5-year old aspie voted out of kindergarten by students

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I gather that you think that this is an appropriate way to redress the situation. In fact this just further injures the child. It's not an appropriate thing to be posting on this web forum. Racism, subtle racist suggestions, or just putting ideas into people's heads is not consistent with this community's values.

I really feel for that little boy in Florida. My father was flunked in kindergarten and his life has been messy, arduous, frustrating and unsuccessful. I wish I could say I'm surprised at something like this happening in Florida but hey, after 8 years of Dubya that just isn't the case. This 'reality show' mentality has got to go. In the fifties it was game shows and commie-baiting, now it appears enough of the general public are onto what's going this time around that complaints about the 'liberal media' from some quarters are justifiably met with suspicion.
My wife and daughter and I live in Toronto, a major city in that 'red menace' north of the US, Canada! (cue ominous tinny MIDI music here). My wife was quick enough to realize something was up when my daughter tantrumedra constantly in junior kindergarten, and we got her diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome at age four. I can't say the school we started her in was perfect, but I can safely say that something as low as what Alex Barton was subjected to would never, ever have even entered any teacher's or educator's mind. Had any such thing even been attempted here, there would have been so much outcry that the teacher would at least have had to issue a public apology, and at the very least that teacher's job would be in jeopardy. It's hard to be objective when you hear of a kindergarten teacher instigating her class to vote a boy 'off the island'.
Hopefully I'm doing more than just ranting, I'm having trouble thinking straight. I sent the link to the BBC' s news website, thanks for sharing it. Incidentally, just as my father as had a tough time of things (my wife and I concluded during therapy that he, like me, was quite likely on the spectrum), my daughter is doing very well and 'normalizing' more than ever at her new school.

Oh and by the way, next time someone on here suggests we're not at war with NTs, I'm going to draw their attention to this thread. We ARE at war with NTs. It is that simple.

That may be sarcasm but I actually do love the teachers' unions.
They try to make sure that teachers, who are pretty much the most important people in society, the most major direct influence on nearly every individual life, get the reward that they deserve for their hard work, which is gradually being taken away from them by politicians and employers who don't know what it's like to work almost all-day trying to ensure that future adults succeed in life.
This is an issue that is personally significant to me as the son of someone who spent many years as a teacher having to put up with all kinds of trouble just to make it through every single long, difficult day of the school year.

I found a picture of the teacher. She's a big ugly colored woman. Since she's ok with discrimination, it would be sooo tempting to take the kid right in front of her and say. "Don't worry kid, it's not your fault, that's just how colored people are."

It would however be ironic justice. What this woman has managed to do is on a par with racism. Her actions were "not appropriate" by any standard. Is this woman over her colour or her appearance somehow worse than mocking a child for being AS? Or is it exactly the same thing?

It was sarcasm. If the teacher's union is so great, why are our teachers still so grossly undercompensated? I agree that teaching is probably the most important profession, but most TEACHERS at my school disagree with a lot of what the NEA does and joined the union only grudgingly and out of pressure to conform. The union doesn't do that much to benefit teachers, but it does harm children by making it impossible to fire teachers who suck at their job (and I've had a couple).

It would however be ironic justice. What this woman has managed to do is on a par with racism. Her actions were "not appropriate" by any standard. Is this woman over her colour or her appearance somehow worse than mocking a child for being AS? Or is it exactly the same thing?

It is disturbing that immature, pre-teen kids were allowed to vote a fellow student out of their class. What the hell was the teacher doing, giving the final say to nursery school kids? It beggars belief.

I'm surprised a moderator was the only person that called out against this idiotic post.




No it is not. She is an idiot for doing such a thing but it is not on par with racism. They are children who have very little understanding in what they do. She is as ignorant as the children. She is just a part of the modern movement in teaching children how to "express their feelings".

Tell you what, I'll clear every post I make with you before I utter it. Also I will check with you before having an opinion.

In that case, my new opinion is: I just don't want to get involved and just don't care what happens. Better?

If a big enough portion of society wants to dictate my opinions, my fall back is I just don't care about society's problems and don't want to be bothered with it.

The following activities are unacceptable on WrongPlanet:

1. Posting offensive language, comments, video, or images.
Unacceptable content includes swearing; racist, sexist, homophobic language; behavior intended to provoke or belittle other members; violent or sexually demeaning content; and discussion of excretory function. Posting graphic images or videos of people or animals being harmed is prohibited.

Given that both are expressions of ignorance and crass stupidity, I consider the two very similar. I find it morbidly amusing that yet again on a net forum, the ugly beast of racism is considered the worst possible thing that could possibly be mentioned ever at all, and the merest hint of it is screamed down as evil and wrong. NOTHING EVER COULD BE AS BAD EVER as racism. NO. Not possible. An ironic comment about it is LIKE BURNING CROSSES.

Yes.There are in fact some things that are worse than dropping the N bomb on the internet.. like destroying a childs self-confidence in such a fashion that he will be scarred for the rest of his life. What are the odds that if, instead of autistic, this child had been "Voted out" because they were black or asian ( a decision 5 year olds are just as likely to make) then the equal rights people would be up in arms.

She is just a part of the [i]modern movement in teaching children how to "express their feelings"[/i]

Tailfins, MrMark is a moderator. What he says goes, and besides, racist comments are expressly forbidden in the forum rules.

or am I mistaken?

How many people here are actually truly sympathetic of the situation or just feel a close tie to it because they themselves have AS?

What she did to this kid is wrong, whether or not he's on the spectrum. We don't even know for sure if he is on the spectrum, they only said he was being tested. That is a truly sick thing to do, and is harmful not only to the kid who now has been forced out of school because of her but also to the other children, who she has taught that it is ok to be complete a**holes to other people. Several of them will probably have their own problems later on.