probably because under the law it wasn't. That is why we have the law, so hysterics don't rule the actions of the state.

I think you are probably right, Bob. I see a lot of troubled kids these days and I think one of the problems today is a lot of kids have never been taught to handle disappointment. Sh*tty things happen to everyone sooner of later and you have learn to take them in stride.

 

[CDNBear]

I hate to break this to all of you, but I just got off the phone with the Duty Officer at #3 District here in York Region, a good friend of mine.

Cutting someones hair against their consent is assault, if they want to be dicks about it, it's assault with a weapon.

End of story.

I invite you to call your local Constabulary and ask for yourself.

 

[L Gilbert]

Les,
Have you read 1491: New revelations of the Americas before Columbus? It puts occupation long before that even. Every time they dig a new hole they find older and older evidence. We have just scratched the surface of the pre-history of the Americas.

Haven't read that one yet. Adovasio's book was pretty comprehensive. The people from northern France were only one of the bunches he mentioned that were here 20 millenia ago.

 

[JLM]

I hate to break this to all of you, but I just got off the phone with the Duty Officer at #3 District here in York Region, a good friend of mine.

Cutting someones hair against their consent is assault, if they want to be dicks about it, it's assault with a weapon.

End of story.

I invite you to call your local Constabulary and ask for yourself.

So much for sanity I guess.

 

[L Gilbert]

You have to remember that we only have one side of the argument, and limited at that.........

Yup, so we can only have fun with what we have available. lol

 

[L Gilbert]

Yeah, I guess it's a sign of the times that this incident has made news coast to coast. What the teacher's aide did was crassly insensitive and stupid. On the other hand, a child who goes through his childhood without adversity isn't very well equipped to handle the real world. He got a haircut and it will grow back in three or four months- HE DIDN'T LOSE AN ARM OR A LEG. We have "bigger fish to fry" folks.

News?
"Celebrity is news. Everything else is entertainment" - McLuhan

 

[JLM]

"You have to remember that we only have one side of the argument, and limited at that"- Sadly so, but that makes the story worse if anything, unless of course she has a lawyer telling her to keep her trap shut.

 

[CDNBear]

Seems to be a lack of that in the world today.:-|

Yep...;-)

So much for sanity I guess.

How is cutting a childs hair sane?

I can tell you right now, my credit cards would be getting max'd out trying to get bail money if some asshat cut my sons hair.

It's assault, whether you like it or not.

If a little Asian kid can be charged with assault for punching a kid who just punched him, this woman should be charged, period.

"You have to remember that we only have one side of the argument, and limited at that"- Sadly so, but that makes the story worse if anything, unless of course she has a lawyer telling her to keep her trap shut.

I agree, but beyond the fact that the child can not offer his approval, as he has no legal standing to do so, she is in breach of the law under any scenario you can conjure up.

 

[L Gilbert]

Yep, but that's just sensible and reasonable. ;-)

Yup.

Sure is a neat book, but it isn't up for debate, the Treaties were signed, the deals made. All we have to do is live up to them, on both sides of the table...;-)

I know. Wifey and I have chatted this out. I just like to bring it up as a point that politicians haven't got a clue about much of anything. I really have no problem with people calling themselves members of First Nations. In a sense they are dead right. They are the first nations that Europeans exploited, abused, etc. in North Am.

This is true, now if only we could all just get along. I wish no animosity on anyone differing from me, and if everyone leaves me alone, I leave them alone. It's as simple as that. It matters not who was here first to me. People born here before me, were here first. I call them my elders and thusly, they get called sir and ma'am. It all boild down to respect.

Yes, ma'am.

.......There is a lesson they teach our kids in school it goes like this " Keep your hands to yourself" !!That's my girls...

Yup. Our girls learned that early enough.

 

[L Gilbert]

I don't disagree with you, I was just trying to put it in context with the thousands of really tragic, life altering incidents that happen across the country every day. Could you please provide us with the verse and page of the book that defines assault as cutting hair? We want to keep the hysterics to a minimum not raise them.

JLM, as I pointed out earlier, to a budding shaman, hair cutting IS life altering. Apparently you don't consider other people's beliefs to be as important as your own. I'd fix that if I were you.

 

[JLM]

JLM, as I pointed out earlier, to a budding shaman, hair cutting IS life altering. Apparently you don't consider other people's beliefs to be as important as your own. I'd fix that if I were you.

Of course other's beliefs are as important as my own, I've never thought my beliefs warrant coast to coast media attention.

 

[karrie]

No teacher has the right to alter a child's appearance. Plain and simple.

But, at the same time, the article and comments seem to base the cries for criminal prosecution, rather than administrative action, on past abuses by other people at a different time in our history. Does what this woman did really warrant criminal action rather than social and administrative action?

Personally, I wasn't there. I can't see if she was yelling and using threatening body language and performing this as an assault. I can't see if she was just truly a moron who thought she'd style a kid's hair and didn't truly grasp the emotional and spiritual aspect of hair to this child.

Thus I have to have a certain amount of faith that the crown has spoken to the kids that were in that class, and came to its decision in reference to criminal charges accordingly. And I hope that the school, in the absence of criminal charges, engages in severe administrative actions.

 

[JLM]

No teacher has the right to alter a child's appearance. Plain and simple.

But, at the same time, the article and comments seem to base the cries for criminal prosecution, rather than administrative action, on past abuses by other people at a different time in our history. Does what this woman did really warrant criminal action rather than social and administrative action?

Personally, I wasn't there. I can't see if she was yelling and using threatening body language and performing this as an assault. I can't see if she was just truly a moron who thought she'd style a kid's hair and didn't truly grasp the emotional and spiritual aspect of hair to this child.

Thus I have to have a certain amount of faith that the crown has spoken to the kids that were in that class, and came to its decision in reference to criminal charges accordingly. And I hope that the school, in the absence of criminal charges, engages in severe administrative actions.

Now we are seeing some sanity injected into the thread. I've generally felt that a person's behaviour should be altered by the least punitive measures (on the first offense) and then if it continues you still have the opportunity to come back with a sledge hammer and an anvil.

 

[L Gilbert]

As I said before, sometimes people can smarten up if their wallet has been emptied a little. I wouldn't take the woman's career away or make it impossible for her to get a job teaching, I'd just fine her.
In the meantime, to a lot of other people having a haircut, albeit, unwarranted, is not a biggie. By the sounds of it, to the kid and his family it was a biggie. That IS life altering. Downplaying its importance because someone personally doesn't think it matters much, is .... what's the word?