Student scolded for saving a life; School doesn’t ‘condone heroics’

[Valmy]

Again, I'm not blaming them.

I'm sure that's a great relief to their families.

I am sure it is equally a great relief that the bad advice was caused by the fact that previous hijackers had not harmed anybody, so therefore we just assumed they never would.  Warm fuzzies all around!

[The Brain]

Wallenberg shouldn't have saved those 100,000 Jews I suppose.

[crazy canuck]

Not so quick there.  If we dont have school kids tackling eachother who knows what evil we might unleash onto the world.

Which is why I am not really emotionally able to say who is wrong here.  THe phrase 'don't be a hero' kinda pisses me off.

Comparing people who think an aircraft they are on is about to be hijacked to a kid in a school witnessing a violent act is martiesque in magnitude.

[merithyn]

Again, I'm not blaming them.

I'm sure that's a great relief to their families.

Wow. So discussing them as anything other than paradigms of perfection is now worthy of derision? God forbid that we should learn something from what happened by the mistakes that were made. And I'm sorry - to you and to their families - but mistakes were made that can teach us many, many things.

[The Brain]

I think the hole is deep enough now, CC and Jacob.

[Valmy]

Comparing people who think an aircraft they are on is about to be hijacked to a kid in a school witnessing a violent act is martiesque in magnitude.

Which is why...

  My God.

Do have any idea what I was saying?  Exactly that: that the aircraft thing made it difficult for me to talk about this topic.  Why would I be saying that?  Because they are not the same thing.

[merithyn]

Not so quick there.  If we dont have school kids tackling eachother who knows what evil we might unleash onto the world.

Which is why I am not really emotionally able to say who is wrong here.  THe phrase 'don't be a hero' kinda pisses me off.

Comparing people who think an aircraft they are on is about to be hijacked to a kid in a school witnessing a violent act is martiesque in magnitude.

Is it really so hard for you to recognize the connection? If so, then I'll dumb it down for you.

Taking personal risks to save others = good

[crazy canuck]

I think the hole is deep enough now, CC and Jacob.

We need a hero to get them out...

[crazy canuck]

Is it really so hard for you to recognize the connection? If so, then I'll dumb it down for you.

Taking personal risks to save others = good

I agree that your position only makes sense if it is dumbed down.  Perhaps you might want to consider a more nuanced sophisticated view of the world which considers the surrounding circumstances before jumping to the conclusion that physically intervening is always the right answer.

[Jacob]

Wow. So discussing them as anything other than paradigms of perfection is now worthy of derision? God forbid that we should learn something from what happened by the mistakes that were made. And I'm sorry - to you and to their families - but mistakes were made that can teach us many, many things.

No.

But calling victims of an act of terrorism "sheep" to score a point in a discussion about a high-school spat is as tacky as the Brain in with three pigs in a vat of molasses.

For what it's worth, I think the kid did the right thing, and would be proud of him was my son. I also expect that CC is right and the story has been told to sell to a specific audience. I also think the school has the right policy.

[merithyn]

Is it really so hard for you to recognize the connection? If so, then I'll dumb it down for you.

Taking personal risks to save others = good

I agree that your position only makes sense if it is dumbed down.  Perhaps you might want to consider a more nuanced sophisticated view of the world which considers the surrounding circumstances before jumping to the conclusion that physically intervening is always the right answer.

Or I could take your view on the world, which is that physically intervening might hurt me so I'll stand back and hope nothing happens.

I'm not saying that anything is wrong with your view - unlike you seem to think of mine - except that I would likely choose differently, and have done so. I also wouldn't judge others badly for jumping up to help while others sit back because it's safer, like you've done regarding that boy.

I'll concede that using the 9/11 tragedy was a bad idea to make my point. Nonetheless, I still believe that the point is the same. The easy answer is to do nothing. It takes someone special to be willing to step up and help, especially when there's real danger.

[merithyn]

No.

But calling victims of an act of terrorism "sheep" to score a point in a discussion about a high-school spat is as tacky as the Brain in with three pigs in a vat of molasses.

I've already conceded that. Want it in blood?

For what it's worth, I think the kid did the right thing, and would be proud of him was my son. I also expect that CC is right and the story has been told to sell to a specific audience. I also think the school has the right policy.

I agree on all points but the last.

[Valmy]

I'll concede that using the 9/11 tragedy was a bad idea to make my point. Nonetheless, I still believe that the point is the same.

I am glad you did because I was instantly reacting to that and glad I could talk about it.  Thanks.

The school might be doing the right thing here but it immediately brought up bad stuff for me.

[crazy canuck]

Or I could take your view on the world, which is that physically intervening might hurt me so I'll stand back and hope nothing happens.

Please tell me where I stated that is my world view.  The fact that you have generalized my view that the school's policy to discourage violence amongst its students to this is, well, astonishing.

[Jacob]

I've already conceded that. Want it in blood?

Hmmm... 

... nah, it's okay. We're good

For what it's worth, I think the kid did the right thing, and would be proud of him was my son. I also expect that CC is right and the story has been told to sell to a specific audience. I also think the school has the right policy.

I agree on all points but the last.

So let's say we - as a school - have a policy that says "violence is strictly and completely forbidden, under all circumstances; unless it's necessary to defend yourself or heroically protect someone else". Briar in the article doesn't get scolded (nor does he get a newspaper article about him either), and that's great.

What do we do about all the incidents of violence where the participants - possibly on both sides of the conflict - claim they are heroically protecting someone else? Because I'm pretty sure "he started it" and "I was helping my friend" are pretty easy extenuating circumstances to claim for most people involved in schoolyard spats, however true it may be. How do we deal with that?