Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
The science class was in the middle of a lecture on evolution on Wednesday when the student -- whose name was not released -- began talking about jumping out the window to prove his point, according to the police report. The teacher, Yrvan Tassy Jr., bet him $20 that he would hurt himself if he jumped, police said. That's when the boy jumped out the window.
He landed on his feet -- in a patch of dirt and grass -- and returned to the classroom, the police report stated. He asked Tassy for the $20, and Tassy said he'd bring it the next day, students told police. School administrators reported the incident to police on Thursday. Tassy has been assigned to another location where he doesn't have contact with students until the investigation is completed.
Granted, it's Florida, so it isn't as though it has to make sense, but what point either for or against evolution would be bolstered by jumping out of a second story window? I'm not asking rhetorically or derisively; I'm genuinely flummoxed. This is going to keep me awake tonight.
TrackBackThat question will only be answered if the child makes it to breeding age and successfully reproduces. Will the gene for accepting $20 bets to jump out of goddamned windows be selected for or against? Against, I would think.
Famous last words: "Hey! Check this out!"
Posted by: froz gobo at March 3, 2004 05:54 AMDid Tassy produce offspring that lived to reproduce?
My first thought was that the teacher was just trying to make a point-- 'I bet $20 you won't jump out the window.' Maybe there's some point about practical reasoning there. But then I realized that the bet was about whether the student would get hurt if he jumped. Huh.
Maybe it's like this: if creationism were true, we are the product of divine intellect, and hence would not be so goddamned stupid as to jump out of windows or encourage minors to jump out of windows. But let me show you how stupid we really are. I refute your theory thus, for I am a modern-day Johnson. (In many senses, yes.)
Posted by: fontana labs at March 3, 2004 06:15 AMEr, no, it's not Florida. It's Miami. The other 1200 miles of Florida doesn't actually recognize Miami as a legitimate city.
Posted by: john at March 3, 2004 11:14 AMYou know, when I was teaching, I would have gladly parted with $600 to see every last one of my little worm-charges leap from a window.
I prefer to think that the child was a creationist, betting that the Almighty would reach down and catch him because, you know, It loves the tiny babies, and etc., and wouldn't have allowed anything to harm him.
More seriously, I'm curious as to how quickly this happened. Like, was the window open, and the teach said, "I bet you $20 you won't," and junior just springs out of his desk and *foop!* right through the window in a screaming hurtle? Or did he stand on the ledge, inching his way foreward, sweat ever-increasingly beading on his forehead, as teacher and students egged him on, chanting his name? I think the difference is pretty important in whether teach should be allowed to "have contact with students."
Wow, it's a good thing I didn't stick with the Education major when I was in college.
Posted by: Michael at March 3, 2004 08:35 PM