Talk:Only Wayne
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* First timer here, please edit if I put this in the wrong place.
Having lived and worked in Champaign Il. all my life, I am shocked to hear of this incident (for several reasons), and even more shocked to find this particular incident to be of such interest to so many people that a wiki page is necessary.
First, as has been noted, the University of Illinois attracts a great many absolutely brilliant students and faculty from every country on the planet, many of whom go on to national acclaim. You also need to know that the permanent population of Champaign-Urbana is approximately 100,000, and the student population adds another 45,000. My point is that percentage-wise, this is a EXTREMELY WELL educated, LIBERAL college town. Even the most uneducated, out-of-touch townie is quite used to interacting comfortably with wildly diverse people MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY.
Every school, practically every classroom has (at least) several students of non-white background. Kids learn early here that diversity is a way of life, it's NORMAL. That diversity is also present at the swimming pools, grocery stores, malls, parks, hospitals, city government and services. That diversity is also in the memberships of volunteer associations, civic clubs, and strangly enough, (*gasp*) even private parties. This town doesn't even have what you'd call racially segregated neighborhoods! Walk down any residental street and you'll be sure to say hi to someone whose background is different from yours. Diversity is the norm rather than the exception.'
My second point is about Kathy Alexis. I'm not her friend, her relative, her anything. I have nothing to gain by saying the following. I've known her a few years through a volunteer group we both work for. The first thing I noticed about her was her high standards, what I would describe as a classy lady. Compassionate, but not a pushover. My impression of Kathy is that she's smart, energetic, very aware of socioltal and familial issues impacting her student's ability to learn and adeptly utilized good psychololgical techniques in order to help her students learn more, faster.
One thing about Kathy, though. She will not suffer fools lightly. If you whine to her about almost anything, she will tell you ever so politely to suck it up and then go on to discuss workable solutions for you. If you'd rather continue to whine instead of fixing the problem, she WILL lose patience.
So! When I read about this oh-so-horrible scandal, the first thing I think is that "yeah, that kid was probably picked on, not because he was a native indian but far more likely was that he was OBNOXIOUS IN GENERAL to everyone around him. The indian aspect was just the easiest tool to be used by the other kids as a means of torment, since it was so obvious the indian identity was important to him.
The second thing I think about Kathy (and if she reads this and is offended, please forgive me. Again it's just my opinion.) I bet Kathy saw the situation for what it was, a bratty kid with issues being picked on because he's a jerk and Kathy telling him (in age appropriate professional way) to re-evaluate how he interacts with his classmates, paying particular attention to how he either exerbates or defuses the situation.
Is everything always exclusively your fault everytime we have a bad social interaction? What can I do differently next time to change the outcome?
That brat needed a good spanking, not a lawyer.
Karen L.
