Aed 200 Week 4

Week 4 Assignment When it comes to random student locker searches, I feel that all teachers have the responsibility to give any information that they may have concerning any illegal acts that their students are involved in. If this information leads to the administration searching that student’s locker, then it is being done to make sure all the students are being kept safe. I do not feel that anyone’s locker should be searched without a significant amount of proof or suspicion. It should not be done just because the student is considered a trouble maker. Though a student may be breaking the law or rules of the school, I feel that the student still has the right to have their privacy protected. When searching the locker, I feel that some discretion needs to be taken. Allowing the student body to know why and when another student’s locker is being searched would be, in my opinion, considered an infringement on their privacy. I feel that all of the students rights should always be protected. It goes with the old rule of thumb, innocent until proven guilty. Even when found guilty, the rights of the students should still be protected, but only to the extent that it maintains the safety of the student body. For example, if nothing is found during the search, not only could this be embarrassing to the student, it could also be an embarrassment to the school administration. On the other hand, if a gun were to be found in the student’s locker, then that student would not have the right to just leave the school. Their rights would be limited in order to keep the rest of the students safe. When it comes to the learning environment and the students’ rights, I feel that the teachers do have the right to infringe on the students rights in order to improve the learning environment in some instances. For example, all students have the right to an education. I feel they lose this right if they are not conducting themselves respectfully to the teachers or even the other students in the classroom. If a student is being disruptive in the classroom, I feel that the teacher has the right to ask that the student be removed from their classroom. Even though the student has the right to an education, they lose that right when they infringe on the other students’ rights to their education. So, depending on the situation, a teacher should be able to make the choice to remove some given rights of one student in order to make sure the majority of the other students’ rights are being upheld. A situation where a teacher’s responsibility to protect their students safety limited another student’s rights was when a female student was attacked by a male student on my daughter’s school bus last year. The female student was sitting and minding her own business, from what the other students were saying, when the male student approached the female. He made sexual suggestions to the female. When she told the young man to leave her alone and she was not interested, the young man became embarrassed and enraged. He grabbed the young lady and forced himself onto her. When the incident was investigated, the male student lost his right not only to ride the school bus, he was also expelled from the school. His right to a free education in his local public school was taken away from him due to his own behavior. I feel the teachers and administration had the right to remove the male students right to an education based on his own actions. When it comes to teaching special needs children, there are some teachers who would rather not have these children in their classroom. Though it is the teachers right to not want a given student in their classroom, it is the teacher responsibility to teach the students assigned to their classroom and it is the student’s right to an appropriate education. I feel the students rights over ride the teachers’ rights, in this situation. The teacher should not be permitted to not have a special needs student in their classroom, just because they do not feel comfortable with this or because the student learns in a different manner than the other students in the classroom. All students should be treated equally, in all situations.