Andrews High student arrested after paper airplane hits teacher in eye

[mrtn]

arresting the young guy is sad and ridiculous. he should get a more effective or better chance to reflect on why he got himself in a situation that's obviously more serious than what was intended.
and as for the teacher, well, if you have two 'unrelated' serious issues with the same eye in a short time.. and if he is blaiming the student he might need a third incident.

Glover added Elliott did not provide a "logical reason" as to why he threw the airplane at McIver.

 

[Aliana]

When I was in school, I did far worse than this. The punishment should fit the crime, and clearly in this instance it does not. Anyone who has thrown a paper airplane knows that once it goes more than a few feet, its direction is pretty much at the mercy of the prevailing wind. Believe me, I've tried to aim one many times and failed.

My punishment for the things I did as a knuckleheaded teenager, things that were much worse than what this poor kid did, was detention or suspension. That is what should have been done here. I cannot fathom how anyone who isn't hysterical would think that being arrested and charged with a criminal act is just punishment for what happened.

Yup! I totally agree! Arresting children for doing things children do is ludicrous and has become too much of a common occurrence. To my mind, anyone who would support something like this is, in fact, supporting a police state.

I agree, detention or suspension along with a conference with the parents would have been a much more appropriate response and what would have occurred before the advent of the school police state. Now this teenager could likely face lifelong consequences when a more reasoned intervention including the parents might have motivated a change in his behavior in a more positive direction. More evidence of the State attempting to take control of children and leave parents out of the equation.

 

[Ant22]

I agree with the majority of comments here that the school's response was way out of proportion. It just seems to be an abuse of power by an institutionalised authority and that is unlikely to teach that boy respect. Fear, maybe, but not respect.

Throwing a paper plane at a teacher was in fact a disrespectful thing to do but getting the student arrested for showing lack of respect which accidentally ended in bodily harm? And like Beau said above, it was an accident because it's not really possible to actually control the trajectory of a paper plane.

What worries me is that this is an educational institution. I like to think that professionals who work for such institutions realise teenage brains are still developing and therefore young people aren't very skilled at predicting the outcomes of their own actions? Schools are there to teach young people that there are boundaries and if need be - punish them appropriately so the students understand there is a relationship between the cause (their action) and effect (the response of the environment).

_https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-still-under-construction/index.shtml

... (t)he parts of the brain involved in emotional responses are fully online, or even more active than in adults, while the parts of the brain involved in keeping emotional, impulsive responses in check are still reaching maturity. Such a changing balance might provide clues to a youthful appetite for novelty, and a tendency to act on impulse—without regard for risk.

_https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201008/why-do-teenagers-feel-immortal

I blame the feelings of immortality of teenagers on the fact that their frontal lobes are not fully working. The reason the frontal lobes are not fully engaged is because they have not yet completed the process of neuronal myelination. Think of myelination as the insulation on the electrical wires inside your house. Without myelination in the brain, electrical signals from neurons fail to reach their destination. The parts of our brains that myelinate last are also the parts that evolved most recently. These parts include our frontal lobes, which contribute most to our unique personalities and allow us to anticipate the consequences of our actions.

If my school was in any way like Andrews High I'd probably still be doing my time in jail for all those things I thought were going to be entertaining but then I got caught. There was no detention or suspension where I went to school - we cleaned the school premises (including toilets) outside school hours. And this definitely worked for I never got caught for the same thing twice

 

[hlat]

For arrest records in general, no one has access to that kind of information except law enforcement and NSA types. Convictions would be a different story, but even a misdemeanor conviction in this case would be eligible to be sealed after the student becomes an adult. So even assuming conviction here, the likehilood is very high that the student would be able to answer no to questions on applications asking if he's ever been convicted. Basically I'm trying to say I don't think there's a lasting consequence of a conviction from a legal or employment view.

If he threw a cup, a knife, a stick, a phone or something else, yes I could definitely understand, but a paper airplane?

It seems I regard what happened more like a poke of a stick in the eye than just a piece of paper or crumpled paper ball. I asked myself what would I think if it was a crumpled paper ball instead of paper airplane, and found myself thinking arrest would not be appropriate. I think it is because when I think of paper airplane, I think of sharp angles and edges and points. In contrast, I don't think sharp when I think of paper ball. So it is troubling that my reaction would change by imagining the paper airplane as paper ball. If I pretend it was a paper ball, then I agree with comments of over reaction and over the top. But when I switch it back to paper airplane, or to something else like paper clip or pencil, I still think arrest is appropriate. If I am overestimating the harm from a paper airplane hitting eyes, then I can see that I am wrong. I will ask the opinion of an eye doctor, because I am influenced by possible eye injury.

I think a reasoned response would be that it was an accident. The student was unlikely to have such expert control over the paper plane that he intended to hit, and succeeded in hitting, the teacher in the eye. That shows no intent to cause harm. A paper plane is not a dangerous weapon. It is not a weapon at all.

This was not an accident. The student was aiming for the teacher's head.

I cannot fathom how anyone who isn't hysterical would think that being arrested and charged with a criminal act is just punishment for what happened.

I don't think I'm hysterical, though I'm willing to look at your definition of it to see if I fit.

To my mind, anyone who would support something like this is, in fact, supporting a police state.

I don't think I support a police state. However, if your definition of police state supporter is someone who supports arresting a 17 year old student for aiming a paper airplane at a teacher's head that hits the eye, then by your definition I am police state supporter.

It's almost like people who feel this way have forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. Children going through adolescence do a lot of things they'll later regret, but remembering what we were like at the age should temper our reactions to their behavior and understand that most of the time it is not a sign of pathology. It's just a child going through the bumpy teenage years, as we all have.

I have not forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. In my high school, no one threw anything at teachers. Maybe I was in a good neighborhood but I don't think that affects the appropriate consequence. I don't give teenagers a pass to physically hurt others. Talking back and defiance is understandable. Physical harm is not.

 

[Ollie]

If he threw a cup, a knife, a stick, a phone or something else, yes I could definitely understand, but a paper airplane?

It seems I regard what happened more like a poke of a stick in the eye than just a piece of paper or crumpled paper ball. I asked myself what would I think if it was a crumpled paper ball instead of paper airplane, and found myself thinking arrest would not be appropriate. I think it is because when I think of paper airplane, I think of sharp angles and edges and points. In contrast, I don't think sharp when I think of paper ball. So it is troubling that my reaction would change by imagining the paper airplane as paper ball. If I pretend it was a paper ball, then I agree with comments of over reaction and over the top.

To my mind a paper airplane is other than sharp, not dissimilar to a crumpled paper ball.

I think a reasoned response would be that it was an accident. The student was unlikely to have such expert control over the paper plane that he intended to hit, and succeeded in hitting, the teacher in the eye. That shows no intent to cause harm. A paper plane is not a dangerous weapon. It is not a weapon at all.

This was not an accident. The student was aiming for the teacher's head.

I agree with Joe, there is very little control over the flight of a paper airplane.

To my mind, anyone who would support something like this is, in fact, supporting a police state.

I don't think I support a police state. However, if your definition of police state supporter is someone who supports arresting a 17 year old student for aiming a paper airplane at a teacher's head that hits the eye, then by your definition I am police state supporter.

This is supporting a Police State in my mind.

It's almost like people who feel this way have forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. Children going through adolescence do a lot of things they'll later regret, but remembering what we were like at the age should temper our reactions to their behavior and understand that most of the time it is not a sign of pathology. It's just a child going through the bumpy teenage years, as we all have.

I have not forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. In my high school, no one threw anything at teachers. Maybe I was in a good neighborhood but I don't think that affects the appropriate consequence. I don't give teenagers a pass to physically hurt others. Talking back and defiance is understandable. Physical harm is not.

In my days at school, the missile was usually projected in the opposite direction - chalk, or wooden chalk eraser - thrown by the teacher!!! This is a 'precious snowflakes' situation by comparison.

 

[Oxajil]

It seems I regard what happened more like a poke of a stick in the eye than just a piece of paper or crumpled paper ball. I asked myself what would I think if it was a crumpled paper ball instead of paper airplane, and found myself thinking arrest would not be appropriate. I think it is because when I think of paper airplane, I think of sharp angles and edges and points. In contrast, I don't think sharp when I think of paper ball. So it is troubling that my reaction would change by imagining the paper airplane as paper ball. If I pretend it was a paper ball, then I agree with comments of over reaction and over the top. But when I switch it back to paper airplane, or to something else like paper clip or pencil, I still think arrest is appropriate. If I am overestimating the harm from a paper airplane hitting eyes, then I can see that I am wrong. I will ask the opinion of an eye doctor, because I am influenced by possible eye injury.

Asking the opinion of an eye doctor sounds like a good idea. I should add that Lilou has professional experience with eye injuries, and she said that "a paper air-plane could only cause a small abrasion that would heal in a couple of days, regardless of recent surgery". Have you ever been hit by a paper airplane, if only on your skin? It's really not that sharp.

This was not an accident. The student was aiming for the teacher's head.

I'm pretty sure he didn't intend it to land in his eye. Maybe just a poke on the head.

I have not forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. In my high school, no one threw anything at teachers. Maybe I was in a good neighborhood but I don't think that affects the appropriate consequence. I don't give teenagers a pass to physically hurt others. Talking back and defiance is understandable. Physical harm is not.

Nobody here would be giving them a pass either. Laura and others mentioned other punishments that would be more fitting: school assignments, cleaning duties, etc.

 

[mrtn]

and not forgetting the obvious: if the teacher was in the wrong country and you use a drone instead of a paper plane, you get a prize!

 

[A Jay]

I have not forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. In my high school, no one threw anything at teachers. Maybe I was in a good neighborhood but I don't think that affects the appropriate consequence. I don't give teenagers a pass to physically hurt others. Talking back and defiance is understandable. Physical harm is not.

Nobody here would be giving them a pass either. Laura and others mentioned other punishments that would be more fitting: school assignments, cleaning duties, etc.

Exactly, no one is giving the teenager a pass here, but arrest and criminal prosecution is not a punishment fitting the situation. I think Laura's idea of having the kid be a gofer in an ER would be much better for the student than locking him up. At least that way he might learn just how truly fragile the human body is. But what will he learn by being locked up? Probably not much.

 

[hlat]

I asked an eye doctor about a paper airplane hitting an eye. Doc said it depends where on the eye it hits. If it is not the central pupil, then the scratch to the cornea or conjunctival usually heals in 3-5 days, so no big deal. If it is the central pupil, then the scars will cause focal blur with a halo or glare effect, so not blindness but permanent impairment.

It seems the answer demonstrates often times a paper airplane to the eye is not serious, and unfortunately if it is to the wrong place on the eye it results in a lifelong consequence. So while talk of the dangers of paper airplanes may still seem absurd, that's the data.

 

[1984]

I don't know about anyone else, but any paper airplane I ever 'flew' never ended up even near where I was pointing it, much less be able to pinpoint someone's eye with it.

The point is: the 'punishment (arrest) didn't fit the crime' in this instance, hlat.

 

[Beau]

I don't know about anyone else, but any paper airplane I ever 'flew' never ended up even near where I was pointing it, much less be able to pinpoint someone's eye with it.

Yeah, try it yourself. Make a paper airplane and see how easy it is to aim and actually hit what you're aiming for.

 

[hlat]

The idea that the student wasn't likely to hit the teacher with the paper airplane reminds me of this Simpsons clip from around 1994.
_https://youtu.be/vfYVDwiz4dc

My viewpoint reminds me of this Simpsons clip from around 2000.
_https://youtu.be/ZVbofyP8mJI

The good news seems to be that hopefully no one ends up with permanent or lifelong consequences, either the teacher or the student. Unlike other tragedies that result in death or permanent loss.

 

[BrendaH]

I remember one of my schoolmates once burned a girl's hair who was sitting in front of him in the middle of an english class, apparently he was playing with a lighter and he approached it to the girl's hair. He said he never thought that her hair was going to set on fire... . The school's principal gave him 20 bans and the limit was of 25, so if he had reached the 25 bans he would had been expelled from school. If this student was arrested because of a paper airplane I don't want to think what they would have done with my schoolmate . I agree with you guys, that type of punishment is over the top.

 

[Oxajil]

I asked an eye doctor about a paper airplane hitting an eye. Doc said it depends where on the eye it hits. If it is not the central pupil, then the scratch to the cornea or conjunctival usually heals in 3-5 days, so no big deal. If it is the central pupil, then the scars will cause focal blur with a halo or glare effect, so not blindness but permanent impairment.

It seems the answer demonstrates often times a paper airplane to the eye is not serious, and unfortunately if it is to the wrong place on the eye it results in a lifelong consequence. So while talk of the dangers of paper airplanes may still seem absurd, that's the data.

Ok, based on what your eye doctor said, the chance that that happens is extremely small.

The good news seems to be that hopefully no one ends up with permanent or lifelong consequences, either the teacher or the student.

Hopefully, and I hope that no student will receive such a severe punishment for throwing a paper airplane that caused harm by accident. There are many other ways to teach a student in such a situation about good behavior that doesn't and shouldn't involve jail.

 

[Beau]

I remember one of my schoolmates once burned a girl's hair who was sitting in front of him in the middle of an english class, apparently he was playing with a lighter and he approached it to the girl's hair. He said he never thought that her hair was going to set on fire...

That's exactly why arrest and jail is such a ridiculous overreaction that shows adults have completely lost the understanding of how adolescent minds work. If adults remember what it was like being a teenager, they will understand that teens often do not understand the consequences of their actions. That's why punishment that is fair yet strict is useful. It teaches them without the punishment causing them any harm in their adult life.