OT - Story: Technology vs. Racism

And technology wins!

The town where we live has a population that is about 1/3 Asian.
This is a total culture shift for much of the town, which was almost
entirely Irish and Italian just 20 years ago. Following the
stereotype perfectly, a bunch of the Asian kids are intensely
interested in education, study hard, and do really, really well in
school.

The flip side, of course, is that many of the Asian kids have a very
difficult time adjusting to the US, don't learn English instantly,
and can be discipline problems. Oddly, there seem to be very few
kids in the middle - either the kids are the ones that get called
down to detention every other day, or they are duking it out for
class valedictorian.

However, every kid has to take "skills," a sampler of all the trades
available in the attached technical high school. Manda and most of
her advanced placement classmates hate it, regarding it as an hour a
day where they could be taking an additional academic course. A lot
of the teachers are less than thrilled having the AP kids in their
skills classes as well, because they know that these kids have
absolutely zero interest in taking up a trade.

Recently, one of Manda's classmates, Yuey (pronounced You-ee) met
Manda at lunch and was spitting with anger. Since outright anger is
totally out of character for Yuey, Manda wanted to know why.

"My skills teacher is a jerk!" proclaimed Yuey. "He said that he
hates having all us Chinese kids in his classes, because we're either
troublemakers or not interested. Then he said that the school should
just look down the list of names and if it's a Chinese one, to keep
the kids out of his skills class." (This was doubly insulting to
Yuey, because she is Vietnamese.)

My daughter pulled out her iPod, which has every add on she can find.
She said to Yuey, "take this to your next skills class, and keep it
in your pocket. When Mr. X starts with that stuff, just press the
button. The iPod will record the whole class if you want." (Manda
actually uses this function for academic purposes. She records her
biology and Latin classes and listens to each lecture several times,
writing notes at her own speed)

Yuey borrowed the iPod, recorded the teacher's next rant session.
Then, Yuey went to Guidance, where the teacher denied everything.
(surprise, surprise) Imagine his shock when he found out about the
recording. The teacher is now treading lightly in his skills
classes, and keeping his opinions about "Chinese" students to
himself. Further discipline is not an option, due to the strength of
our teachers' union.

So, technology and the good guys actually won a round. However, the
school seems determined that it will never happen again. Within a
week of Yuey's trip to Guidance, a note was sent home with all
students. It is now a punishable offense to bring "recording devices
of any kind" to class.

Gee, I wonder why?

And yes, Manda still brings the recording add-on for her iPod to
school. We'll take it up with faculty if it ever becomes an issue.
Having a way to take notes when you have motor skills problems is
very important, IMO.

It's not bad at keeping people honest, either.

Kathy N-V

and that's undoubtedly why they've been outlawed in classes here for
years.

even many of the colleges have signs that say 'no recording devices
allowed'.

They are "outlawed" in many high-school classes for the same reason
radios, Walkmans, and cell phones are-- they are a "distraction", and
in many places, an "invitation" to being stolen either by "jacking" or
extortion.

For college-- the prof's lectures are often "copy-righted material".
The schools/prof may sell audio and/or transcripts of the lectures.

In either case, if you can prove a "need"-- like Manda has (via IEP or
similar), or sometimes just ask, it is possible to "legally" bring one.
Recording "in secret" though, is entrapment, and with all the editing
abilities of modern technology, and "geeky kids", it would likely be
thrown out as evidence anyway.

By the way, the "smart Asian kid" stereotype was a major "problem" for
some even back in the Dark Ages of my college days.... The American
born Asian kids especially resented it. Why? Because there was a normal
bell curve in regards to scholastic ability/inclination amongst them,
whereas the "FOBs" were the cream that had risen to the top in HK,
Taiwan, etc. As one friend put it, it's like having a thousand older
brothers that are smarter/more successful than you, and everybody
expects you to be just like them....

Kaytee
http://www.eclecticbeadery.com/simplexities.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simplexities/
http://www.mallofcrafters.com/Crafte...umidaCN011.htm
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a note was sent home with all
students. It is now a punishable offense to bring "recording devices
of any kind" to class.



I was surprised it was allowed BEFORE now....
our schools banned them a long time ago.
Even in Law school we were not allowed to record without the
instructor's
permission.....

sigh -- at least Manda stood up for what was right.
too bad the teacher was such an ass....

Cheryl

]Recording "in secret" though, is entrapment,

how so?

Probably Cheryl could explain it better, but it's in the same line as
wiretapping without a warrent, and not being warned that "anything you
say could be held against you in a court of law". The authorities could
use the recording as a way to direct investigations, but not as
evidence.

Kaytee
http://www.eclecticbeadery.com/simplexities.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simplexities/
http://www.mallofcrafters.com/Crafte...umidaCN011.htm
http://craftersbuzz.com/gallery.cgi?KAYTEE

Actually - it varies from state to state --
in THIS SITUATION the tape would PROBABLY be admitted -
it's not "entrapment" unless the person was encouraged to make the
statement/statements -- which the teacher was not - he made them on his
own. Secondly - it's not "wire tapping" because it is not on a phone
or other communication line (yeah - for those you need permission in
MOST STATES - but not all!)
Thirdly -- the issue of taping private comments is the person's
expectation of privacy. If two people have a "private" conversation,
one does not expect to be taped. However -- the teacher had no
"expectation of privacy because his comments were public - to an
entire classroom of students.
I'm afraid if the parents of the Asian students wanted to bring a
discrimination suit against him - the tape would be admitted in 90% of
all courts....

Cheryl
Kaytee wrote:
]Recording "in secret" though, is entrapment,

how so?

Probably Cheryl could explain it better, but it's in the same line as
wiretapping without a warrent, and not being warned that "anything
you
say could be held against you in a court of law". The authorities
could
use the recording as a way to direct investigations, but not as
evidence.

Kaytee
http://www.eclecticbeadery.com/simplexities.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simplexities/
http://www.mallofcrafters.com/Crafte...umidaCN011.htm
http://craftersbuzz.com/gallery.cgi?KAYTEE