ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (May 15) - A high school teacher has apologized for asking students to write about who they would kill and how they would do it, and officials said he will likely keep his job.
Michael Maxwell, who teaches industrial technology at Central High School, said his request that students in his beginning drafting class describe how they would carry out a murder was merely a writing prompt. It was not clear why he asked the drafting class to write fiction.
"I made a horrible mistake that I regret," Maxwell said. "I want to apologize to my students, my colleagues and to the community."
The April 21 writing request, which Maxwell said was not a formal assignment, came to the attention of administrators when a parent of one of the students filed a complaint with Principal Barton Albright.
Albright expressed regret and apologized for Maxwell's "lapse of judgment."
"He's an exemplary person ... this is very out of character," the principal said.
St. Joseph School District spokesman Steve Huff declined to discuss possible disciplinary measures because the matter is considered a personnel issue. But he said the incident probably isn't serious enough to cost Maxwell his job.
About 25 to 30 students from ninth through 12th grades were in the class, Albright said.
Me thinks that teacher needs help
wtf WAS that teacher thinking.......or I guess he WASN"T Good Lord!!
In this state a student would have been supsended for doing that essay on their own. I think the teacher should have been suspended and placed under the direction of a Master Teacher for the next school year.
I don't know, I took a college English course in high school (since they offer them free through the high school from the community college, then they transfer) and our teacher made us watch a guillotine film and then write out a description of how we would lead wrongful persons to their death with the guillotine by torture, etc... and nothing happened to her... seems similar, but might not be.
"Throw Mama From the Train"
(Billy Crystal, Danny DeVito)
>:( thats horrible..........too many school killings as it is in todays world
That's really sick. Whats this world coming to. ::)
It's important for educators to create a safe and positive learning environment for their students, and this teacher's actions were a violation of that trust.