Posted by Joe Baker on August 15, 2001 at 14:49:16:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Teacher wont let me use my new CC horn!! posted by Klaus on August 15, 2001 at 11:56:43:
Klaus,
You were a band director. Did you ever let any student dictate the terms of their membership in the band to you? If you had allowed one student to do so, how would the other students have responded? The question we are discussing isn't whether the director is right or wrong. NO ONE HERE has said that the band director was right; the only question is HOW he should be approached in order to bring about the desired result: for James to play his own tuba AND still have a good relationship with "the boss".
You referred in another post to directors who would cut off their noses to spite their faces. If James and his parents were to charge in demanding the director's job, he would probably be doing just that. Maybe this is good, maybe it's bad, but teachers are not easily fired in the USA. If the director IS a real jerk (an assumption to which I will not leap) he may well lie to the principal and deny that he disallowed the 186. Or he might just offer his assurance to the principal that he has fully considered the issue, and his decision is the right one. I guarantee you, the principal will side with the director. Then, the director is still there, and even if James gets to play his Miraphone, the director has great power to do harm to James, then likely permanent 4th chair tubist.
That is why so many of us are urging a cautious approach. The director must be allowed to keep his dignity in the face of many teenagers, whose nature has them constantly on the verge of mutiny. Take away his dignity, and there won't be a band, just a gang.
Joe Baker, who doesn't understand adults urging teenagers to treat teachers with contempt.