Two "Tebowing" high school students have been suspended for blocking the hallway while mimicking the quarterback's famous prayer pose.
The boys were two of four students to trigger a wave of some 40 students kneeling in between classes, Riverhead High School Principal David Wicks said. The students caused a safety hazard, he said. The incident was captured on a smartphone and posted to YouTube.
"It was basically just a tribute to Tim Tebow," The New York Post quoted one of the boys as saying. "It was more than a religious thing. There was some of that involved obviously, because he prays. I guess it was basically like a moment of silence."
The two students received in-school suspension because they had been warned before about pulling disruptive stunts in the middle of the hallway, Wick said. The others received a verbal warning.
"This is about students causing an unsafe situation by blocking the hallways," Wicks said. "This has nothing to do with Tim Tebow or punishing the students for their religion beliefs. If they'd been sitting in the hallway with their legs crossed they'd receive the same discipline."
Tebow mania is sweeping the nation, inspired by the Denver Broncos quarterback's overt religiosity and knack for winning despite less than stellar stats.
"I think it’s wonderful that our students look up to sports heroes such as Mr. Tebow, but we can’t allow students to create unsafe situations in school," Superintendent Nancy Carney said in a statement.
"The students stated that there was nothing religious about their actions and that they were just having fun. We hope that these students and all of our students continue to look up to the positive role models in public life; we just encourage them to do it in a responsible way."
This wasn't about praying, but imitating a popular sports figure. They were told not to block the hall and they did so anyway. They asked for the punishment and they got it.
Man, you are a square Robert. It was harmless. Lighten up man.
This blocking the hallway thing is funny. I can see ample space both between and around these students where I can walk if I needed. And hypothetically, if there wasn't enough space, how would their kneeling bodies obstruct me from walking through them in tight quarters?
Some people have respect for authority and some don't. Some people care about others and some don't. Well done.
And you are so sure there Observor that if the fire alarm went off, the four students would have shown a disregard for themselves and their peers by obstructing the path to safety? That was their intent. Maybe they disrespected the school authority. So what? This country is built on civil disobedience of tyrants.
Ben,
"Maybe they disrespected the school authority. So what?"
Bright.
Everyone here who went the distance in education and has a PhD raise your hand.
[RAISES HAND]
I have witnessed enough harm done to good people and good ideas by college professors and administrators at every level than anyone else. You seem to be espousing blind obedience to all authority, which I think just about everyone on this list would agree is the most backwards sentiment going.
This story is about high school KIDS who need to be taught to recognize authority so your example was from college. Your lack of logic apparently would apply to let all children decide which rules they will follow.
Someone has to teach them which rules to follow and which are spurious? The rule-MAKERS are the LEAST qualified. That would be a conflict of interest. These students are human beings who are free to construe according to their own wits as well as according to the law, and to understand when these precepts conflict. These students may also incorporate into their decision making the wisdom of parents and, if not parents, perhaps authorities in other sectors of society. Sheesh! I am now convinced you are a grade school teacher. Stop treating these kids like your handpuppets. They are not young and untamed for the purposes of building you up. I know you feel you have to cut these kids down to size so, what size do you want them? - YOUR size? If you need dependents, sycophants, or love, go get a dog - but better choose the right breed.
Were the kids actually praying, or just imitating Tebow? Just because they're going through the motions doesn't mean they're following through with their thoughts.
And to the person who said it would be OK if they broke out into a rap song, etc – probably the same consequences would happen, but because it isn't Tebow related, it probably wouldn't be on CNN..
School administrators, school boards and pricipals across this country wust all drink from the same bowl of "Please Make Me Stupid" Kool-Aid. Suspending kids for Tebowing, for not saying the Pledge of Allegiance, for wearing the wrong thing to the prom, for blue hair...the list goes on and on. There was a story last week about straight-A kid who "appeared" to be under the influence of something, and he was immediately suspended. THREE drug tests showed him to be clean, but they still suspended him I know it's extremely hard to walk that fine line between tolerance and discipline, but these people in charge err on the Hitler style of management all too often.
How dare public schools try and keep a neutral peace in a public place for all people! Here's an idea, start a private school and do whatever the hell you want with it. I'm sure that's the whole story behind a straight-A kid being suspended... Schools LOVE suspending kids that help qualify grant money from the government.
Keep showing that kids don't need to learn respect for authority and others.
Not all authorities are worthy of our respect. If we blindly obey any and all authority we do ourselves and society a great injustice. Sometimes authorities are harmlessly tweaked by gestures like this - a modest correction of a rigid or inflated stature.
God > Tebow > this high school principal
"If we blindly obey any and all authority we do ourselves and society a great injustice"
- apparently from someone who blindly obeys the Bible.
You have already read my statement in which I wrote I was not a religious person. You call yourself an observor. Har har.
Ben,
I haven't read your statement about not being religious, but I read your statement about attending a seminary. "Har har".
God > Tebow > this high school principal
- Ben
You got me there. Oh my God I can't believe I wrote THAT. Why, I just let you use my own words against me and must now concede to looking like a total fool.
Har har.
I didn't write that I attended seminary. I wrote that the author of one comment must NOT have. Your reading comprehension skills are something awful.
It should be called "Teboning" when people do bone-headed things like this.
Now that's pretty funny.
Next thing you know, they will expell young adults from school for helping an old lady across the street.
Because there is a total connection between helping an old lady cross the street which is OUT OF SCHOOL and an act of compassion, and some kids praying blocking the halls in some kind of political BS statement.
Right, being kind and altruistic, is exactly the same thing as being disruptive and failing to follow instructions and disciplinary figures. Get over it.
Classically ridiculous comparison.
Yes worship your false idols. How very christian of you.
Mathew 6:5-6 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
UMeat
Religion = ignorance
December 16, 2011 at 3:58 pm | Report abuse |
This is from the comments on CNN re the article below.. Does that person know that Vatican SCIENTIFICALLY proved Julius Caesar's calender was off by several days? He/she most likely doesn't know that Vatican also has the most top notch Observatory, and many of the clergy hold scientist degrees in various disciplines? Some CNN readers are such morons.
The Vatican also has one of the world's largest collections of p0rnography for "study".
Just another example of kids who lack original thought and have no regard for rules.
Maybe you didn't get the joke, but imagination in service of principle may have been at play here. You think the high school principal is a bastion of principle and imagination? What planet have you been living on over the past decades - when Hollywood and science alike have come together to mock our educational system.
Is tebowing like teabagging?
Tbowing or OWS ing
Break it down to the simple fact: these two students instigated a "flash mob" in the middle of a hallway during school hours. Everything else is superfluous and they got what they deserved. Don't get caught up in any rhetoric.
Absolutely, keep it in perspective.
i hope he isnt catholic
Christianity can only sustain itself through victimization (i.e., a paranoid and defensive "it's the world against me" mentality). The Inquisition was a natural consequence of such a mentality...not an abomination. Just listen to Michelle Bachmann's crazy talk about Iran last night...20 years ago people would've laughed at such ignorance...now, it has become the norm. Islam is progressive faith that has more of a humanist component to it than any other monotheistic religion...unfortunatley, it got hijacked by the Arab cultural backwardness and geopolitical issues (Arabs, btw, represent approximately 20% of the entire Islamic world). Christianity, on the other hand, is inherently fatalistic and antagonistic. I know...the truth hurts...but it is what it is.
Stop using rational arguments and facts! They confuse too many people and make them fall down.
Obviously you have never gone to seminary. Oh, the ignorance.