Student snaps grinning selfie as teacher has premature contractions

[Liberal_in_LA]

Poll - if having medical issues, what is your preference



‘Selfie’ of teen with pregnant teacher having contractions becomes viral hit — but was it rude?
Malik Whiter is being slammed for taking a photo of himself with teacher Susana Halleck in the background while she suffered from contractions. The teacher didn’t go into labor, but was in a lot of pain while the teen smiled and posted his photo to Twitter.

A Florida student snapped himself grinning into his cellphone as his teacher went into labor during class.

Malik Whiter smiled into the lens with his pain-stricken prof grimacing directly behind.

“Selfie with my teacher while she having contractions,” the Coral Spring Charter School junior tweeted to his @SpideyNikka account.

The image quickly went viral.

Many slammed Whiter for photo-bombing his seven-month pregnant business lecturer Susana Halleck as she started suffering premature contractions.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/selfie-teen-pregnant-teacher-contractions-viral-hit-rude-article-1.1491429#ixzz2iPLWwMfk

http://www.coloradonewsday.com/national/23358-student-takes-grinning-selfie-as-pregnant-teacher-has-contractions.html

6 votes, 3 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	I prefer support / assistance
	4 (67%)
	I prefer rude, insensitive people take pics of me
	2 (33%)
	3 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[Starry Messenger]

1. I have a lot of feelings about this, and have been thinking about it for a few days.

I'll be interested to see what people here think.

[Skidmore]

2. The young man appears to think someone else's pain is funny.

Why would he not use his phone to get help for his teacher?

[Starry Messenger]

8. I teach this age group and have had a hard time this year.

There's a level of--the teacher is here to entertain me and this is just part of that, look at me!

Half the kids would totally not be like that, but the other half make it tough.

There's a detachment setting in with some kids that is weird. They think they can just snap pictures of anybody on their phone with impunity.

I don't know, I'm an old poop, but my mother would have creamed me to next Tuesday if I'd done this to an adult.

[KentuckyWoman]

23. THAT'S that word

"detachment"

I don't know about this kid in particular but that's exactly the word I was looking for last week discussing a good bit of the teenagers around my part of Kentucky. It does seem about 50/50 here too. An awful of of kids make me grateful they live in my neck of the wood. Some kids are just jackasses - which is part of being a kid for some, but there's that fairly good sized portion of kids that seem just ...... detached from everything. Even to some extent their own "friends". And it's is a weird kind of way than the kind of detachment kids can get in teen years.

I'm not ready to admit I'm an old poop.... but I have more liver spots than I used to.

[Starry Messenger]

24. Hopefully it is a phase they will grow up past. nt.

[bettyellen]

45. a lot of my teacher friends say every year the kids have a slightly different "vibe" and that

some years the whole group is just more empathetic, ambitious, lazy, creative etc, etc. Like there's a new zeitgeist going on with each new class.
Do you find this be be true?

[Starry Messenger]

47. Oh definitely.

The last couple of years the classes were really focused, and I had myself convinced it was my doing. It is more probable we just had an unusually good couple of years.

[bettyellen]

51. a few years ago, when they were talking about how different their new classes were- we checked

how they described the "personality" of the group against their age (and same with previous year) and what their Chinese astrological signs would mostly be.
We were surprised at how closely they aligned. I generally don't believe in such things, but it was an interesting experiment!

[Warpy]

98. Teenaged oafs have always been this way

Nothing is funnier to them than someone else in pain.

Some of them outgrow it. The rest go on to be Republicans.

[GreenStormCloud]

14. Teacher is on her cell phone. Likely she is calling for help.

The guy is still a rude jackass.

[X_Digger]

30. His teacher is on the phone.. what, she's calling for pizza?

There's nothing to 'get help' for.

What should he do, boil water? Tear up bedsheets to make bandages? Pat her hand and say, "There, there."

It's childbirth, not a seizure.

[Hekate]

37. Really. Please leave the room & call for someone else next time another human is in pain & fear.

The woman is half reclining, her face looks in pain, I'm glad she's got her own cell phone because that jerk certainly isn't registering her needs.

Her face also reflects the fear a woman feels when she starts getting intense contractions in her 7th month. It's a sign that something is really wrong.

Patting her hand and saying, "There, there" at least acknowledges her as a fellow human being in need of emotional support. Asking "Is there anything you want?" or "What can I do to help?" would also be extremely useful, as it would give her an opportunity to say, "Get an adult" or even "Call 911."

[X_Digger]

38. It could also be braxton-hicks contractions.

Birth is a natural (painful) process. Running around like a chicken with it's head cut off helps nobody.

I love how folks have made up their own story about what did (or didn't happen) before the picture was taken, based on a one-page article.

Amazing psychometry at work.

[jberryhill]

39. You don't see the hand of the other adult?

You don't call 911 for a contraction. Good golly. She has a cold compress and there is another adult right there.

[Liberal_in_LA]

110. +100

[cui bono]

102. Even if she doesn't need help, you think it's fine that he takes this selfie?

I think it's rude and indicative of how social media has screwed up a large portion of this generation of kids. It's all about making a splash on the internet, no thought to the reality of what's going on, no compassion for fellow human beings, it's all about "me" and being a star on social media.

And when the baby is coming two months early, it's a bit more than just "childbirth".

[X_Digger]

105. The family doesn't share your outrage. n/t

[nolabear]

3. Teenagers can be such idiots.

He's out there, I'll admit, but it never fails to impress me how clueless and self-obsessed perfectly normal teenagers can be from time to time. "Hey, Cool! Teacher's having a kid right there! YOLO!!"

I hope, I HOPE he gets over that!

[sufrommich]

4. The kid just looks excited that his teacher

is in labor to me and he snapped a picture. He says in the article that she's a great teacher,I don't think he meant anything insulting.

[jberryhill]

9. +1

[Igel]

15. It's rude, insensitive, humiliating, and denigrating.

I don't care if the young man *meant* anything wrong.

We hear lots of stories of blatantly, outrageously offensive behavior where some fool says he didn't *mean* anything wrong and very, very seldom does anybody give a rat's ass about his intentions. The very idea of defending somebody like that is enough to bring down a barrage of insults and vituperation upon the unwitting seeker of nuance.

He's cretin. He has years of remedial work to learn how to be an average teen, and then has years ahead of him before he's likely to qualify as an adult. Whatever his biological age.

Defending him lowers the defenders. Not quite to his level, but also shows a rather intense lack of sympathy and empathy.

[jberryhill]

17. You have no idea what the relationship is among these people

What has the teacher said about it?

Having a contraction is not some great crisis. Yes, she's pregnant. Yes, contractions happen, and are painful. She looks like she's got a cold compress going, and is speaking to another adult.

What the hell is so embarrassing about that? It's a perfectly normal slice of life as a human.

[KittyWampus]

25. using another person, IN PAIN, as your personal backdrop and entertainment shows a lack of awareness

[jberryhill]

32. Kid's got a million dollar smile, though, don't he?

Childbirth is a joyous occasion.

[LanternWaste]

58. a winning smile is indeed, much more a priority than actual pain.

I imagine to for too many of the self-absorbed, a winning smile is indeed, much more a priority than actual pain.

[jberryhill]

62. I see, and what should he be doing about that pain?

Administer narcotics?

Or lighten the mood?

A winning smile is indeed a qualification to do one of those two things.

[warrant46]

72. With brains and common sense like this his future is in the prison system as an inmate

[jberryhill]

73. Ah, yes, scary black kid

Good thing her family thought it was funny.

[Warren DeMontague]

97. Yes, clearly, someone who takes an ill timed photo deserves a long prison sentence.

[Liberal_in_LA]

112. i agree w that. he's a handsome young man

[joshcryer]

35. She seems composed to me.

The kid looks super damn excited. It was thoughtless, no doubt, but there's not much he could do and he excitedly snapped the photo. I don't attribute to malice what can most easily be explained by stupidity or ignorance.

[wercal]

103. The kid is a jerk

Some people don't like having their photo taken.

Putting aside the woman's pregnancy, she was just at work doing her job...and a student does a reverse photo bomb and takes her photo? That's just obnoxious. As he put it: “So I got her off guard.”

The young man should not be encouraged. Rather he should be taught to get people's permission, prior to taking a close up photo.

[TeeYiYi]

10. It's possible. I hope you're right. ..nt

TYY

[Niceguy1]

63. and she's on the phone

there isn't much the kid can do anyways.

[Nye Bevan]

5. That is so wrong.

But for some reason I chuckled at the picture. Damn me.

[immoderate]

6. Bad taste is timeless!

I don't condone this, but, there are other people in the room, and I seriously doubt that this clown's participation, in any way, is warranted.


--imm

[JaneyVee]

7. I don't see this as mean, he looks happy/excited. He probably thought

This was the moment. Of course if the teacher objects he should think about respecting her wishes.

[jberryhill]

11. Awesome pic

I'll bet the teacher will treasure that picture for years to come.

The kid is not an OB/GYN and shouldn't be "rendering aid".

Contractions are normal, painful, and part of the unremarkable event of delivering a baby, which happens thousands of times a day in circumstances more dire than this.

[LanternWaste]

59. Hence the rationalizations for his celebratory pose and winning smile.

"Contractions are normal, painful, and part of the unremarkable event of delivering a baby..."

Hence the rationalizations for his celebratory pose and winning smile.

[jberryhill]

60. Some find the process by which humans reproduce to be a joyous occasion

[BlueJazz]

12. It's in the South so it's normal behavior.

Satire

[LeftyMom]

13. Breaking: teenage boy insensitive. News at 11.

[Bonx]

18. Bonus shocker: Also showing off for his friends -nt

[Politicalboi]

16. Had she gone into labor

The class may have been dismissed. Maybe he was hoping this is the time. It's not like he was taking birth pictures in class.

[pipoman]

19. I think it was either a very skilled,

or more likely lucky juxtaposition, making the photo more visually impactful than a straight on shot..interesting what gets people worked into a lather..outrage is a pastime for some..

[ecstatic]

20. still light years ahead of bully Romney

I don't know. Teen boys (and girls) do really stupid things. This isn't as bad as some of the things Laura Bush, GWB and Robme did in their "youth."

[TeamPooka]

21. Oh Florida, you give and give and I never get you anything. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

22. That will probably end up as a meme.

Regardless of how we feel about it.

[jberryhill]

33. That guy should be shopped into all manner of disaster pic

[joshcryer]

36. I found a couple, this is my favorite:

[jberryhill]

40. You gotta love the Internet

[Warren DeMontague]

42. No shit.

That's hysterical.

[Warren DeMontague]

96. Here

[LittleBlue]

26. The outrage du jour: Teen in insensitive tweet shocker

Surely something more important deserves the space this story got.

[Warren DeMontague]

94. I swear, this place sometimes.

[Coyotl]

100. LOL

[LittleBlue]

108. lmao

[smackd]

111. excellent, lol

[MADem]

27. WTF?????

I think "charter school" is the first clue, here.

I also think that there should be a bunch of cubbyholes behind the teacher's desk, with numbers that match numbers on the seats in the class.

As each child enters, they turn off their damn phone and put it in the cubbyhole that matches their seat number. They can pick it up on the way out the door.

[Coyotl]

28. Great photo!

[ZombieHorde]

29. I'm impressed by some people's ability

to read a person's mind just by seeing a picture of them.

[X_Digger]

31. Are you kidding? That should be a sport in the DUlympics 2014. Team and individual.

Not to mention..

Long Jumping to Conclusions,
100 Meter Hasty Generalization,
Pairs Outrage Skating,
Creative Straw Man Torching..

And my favorite,

Relay Stereotyping

[ZombieHorde]

43. Ha! nt

[JNelson6563]

53. lolz

[jberryhill]

41. Although...

...the Thematic Apperception Test is one widely used diagnostic tool.

You might not be able to tell much about the people in the photo, but you do learn a lot about the people commenting on it.

[ZombieHorde]

44. If only I was qualified to determine what the results meant. nt

[HappyMe]

49. Very true.

[Nevernose]

34. A close friend and I had a water-breaking-at-work agreement

We'd been friends for years before she was pregnant and continued to be friends after she was pregnant (which weirded out her boyfriend and my girlfriend, but whatever). We worked at a really tough school for which substitutes were not available, so I agreed to watch her classes for the ret of the day if she went into labor (and actually ended up babysitting her three year old for four days).

She didn't just go into labor one day; her water broke. I took pictures, her students took pictures, secretaries took pictures. Yeah, she was in pain, and I feel a little bad about that, but I also know that she has a scrapbook entirely devoted to pictures people took after her water broke.

I guess what I'm tryi to say is that while everybody has their limits, the really good teachers belong more to the students than they do to anyone else, if that makes sense.

[ScreamingMeemie]

46. Not the same but sort of...

When I was pregnant with my daughter I was in cosmetology school. (I went into labor with her on the day I graduated).
Back in the day (1990), we had big plastic containers of Barbicide (the blue stuff for sanitizing combs) on our stations. Belly watch '90 became a favorite pastime for my fellow students and for our bread-and-butter-bluehair sets on Friday mornings. One Friday morning, a guy 3 chairs down from me dropped his barbicide jug on the floor--I never saw so many little old ladies come running to my aid, curlers and all.

[Ganja Ninja]

48. Looks to me like other people are helping her and she's also on the phone.

Doesn't seem to me that the kid is laughing at her or enjoying her pain. He's just excited that something kind of important and out of the normal is happening and he has a chance to let his friends know.

[Orrex]

50. What has Halleck had to say about this?

I will defer to her assessment of the situation.

Everything else is bluster and speculation.

[eissa]

52. Some of the tweets on this were hilarious

"I be clowning while she be crowning!"

Sorry, but that's hilarious. He took a smiling selfie while his teacher, who he says he genuinely likes, was being assisted. Some of you are making it seem like he kicked her pregnant stomach while she was down.

[HappyMe]

54. That is funny.

I agree with what you said there. Nobody knows what the teacher's relationship with her students is. I'm going to give the kid the benefit of the doubt.

[Niceguy1]

64. that's funny

Lol

[darkangel218]

55. I believe its pretty illegal to snap photos of your instructors

While in class and without their permission, and even worse, post those pics on Twitter/facebook/etc

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he will get expelled.

[jberryhill]

61. Someone is going to have round up all those yearbook candid shots

[darkangel218]

65. This wasnt a candid photo.

And it was posted online without the teachers permission.

How much you wanna bet the student will get expelled?

[jberryhill]

69. I'm going to guess you don't know the definition of "candid"

And how much you wanna bet the student and the teacher have both had a good laugh over it by now.

[jberryhill]

109. Here you go....

can·did
ˈkandid/
adjective

1.
truthful and straightforward; frank.
"his responses were remarkably candid"

2.
(of a photograph of a person) taken informally, esp. without the subject's knowledge.

[bravenak]

56. He seems really happy to be at school. Excited that she's having a baby.

And she seems to be getting help from someone whose body is cut out of the pic.
I looked like her the whole time I was pregnant, hot, tired, and sore. Had contractions for months. If somebody called 911 every time I had contractions, I'd have never left the hospital from my sixth month on.
He isn't doing anything wrong.
Seems like a kid that wants to be a part of something.
When I was in high school a teacher had to make an announcement over the intercom for us to stop stopping her in the hall to rub her stomach. We could come get a baby feel at lunch if we just had to rub her belly. Poor lady.

[bunnies]

57. "he wanted to capture the memorable moment both “for himself and for her.”

Doesnt sound ill-intended whatsoever. Give the kid a break.

[darkangel218]

66. Bullshit.

[bunnies]

67. Youre calling the kid a liar?

Based on what?

[darkangel218]

68. Based on what do you know what he was thinking or if thats what he meant when taking that photo?

[bunnies]

70. Im going by the quote in the article. His words.

What are you going by?

[darkangel218]

74. By the fact that he is smiling ear to ear when his teacher was in pain/distress.

Did you miss the part where it says she had premture contractions?? She wasn't giving birth, she was was having premature contractions , which could mean a myriad of things! Including losing her child!
To be so insensitive and not only smile and take pics , but post them on the internet is extremely disturbing. This young man did not have one ounce of sympathy or regard for his teacher in that moment.

[jberryhill]

79. Which are common

[bunnies]

83. The teacher doesnt share your outrage, apparently.

Maybe you should let her have it.

[darkangel218]

85. Lol. Get back to me after he will be expelled.

[bunnies]

89. Tweet went out October 15th and no talk of punishment at all.

How long, exactly, should I hold my breath?

[darkangel218]

93. Its not over yet. nt

[jberryhill]

75. Her own family re-tweeted it

We just have outrage junkies here.

[bunnies]

80. I was just reading that.

And that the teacher took it in good spirits. Exactly as *some* of us expected. The outrage is outrageous.

[jberryhill]

82. That's the problem with being late to an outrage party

[bunnies]

84. lol. Indeed. nt

[jberryhill]

71. Maybe her husband's sister re-tweeting it, perhaps

Halleck has taken the photo in good spirits, with her sister-in-law tweeting at Whiter- "everyone is going crazy over it!"

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/ThreeTrending/blog/student-selfie-with-teacher-in-labour-retweeted-over-40000-times-29677275.html

[darkangel218]

77. Yah, lets see how the teacher herself or the school feels about it.

[jberryhill]

78. Good thing you can be upset, when her own family isn't

[darkangel218]

81. You dont know they're not.

Just based on one single tweet coming from a family member you can't possibly say how the whole family feels about this , or how hurt and embarrassed the teacher is/or isn't.

Like i saId, he most likely will get expelled.

[jberryhill]

88. Hurt or embarrassed by what?

This is not some exotic condition she has. One admirable thing about teachers is that, yes, they do have to live a part of their lives and do their job with an audience all day long. Ms. Halleck goes an extra mile by volunteering as the school's DECA sponsor, which is an organization that fosters entrepreneuralism in students. She is a whole lot more likely to include this entire episode as a study in viral media publicity than be upset that, yes, she is pregnant, had a contraction, and one of her students had asked her to smile.

[bunnies]

87. I guess her family must be lying too.

[Initech]

76. I hate to stereotype but this guy looks like he smoked about two pounds of pot before taking that.

[theHandpuppet]

86. Jackass in training

Until he reaches 18, at which point he'll graduate to first class jackass.

[darkangel218]

92. +1

[Prism]

90. I have a photo like this on my phone.

Long story short, a friend got severe alcohol poisoning at a bar after guys kept giving her free drinks. Her friend went with her in the ambulance and apparently thought it was selfie time.

When I got to the hospital, the other friend showed me her duck face selfies with her unconscious friend on the stretcher in the background.

On the one hand, it's kind of awful. On the other, some twisted part of me finds it hilarious.

[ScreamingMeemie]

99. I admit that it makes me smile each time I see it.

It all depends upon what the teacher feels about it. We're all outsiders butting in.

[Prism]

106. My friend was both embarrassed and amused

Who knows, in hindsight, assuming all is well, the teacher might find the pic entertaining.

[Warren DeMontague]

91. I think it was pretty much an accident of fate that the picture turned out that way.

I doubt he looked and went "oh, she's behind me with her hand on her head looking unhappy, this will be really funny if I take this now"

But it's nice that people have found yet another subject for another goofy 15 minutes' hate. Hobbies are important.

[Left2Tackle]

95. Maybe he was the proud dad giving his friends and family a heads up?

Doesn't look like he was paying much attention in class, with the headphones on and all. (my bad if that's a hearing-aid)
Teachers sometimes have to go to great lengths to get students to pay attention in class.

[stevenleser]

101. This is why humans under 18 don't have full agency. Their thinking is often flawed, as it was here.

This was a bad and thoughtless decision. The good news is, no one got hurt.

I hope he learns something from it.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

104. So 18 us the magic age?

Thanks Freud.


I remember my 18th birthday, when I woke up the haze was gone and I haven't had a "flawed" though since.

[stevenleser]

107. Oh FFS that's the best you can come up with to attack me?

Obviously it matters to you enough to want to pick a fight with me over next to nothing. I'm sure you can come up with something better than this.