Brickbat: Bullet to the Head

Kopitinphoto / Dreamstime

In Georgia, Rockdale County Public Schools has fired physics teacher Paul Hagan after he was caught on video apparently threatening a student in class. "If you screw with me, you're going to be in big ass trouble," he says in the video. "Don't smile at me, man. That's how people like you get shot. I got a bet by the time you're 21 somebody's gonna put a bullet right through your head. Okay? And it might be me the one who does it."

Comments

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

Could've been worse- he could've been teaching English classes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I think it's a terroristic threat on my son's life that I definitely don't take lightly," Carr told Channel 2 Action News.

Looks like the school found its new drama teacher.

[ALWAYS RIGHT]

The teacher's next job will be a cop.

[Old Mexican's Speedos]

Perhaps a cop whose body camera turns off at the exact right moment he doesn't want it on...

[Rhywun]

He must have a lousy union. In NYC you get to sit in a room doing nothing for full pay after something like this.

[chemjeff]

Okay, that's a bit over the top.

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

*off of the top

[Bra Ket]

how are we supposed to evaluate without knowing what the kid was doing?

[chemjeff]

I don't know, a teacher threatening to put a bullet in a student is at the very minimum highly unprofessional, if not an actionable threat.

[ALWAYS RIGHT]

It was a longtime ago when teachers were expected to be professional. That was a time when teachers majored in history, english, chemistry- and not education.

[Bra Ket]

I see. Next question: how can we make sarcastic comments when everyone's an insufferable know-it-all?

[Jerryskids]

I'm assuming the brickbat is for the school district firing a teacher merely for trying to instill some discipline in his classroom. When mommy comes running whining about somebody talking shit to her precious little angel and they fire his ass instead of bitch-slapping mommy for raising a spoiled brat, there's no need to wonder where these entitled snowflake college students come from.

As an aside - advising somebody that acting like a jackass is liable to get them a bullet in the head isn't exactly a threat in my book, I think you'd have a hard time proving in court that that's a threat.

[Old Mexican's Speedos]

Indeed there's nothing legally wrong but he wasn't indicted. He was merely fired for having a big mouth.

[Rhywun]

"And it might be me the one who does it."

Sounds like a threat to me.

[Think It Through]

I'm with you jerry. No problem with a little classroom discipline on "our time."

[KobolCoffeeLord]

I could be persuaded that talk of shooting someone in the head can teach physics. It seems an inefficient means of teaching civility.

[Finrod]

Many years ago at my small college, there used to be a demonstration in physics class where the instructor would suspend a block of wood from a pole where it could swing, then fire a bullet into the block of wood which of course would move. They stopped that after a bullet got loose one day and took a notch out of the door jamb-- the notch is still there to this day.

[Conchfritters]

They need to legalize the sticky icky in Georgia so that dude can smoke some AK-47 and chill the fuck out.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Fo schizzle?

[Conchfritters]

I know, right?!

[Jgalt1975]

I look forward to a film adaptation of this. Suggested title: Mass Times Acceleration Equals Force, and a Bullet in the Head