The teacher is accused of violating school policy and the student’s free-speech rights
A Michigan high-school student is claiming that her teacher “grabbed” her in order to forcibly remove a “Women for Trump” pin that she was wearing — and now the police are reportedly investigating.
“I was just really shocked that a teacher would, especially, would do that,” Sadie Earegood, a 16-year-old junior at Mason High, told Fox47. “He’s talking about the Women for Trump pin and I said, that’s fine, you don’t have to like it, we can have our opinions.”
“He grabbed it and I pulled and I tried to push his hand away and he grabbed my shoulder, just kind of put his hand there, and then he started pulling more and more and I just started backing up,” she continued.
Earegood said that the teacher then placed the pin upside down on his own shirt, claiming that that was how it belonged.
Fox47 reports that the school’s superintendent, Ronald Drzewicki, simply stated that Mason “will take appropriate action” when they “have a complete understanding of the situation” — but that the Earegoods have already filed a police report.
“I made a criminal assault and larceny report against the teacher,” Capi Earegood, Sadie’s mother, told the news source. “He had no right to put his hands on my child over a pin or anything else.”
“The First Amendment gives everyone the right to express their freedom of speech,” she continued. “No one should get that upset about someone wearing a political pin.”
This is, of course, a developing story — we still don’t know for absolute sure whether things happened as Earegood said they did, and what the consequences will be if so. If it does turn out that this is true, though? Well then, I’d have to say that the teacher’s actions wouldn’t just be cruel — they’d also be incredibly ironic.
As less than a mind reader, I can’t know for sure the reason for this teacher’s alleged anger against Earegood’s pin. My logical capabilities, however, lead me to believe that he must have very strongly disagreed with the idea that a female person should be supporting President Donald Trump. Perhaps he has (as I certainly have myself) had some issues with some of the ways that Trump has talked about women; that would at least be my best guess.
Here’s the thing, though: In what universe could he have possibly thought that he was right to treat a girl this way? Even worse, how could he have possibly thought that it was some kind of show of support for women?
Make no mistake: If this teacher did what he’s accused of doing, it does not make him a hero. It makes him an a**hole.
All too often, I will see people on the left slam Trump for the way he treats or talks about other people. Then those same individuals — sometimes even in the same breath — will go on to say even worse things about the people who voted for him. (If this instance with this teacher turns out to be true, what he did is, of course, even worse, because it actually got physical.)
The bottom line is: It is fine to have issues with President Trump; I’ve had them myself. The thing is, though, the best way to argue against the things that you disagree with is never to use abusive tactics. I mean, would this guy really think that what he did to Earegood is going to make her less likely to support Trump? If he did what she alleges, the experience could have quite easily been one of the most humiliating, even terrifying, things that she’s ever gone through. If anything, it’s going to stick in her mind that the person who did this to her was not only on the “other side” politically, but also did what he did simply because he was on the “other side.”
It’s always better to treat those with whom you disagree with compassion — if not for compassion’s sake, then because it makes it much more likely that they’ll actually be willing to listen to what you have to say. At the very least, don’t abuse them the way this teacher is accused of doing. After all, not only is it wrong, but also, all you’re really doing is making them more confident in their existing beliefs — and perhaps even making them feel like a martyr for them.