Friday, June 12th, 2009

Time	Event
4:13a	"Survivor: Kindergarten" I first found this article in which we learn that a kindergarten teacher who let her students "vote a boy with a form of Autism out of her class" has been allowed to go back to teaching. By unanimous vote. Okay. Okay. I seriously must be missing something here, because a unanimous vote for reinstating this woman? No one stood up for the Bartons at the hearing? She made a five year old child with Aspergers stand at the front of the room while the other students listed things they didn't like about him, then voted him off 14-2 Survivor style so that he had to spend the rest of the day in the nurses office.  I know autistic children can be very difficult to deal with, but really?  That's her choice of punishment? And the kicker? According to the article written just after the event, Florida decided that it wasn't actually emotional child abuse, even though for a while he was not able to even drive past the school without screaming and hasn't been back to school since. If you want a "less biased" article, there's this one, which is much more on the side of the teacher, because really, this is the first time she's done something like this and she's been an excellent teacher for years.  Also as long as you've only killed one person it's okay. Also also, can you really look at the picture of that kid and imagine doing something like this to him? ETA: harpie84 linked me to this site for Alex Barton, but it doesn't look like it's been updated in a long time. ETA II: It appears that the reason that the Bartons did not appear in court is because they were not told about the upcoming hearing.  "13 supporters of Wendy Portillo were permitted to speak in her favor at the hearing, including her sons as well as family members of former students."  WUT.  They told her supporters, but not Alex's?  I... *even more rage* (89 Comments | Comment on this)
12:55p	Let Me Tell You My Life Story Photoshop Disasters: a blog devoted to exposing and ridiculing bad image editing in professional publications, advertisements, etcetera. As it happens, a LaSenza lingerie advert has a laughably bad grasp of reflection. PD's verdict: "Just goes to show; home-schooled kids can end up doing graphics work after all." The comments? Not about boobies. (Why here and not OTF? I was all "lol education wank" until "David" waded in with "gosh, I wish my white straight male ass was given something to feel victimized and whine about". Have a brain twister if you're feeling stabby.) ETA: My reading skills are crap; as the replies below point out, the real fail comes earlier in the PD thread and his comment is a sarcastic take on it. (42 Comments | Comment on this)
11:30p	Munchausen by fake proxy server Q:What's worse than having your child diagnosed with severe abnormalities in utero and bringing that child to term while fully acknowledging and understanding that odds are the infant will be malformed and unable to survive more than a few hours? ( A: Faking it. ) ETA: A New York Times blogger questions the veracity of the earlier Tribune profile. Becca Beushausen is not a social worker, for one thing. (111 Comments | Comment on this)

<< Previous Day

2009/06/12 [Calendar]

Next Day >>