Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
Claiming that 'Tebowing' presents a safety hazard, a Long Island high school suspended a group of student athletes earlier this week for reproducing the signature prayer posture of Broncos QB Tim Tebow. ESPN New York reports:
Jordan Fulcoly, Wayne Drexel and brothers Tyler and Connor Carroll of Riverhead High School were all handed a one-day suspension Wednesday, after three days of taking a knee with their foreheads resting on their fists, the same way Tebow does in the end zone and on the sidelines.
Administrators are insistent that students were punished not for public displays of religion, but for clogging up the hallways between classes. An interview with one of the suspended athletes (found at the ESPN link above) makes apparent that the students had not the slightest intention of praying in public, but simply wanted to emulate and pay tribute to their hero Tim Tebow. And yet, however justified the administration may be for putting an end to hallway Tebowing, the student athletes have the "optics" of the situation on their side.
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Mar '11
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
Swatting a fly with an atom bomb. I would expect no less of our public school system.
Jul '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
I'm not sure if this is worth the Ricochet post. The big question is whether the four kids were actually blocking the hallways and causing a nuisance, repeatedly, after being told not to do so, or whether they were just being silly as teenagers are wont, to which the principal overreacted. We cannot judge the situation because it is basically he said-she said as to what actually happened. But more fundamentally, neither the kids nor the principal said the Tebowing was meant as prayer, so this really doesn't matter either way, IMHO.
Apr '11
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
It matters in the sense that our school system has become so politically charged that we don't know what really prompted the suspensions. I don't find it hard to believe that they were blocking the hall, but suspensions seem like massive overkill in terms of punishment. What about detention, extra homework, etc? As usual, I'm sure there's more to the story and there's likely some lazy reporting going on here.
Aug '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
The school said it was a fire hazard when they defended the suspension. My thought was , "Wow, that school must really be a tinderbox." I just hope they never ever have one way blockages there. If the school isn't a tinderbox, then it must be way overcrowded. If it isn't way overcrowded, then the students must be prone to spontaneous combustion. Of course, the administrators could just be hyperventillating. In any event, something should be done.
Edited on Dec 16, 2011 at 2:09pmRe: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
It's become a national controversy — Fox, LA Times, Yahoo, NY Post, Mediaite, and ESPN have all had stories on it — because of the almost-religious-persecution-but-not-quite circumstance it presents.
I thought this amusing:
Edited on Dec 16, 2011 at 12:26pmMay '11
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
We frequently complain about overreaction by politically correct school administrators but it has always been this way. I remember when in the eighth grade one of my friends was sent home from school because he wore white shoes, ala Pat Boone.This was considered an unnecessary distraction, which of course, it was.
Jul '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
A national controversy created by media organizations in order to drive profits does not justify giving the time of day to silly stories like this.
And there you have it. In so vehemently opposing spending time on this issue, I have spent a whole lot of time on this issue.
May '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
Humza Ahmad
A national controversy created by media organizations in order to drive profits does not justify giving the time of day to silly stories like this.
And there you have it. In so vehemently opposing spending time on this issue, I have spent a whole lot of time on this issue. · Dec 16 at 12:38pm
That's funny!
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
Does one have to get a lobotomy in order to become a high school principal?
Dec '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
Thought experiment. If it were Muslim students who put down prayer rugs in the halls would they have been suspended for creating a fire hazard or would the administration rushed to set up a private prayer facility for them?
Aug '11
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
Even if you accept the principal's lame excuse that they were suspended for clogging the hallways, . . . a suspension? Seriously?
Back in my day, I think they would have gotten a talking-to and then sent on their way. What's the deal with pulling out the big guns immediately?
Jun '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
Ten cents says if they had had their noses on a carpet while chanting Allah akbar, the principal would be lecturing the school on the need for tolerance.
Jun '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
DrewInWisconsin: Even if you accept the principal's lame excuse that they were suspended for clogging the hallways, . . . a suspension? Seriously?
Back in my day, I think they would have gotten a talking-to and then sent on their way. What's the deal with pulling out the big guns immediately? · Dec 16 at 1:23pm
They're lying, of course. They pulled out the big guns because it evokes prayerful attitudes.
Look, we know that this would have been completely different if it was an Occupy the Hallway sitdown or demonstration of some kind. Then the principal would have puffed up his (her) chest and been just so proud of these well-conditioned students.
Nov '11
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
I think that's part of the certification process in New York state.
Feb '11
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
DrewInWisconsin: Even if you accept the principal's lame excuse that they were suspended for clogging the hallways, . . . a suspension? Seriously?
Back in my day, I think they would have gotten a talking-to and then sent on their way. What's the deal with pulling out the big guns immediately? · Dec 16 at 1:23pm
It sounds as if it was not done immediately, but rather after three days of the behavior. Clogging the hallway to pray would be one thing, and I might support it. Clogging the hallway to emulate a football hero seems pretty juvenile to me. In the video, they seem to be spread across the hallway, rather than out of the way. The "statement" they are making is not clear. The young man, speaking on national cable sports giant ESPN, also sounds confused. Notice that they were "Tebowing," not "praying." I'm more concerned about the local high school teacher who went crazy and began slashing at another teacher in the hallway with a screwdriver, sending her to the hospital with 16 stab wounds.
Jul '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
I have no problem with the suspensions. The initial articles about this indicated this was not a one time thing. The students did this more than once over multiple days and had been explicitly told to stop because they were clogging up the halls. The school rescinded two suspensions after they found out two of the students were not part of the group originally warned.
I don't know about other schools, but the high school I went to, if four people had knelt down in the middle of the hallway, it would have completely blocked the hall for the several hundred people trying to move to the next class. It probably would have started a fight, as well, when people decided to shove them out of the way.
As much as everyone seems to be bagging on the principal, why is no one questioning the complete lack of respect for authority by the students? They're admittedly not doing anything for religious regions and are just acting like idiot teenagers. They were warned, they chose to ignore it, they got suspended. Good for the principal.
Mar '11
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
This. There have been many examples of school officials harassing students and teachers for not adhering to some vague socialist, atheistic norm that exists in their minds. This is not one of those incidents. Nothing to see here, move along.
Edited on Dec 16, 2011 at 5:41pmJul '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
But seen from another angle, doesn't this look like a complete breakdown of authority by the people who are supposed to be running the school, namely the teachers and administrators? In a properly functioning school environment, this would have occurred once or twice. At that point, a responsible adult would have said "Very cute, kids. Now knock it off and get your behinds to class." And he would have had the force of character to make it stick.
Why was this allowed to go on for three days, with more and more students joining in? That and the hasty resort to the ultimate weapon, suspension, indicate not merely a lack of respect but, much more troubling, a lack of any authority that the kids feel compelled to respect.
Jul '10
Re: Students Suspended for 'Tebowing'
Peter Christofferson
But seen from another angle, doesn't this look like a complete breakdown of authority by the people who are supposed to be running the school, namely the teachers and administrators? In a properly functioning school environment, this would have occurred once or twice. At that point, a responsible adult would have said "Very cute, kids. Now knock it off and get your behinds to class." And he would have had the force of character to make it stick.
Why was this allowed to go on for three days, with more and more students joining in? That and the hasty resort to the ultimate weapon, suspension, indicate not merely a lack of respect but, much more troubling, a lack of any authority that the kids feel compelled to respect. · Dec 16 at 7:00pm
Absolutely true, and that's in line with what I hear from my family who are teachers. A complete breakdown of the social structure.