You be the judge for me,

[Frankie]

My son is 15 and is in all the advanced Computer Classes at school. He is one of those students who just know how to do it, understand the language and can write his own.

In one of his classes he is weeks ahead in his work, about 4 weeks ahead and gets rather bored. The teacher always has to find other things for him to do and doesn't like it so much.

Well, today she asked him about his assisgnment, it's done he says and on my computer. Well it wasn't there, so she told him he had to do it again. He gets into the hard drive of his computer and his finds his assisgnment, it had been deleted from the main folder,,,,,,BY THE TEACHER!!!!!

Yes the teacher does end up admitting to deleting his work, didn't feel like finding him something else to do today.

Soooooooo,,,,,,teacher again tells him to redo it, he flat out refuses, so she tells him he will get an F if he does not.

So my son being my son, goes in to his computer, builds an internal switch for the schools server, AND SHUTS IT OFF!!!

He did not send a virus, or create one, by building the switch he knew how to run it and so he did go back in and turn on the server. Nothing destroyed, it is up and running fine.

He WAS WRONG and has learned a new meaning of the word, grounded.

Here is where you are the judge.

In my opinion, both he AND the teacher were wrong.

But the school only punished him.

He was given an F for the day on work he DID do, and lost computer priveledges which is his everything. He can only use it during class and what he can do on it is limited. He also has to help teach in a few Jr. High Classes. That is not a punishment as far as he is concerned, but oh well.

The teacher,,,,,,,,nothing. Teacher said yes what I did was wrong, won't happen again, sorry.

Because the teacher said sorry,,,,,,nothing else will happen. My son said sorry, and he was punished.

Again, my son was wrong, he admitted to it, appologized and was punished.

The teacher was wrong, admitted to it, appologized for it and is forgiven by all, for all.

So, should it have been equal punishment?

 

[backwoodsnanny]

I would say at the very least the teacher should be reported to the superintendent if the principal wont do anything. To me she started this with her wrongdoing.

 

[Bassett]

Yes definitely. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. My son was also good at things and got bored in school. It is very hard on children like that. But I do think the teacher was wrong and should have been punished or your son should not have gotten an F.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

If it were my son I'd be sitting in that principals office and we'd be 'discussing' this further. The teacher was way out of line and the fact that your son acted badly was her fault to start with. I would demand the teacher at the very least give your son a better grade and a written apology. He demonstrated that he could shut down the computer and no doubt that scares them but if he can do it from there he can do it from home and they can't control a student's behaviour by bullying them. Want a student to do whats right..treat them with respect. Want to see a teen act out... abuse your authority. Go be his advocate where he has no power. Its what we Mom's do.

 

[Frankie]

Today when talking with the school, it just became one huge circle.

I told them I felt they should take away his punishment,,

But he did something wrong.

Then punish the teacher I said,

But the teacher said sorry.

You can't punish my son for being wrong, unless the teacher is punished for being wrong.

but he did something wrong.

and on and on

But we're not done yet, that was just one person speaking for the school, there is a whole lot more.

 

[Littleum]

Well, your son has learned a valuable lesson not to do what he did- messing with other people's computers (even if you can) is a major no-no.

That said:

1) Isn't the school concerned that a savvy 15 year old was able to breech their security and shut down their system? Talk about a catastrophe waiting to happen.

2) The teacher was WAY out of line- deleting someone's assignment just to make them do it again? If that's actually the god's honest truth, that's beyond outlandish.

Did the teacher actually confess to doing this? To their superiors? Not just to your son?

My overriding worry isn't really a maverick jerk teacher- it's holy crumbs, what kind of popsicle stick fence is around the school's network?!

Your son was able to gain access to the school's server and manipulate it within moments. This raises all kinds of issues about the security of the school's network AND the data that it holds. Data like... names, addresses, SNNs, grades, payroll history, discplinary, medical, ect ect ect.

IF what you say is 100% true and exactly what happened, I don't think the school would be too pleased about you making a big stink about "if my 15 year old could bring down your network, what could a devoted hacker do? A determined predator?!"

Even if you son had been able to gain PHYSICAL access to the server to switch it off... WHY? It's not that far a stretch to think someone could gain physical access and walk away with it/them either.

I'd focus on #1. #2 might find itself very neatly resolved by addressing #1.

Of course the principal will brush off your concerns. They may be right to do so, they might be totally wrong to do so. Honestly, if I were you, I'd still be REALLY concerned and try to get to the bottom of exactly WHY, HOW and HOW it would be prevented....

Like I said: if your son exposed the school's network security is garbage, #2 probably will take care of itself as you make bigger and bigger stinks. Or at least you get the amusement of watching the teacher eat crow.

 

[Laura]

If it were my son I'd be sitting in that principals office and we'd be 'discussing' this further. The teacher was way out of line and the fact that your son acted badly was her fault to start with. I would demand the teacher at the very least give your son a better grade and a written apology. He demonstrated that he could shut down the computer and no doubt that scares them but if he can do it from there he can do it from home and they can't control a student's behaviour by bullying them. Want a student to do whats right..treat them with respect. Want to see a teen act out... abuse your authority. Go be his advocate where he has no power. Its what we Mom's do.

He was wong, super wrong, but I'm impressed by his knowledge and well...guts. For the teacher, that's just unacceptable, period. He had every right to be in her face, yelling his head off IMO, but he went about it his *almost* justified own way..I bet his teacher couldn't have done it

He should be doing tutoring or other "community service" to benefit the school, but his grade should be given back and the teacher should be reprimanded too.

 

[susanne]

Do you have a community college (online perhaps?) where your son could get his computer science credits in classes better suited to his abilities? I hate the thought that his "reward" for being so intelligent and creative is to be punished. The teacher would probably be happy if he were not in her class (he unintentionally is making her look bad), and your son needs to be challenged.

 

[Frankie]

The teacher did admit to me, my son, and the Principle. But it was ok as the teacher gave my son an appology.

Well, your son has learned a valuable lesson not to do what he did-

So far he has learned it is ok to make a mistake, to do something wrong as an adult as long as it is followed with an appology.

With all else, my concern is how lazy this teacher is,,,,,,,couldn't find ANYTHING else for him to do, so wants to make him do it again????

what kind of popsicle stick fence is around the school's network?!

It's not all so bad,,,,,,,or wasn't. It was made easier for him when a lot of the filter systems were shut down for upgrading, along with a few other things.

Or maybe he is just following in his big brothers footsteps.

My older son is a Professional Hacker,,,,,(Hacker did not start out to be a "bad" name.)

He is hired by big time companies to get through their security, and paid for it. No one knows how secure their systems is, until someone tries to get in to it.

My older son is pretty darn good at it,,,,didn't get it from me,,,,,,,but a few years back, when Boeing put in a new system, they hired him to get in. Not only did he get in, he shut them down in less than half an hour.

Now that child WAS a concern,,,,,,,the younger one not so much.

Either way,,,,,he deserves to be treated fair.

 

[wantminimore]

I would be in the principals office getting your sons grade brought up and getting some punishment for the teacher and if that didn't work i'd go to the superintendents office.

 

[Frankie]

Susanne, we had planned to send him to college next summer, waiting because of his age.

But maybe we should just go ahead and do it, it might make it easier for us all. I think he would sure be happier, he is looking forward to it.

 

[stormo41]

1) Isn't the school concerned that a savvy 15 year old was able to breech their security and shut down their system? Talk about a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Hi there. My boyfriend is taking his masters in Computer Science, It sounds like your son and my boyfriend are very similar I just asked him how long it would have taken him to do what your son did. He said it would have taken him 5 mins or less depending on what the system was like, when he was in high school. My boyfriend like your son just gets the whole computer programing blah blah blah stuff. your son is not just a computer savvy 15 year old, he is very very smart and will make you a very proud parent if he makes the right choices in life.

If I knew how I would have done the same thing your son did if that teacher did that to me. (I did something like that when i was 16 and it cost me my "everything".....but it was so worth it

)

Given the information I would say that teacher was on a major power trip. That teacher should be punished in some shape or form. Not to mention that if a teacher has a student that is excelling at his/her work as well as your son is then that teacher should be looking into what "special" programs that the student could be entered into, or skipped forward grades or at least be given fun and challenging assignments, not purposely deleting a students work because they are too lazy to find something for him/her to do that day. Really if i was a teacher and i had a star student in my class who was doing very well the last thing i would want was for him/her to be board and peeved off.

As for punishment, well.....I do agree with the limited computer access at school but not forever for 2-4 weeks or something like that. I don't agree with the F, and as for the teaching you already said thats not even punishment for him. But then again I'm not a parent or a teacher so i don't know much about punishing. But i would be talking to a higher up about his punishment, the whole not allowed on school computers will look bad on his records. The only thing wrong he did was in the way he reacted, and would have never happened had the teacher done their job right in the first place.

Sorry I wrote a small novel. No matter what remember that your son is very smart and can stand up for himself and meant any harm to come of this.

 

[Floridachick]

In our community any children "testing" above and keeping all A's are given a FREE college degree up to an Associates at the community college. Its a great program. Your son is clearly bored and needs more.

SHAME SHAME on that teacher!

Even though your son was wrong, GOOD FOR HIM! The teacher needs to step up to the plate. Maybe go around the situation by demanding your accerlated child's needs are met!

 

[onlyminis]

You have an INCREDIBLY talented child, who yes, does need punished (while you chuckle when he's not looking!) and an incredibly inept, lazy teacher! UGH, I wish the teacher would/could be punished for this, and hopefully your son can find other outlets for his talent. However, be careful, don't let the kid become cocky, a hard line to keep to.

I'd look into college for him also, and get him out there tutoring, keep his mind stimulated, keep him BUSY!

Wow, what a predicament. much better than MY neighbors son that's well on his way to jail for smoking pot in the school bathroom at 13 and giving tattoos at school!

bb

 

[Kathy2m]

They both were wrong and something should have been done to both. That being said I too had a child who in Elementary school would finish first and the teacher would just keep piling on more work or telling him to read, he came to hate that class and be disruptive. He had another teacher the next year who challenged my son to help the other students who were having problems after he was done with his work. He loved that class and the teacher. A good teacher can be so important to a child/young adult. Kathy

 

[Slinkky]

Carolyn,

My son and your son should NEVER meet!!

7 yrs ago, at age 15, mine felt like his computer teacher was making him do basic computer stuff and would not let him "move on"...he had to wait for the rest of the class to get it. He was completely bored. His solution...download porn to all the school computers!

Once they figured out who did it, they called us in for a meeting. I certainly was taken aback. I was embarrassed that he chose porn to slap on the computers. I was ticked that the teacher would not let him move on ahead of the class. But I was proud that he was smart enough to figure this stuff out. The principal decided on his punishment…do maintenance on the all the school computers (while being watched by the regular IT guy). It certainly could have been worse. Oh, and the principal asked my permission for Tyler to do this again, with the IT guys so they could see what/how he did it so they could fix that hole in the firewall.

Awwww......what memories we’ll have of their childhood.

 

[allaboutminis]

i see where you are coming from. yes that teacher is wrong for what she has done. if she done this to your child how many more is out there that she has done this too. is my question as far as you son goes he thought well if she or he is going to give me a "F" then i will just shut every thing down he might of got more joy out of that then re-doing his school work. that teacher needs to have something done to her or him also i would take it to the broad and darned something to be done to that teacher

 

[Cara]

personialy i think the teacher should be fired or at the least suspended, that the teacher did was wrong and lazy, what your son did was wrong but not as wrong as the teacher in my opion

 

[Miniv]

I agree with everyone.........Your son was wrong. The teacher was wrong and should be reprimanded, IMO.

But the important part to this is that it shows everyone that 1. how bright your son is, and he should be put into higher level classes......plus helping other students, 2. how accessible the school computer system is, and the school better do something about it......perhaps you should point that out?

 

[Sonya]

Hmmm, this is a tough one. Yes the teacher was dead wrong, but something your son should get out of this is that she is the authority. Just because someone of authority does something that is wrong doesn't mean that you should be able to do something in return. Look at a job situation. Your boss does something wrong, you in turn retaliate....what happens, you get fired! Fair??....no, but it is the world. He learned a valuable lesson.

Is there another class in school that he can go to instead of hers? I sense they are always going to have problems. One reason may be that the teacher is intimidated by your son's knowledge.