By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON   September 10, 2012   The team was supposedly shut down because they couldn’t  field a full squad – but that wasn’t the way the Bateman Wilds saw things so they took to the streets with an early Monday morning sidewalk protest in front of the school.
Bateman High’s Phys-Ed staff didn’t think the school could field a full squad and took steps to cancel the fall program. Football players took to the streets in protest
Chris Bishop – certainly a football player given his size, was the spokesperson for the group and the person who sang the team cheer the loudest.
There are teachers at Bateman High that would like to see this much effort IN the classroom. The football players take their message to the streets.
If a football squad needs 30 people,  there were more than 30 enthusiastic students out there this morning. `We`re here for the day” explained Bishop, as he headed back to the fellow football players on the side walk exhorting every car that passed to honk their horns in support.
Bishop added that “if you put enough pressure on something there will be a change” and he fully expects the staff at the high school to rescind the decision.
Bishop thinks the school didn’t give the football players the time they needed to pull their team together and feels they acted a little too early in shutting them down.
Not everyone at Bateman High focuses on football. This crowd, steps away from the protest, chats away before time to get into a classroom approaches. Different folks – different strokes.
Bateman High, located on New street east of Appleby Line is your typical large school where cars stream into the driveway to let students out and buses slip in and out efficiently.
Many of the students knew nothing about the football protest. Like any other suburban high school there are different groups; the “fashion plates” are easy to identify; the geeks not so easy but they are there. The women on the field hockey team with their sticks in hand as well as the “couple” that have something going.
The chatter between the different groups is loud at times, but not unduly so. They carry a lot of books in those bags on their shoulders.
They stream off the bus that stops in in front of the school and all seem to arrive in large bunches.
Female student casually dropped the donut wrapper on the ground and puffed away on her cigarette while enjoying her coffee. The wrapper, shown on the right, blew away into the street. Not the best or the brightest at Bateman High.
There are the “cool” ones; the slightly older crowd who, the morning I was there certainly weren’t anything to be proud of. The smoking was bad enough – don’t they read? – but the blatant littering – one swishy female student just dropped the donut wrapper on the ground, while another cool dude with the crowd kept spitting on the sidewalk. They certainly weren’t representative of the crowd; this lot did little for the schools reputation.
Bateman High staff look on as student protesters wave their signs and tell their side of the story. Can staff and students work this out? Will the Bateman Wild be on the field this season? Stay tuned
The football players planned on being on the street for the day. At some point they will meet with the principal and the Phys-Ed people and work out a solution. Someone in the Phys-Ed department is wishing the students had shown this level of enthusiasm earlier in the football season.  First practice is a couple of days away. Will the “Wild” be on the field? In strength?
Could this kind of enthusiasm take them to the finals?
I’ve went to Bateman for the last 4 years, everyone there will accept you for who you are. So what if the students are on their smoke break, they are not part of the football team. Plus taking a picture of the students who were smoking was illegal and the paparazzi are always trying to find a negative situation in their shoots. in the last 13 years of my education, Robert Bateman High School is the best by far.
I’m going to school to become a Journalist. The pictures are legal. What isn’t appreciated is that you’ve put down Bateman. You’ve made fun of the different groups and made Bateman look horrible. Yes, I’m sure you could’ve gone to many other schools and would’ve had the same story…but you could’ve just talked about the petition, you didn’t need to wrap it up with putting down Bateman’s reputation. The story was crap…You didn’t need to end it with that…
I had a very insightful response to this comment but Pepper Parr deleted it because he is unable to handle the truth. This is clear hypocrisy as he claims his freedom to photograph female minors for his pleasure, and then to personally insult them. Yet he is not able to allow other individuals to voice their opinion if he doesn’t like it. What a sad old man, someone should call Chris Hansen on him.
If “Pepper” is unable to handle the truth. Why did “Pepper” become a journalist…? You need to have tough skin to be a journalist. It’s ridiculous that this turned from a great story to such crap. As I read the story, it started unraveling a story that didn’t make any sense. He could’ve left it out, but since he didn’t, everyone is getting involved.
It seems like a sad attempt to bring attention to this irrelevant website. It may seem that it worked, but it won’t be long before it is forgotten again. There’s a reason he’s writing for an insignificant website like this and not the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal.
I took the time to compose this letter, sent it off only to be told I should post it here where everyone can read it.
Dear Pepper,
My name is Emily and I recently read your articles pertaining to the football team and protests at my high school. I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read my various concerns that will be thoroughly discussed in the e-mail below. Firstly, I appreciated that you kept true to your word and came to our protest after Chris Bishop sent you a letter asking for your support. I do not however, appreciate your malign article that was off topic, did not properly represent the student body and shone a negative light on our wonderful school. If I recall the letter Chris sent you, he was asking for your support, help to get the story out to Burlington and get his desired results:Â “Tomorrow, we will be protesting out front of our school. Signs, People, anything we can get our hands on to bring attention. We hope that you will be able to join us because all we want is for people to know that we want a football team.”
In your article, you opened with a comment on his physical size. Then under the first photograph posted, you comment on how the teachers wish this passion was shown in the classroom. I am interested to find out if you asked any teachers for their opinions on the event or if that is your own. Shortly after this, you waste a couple paragraphs on the smokers out front alongside with the various classes you seem to think exist within the boundaries of our school. Bateman has a very diverse population with people from all different sides of life. For your information, a large amount of our students are supported by the welfare system also. It is very easy to judge someone based on their appearance but it takes a real journalist to see beyond physical attributes and stay focused on what they originally set out to be writing about. I noticed one of the editor comments posted in your defense stated your clear disgust with the behavior of the smokers out front and that is beyond understandable. Many people at Bateman (especially members of our various environmental clubs) are disgusted by the smoker’s disrespect for school property and the surrounding environment as you are. With that being said, if you wish to talk about your disapproval surrounding their behavior, write an article separate to the football protest. I also strongly encourage you travel to other schools in Burlington to see the full picture as opposed to simply putting my school in a bad light. Do not waste time complaining about teenage behavior on an article titled: “Bateman Wilds football team take to the streets to protest the decision to shut down the team.” From what I understand you have been writing for quite some time, so I assume you understand that the headline of your article should have something to do with the content.
For my penultimate point, I would like to address the photographs you took of the different students and teachers attending school that morning. From what I understand about the privacy/photography laws in Canada and specifically the GTA, you are not allowed to publish photos of clearly recognizable people without written consent due to the possibilities of being in child protective services, youth offender act etc. I can clearly see quite a few people I recognize in the “smoker’s pit” who attained outstanding grades and honor roll last year. I read your argument that it was on public property therefore you are allowed to take pictures of whomever you care to. I did see in some pictures you had taken them of teachers on school (private) property and had to step onto school property to take photos of the students. Regardless of the consent you did not obtain, or your location you are not allowed to publish photos of people where you can be making money. I did read your “news” site is “not for profit” but that doesn’t mean free.
Finally, I would like to ask for an apology on behalf of Our Burlington to Robert Bateman High School. I do not know if you think you are cheeky or humorous writing rude and off topic articles but I implore you to switch to blogs, stand up comedy or even check out fox news.
Thanks again for your time,
Emily.
The problem is you’re focusing on the things in life that don’t really matter. When I was a kid I had hopes and dreams. We all did. But over time, the daily grind gets in the way and you miss the things that really matter, even though they are right in front of you, staring you in the face. I think the next time you should ask yourself “Am I on the right track here?”. I don’t mean to be rude but people like you I really pity. So maybe you could use the few brain cells you have and take advantage of the knowledge I have given you now. Good luck.
You disgust me. Why beat on a girl who cares about her school? People like you are the ones that need pity. People like you and pepper. Get real buddy
Quite frankly this article is a disgrace. Crappy journalism. Whoever is responsible for writing this garbage should be ashamed.
This literally left me speechless. As a recent graduate of Robert Bateman I started reading this article expecting to hear about the valiant protest efforts made by students that not only do I consider friends, but have a passion, and wish to work for a more desirable outcome for the Wild football team. Little did I realize that this was absolute trash. First off how dare you make the comment “Chris Bishop – certainly a football player given his size”, a stereotype on it’s own, and then follow it with a completely shit article stereotyping the rest of Bateman’s student body.
Congratulations on writing this, you are truly an idiot.
& Congratulations to Chris and the rest of you boys, you should be proud of the effort you made and I wish you the best of luck in the outcome of all of this.
I just like the fact that this article is shiiiiiiiitttt! Like ignoring the fact that its dissing bateman, the editor needs to find a new job. Clearly this is not the right choice for her. She can barely spell, and her grammar is horrible (for an editor). Go bake a cupcake or something. lololol. bye.
As a proud Bateman student belonging to the “older crowd” I was deeply dissatisfied with the snide comments directed at my beloved school. For almost 4 years now I have been flipped the bird, followed through grocery stores, had my backpack searched and treated unfairly because I’m a teenager. “Journalism” (a term I use loosely here) like the poorly written article above is one of the contributing factors for my improper treatment. The problem here is that many adults refuse to remember how they behaved when they were a teenager and look down upon us. Have a look at great leaders such as the late Jack Layton: “To young Canadians […] I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today.” We need more people like that in a position of authority and in journalism.
Coming back to your article, I would specifically like to point out your reporting on an irrelevant topic such as the smokers out front. All Bateman students are aware of our “smoker’s pit” and we have picked up a poor reputation due to the location of it. Every school has one, others not so blatant as ours and as previously mentioned by other outraged readers, it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of our school or even the reason you showed up to our school. (The football protest, remember?) If you wish to continue “reporting” in the fashion that you have above, I suggest checking out blogspot.com, a fantastic site to share OPINIONS about various happenings in your area with the world.
Our school, every student and teacher in it deserves a proper apology and if you refuse to give us that, be warned we will go to higher powers to receive justice.
I can confirm, I was backback.
You obviously need an editor if you’re going to continue your tragic attempts at journalism.
From “Female student casually dropped the donut wrapper on the ground, […]certainly weren’t representative of the crowd; this lot did little for the schools reputation.” was not only irrelevant and pointless to your entire story, but straight out rude. Don’t take them wrong – they are, as you stated the ‘older group’ and are fully able to read – they are also old enough to make their own decisions, such as smoke. Just because it’s not the lifestyle you approve of doesn’t give you the right to write about it in an online newspaper. As for you being a creep and standing across the street from a high school taking pictures of the students…charges can and probably will be put against you.
With that said, you’re a pathetic excuse for a journalist…try a blog instead.
You must think you’re better than a lot of people to post something as stupid and ignorant as this.. You throw stereotypes about teenager at Bateman in your article that you don’t know the first thing about. You are what defines the stereotypes about media being poor do to stupid bias of even stupider journalists such as yourself. The people who aren’t the “best or the brightest” will have more successful futures then you can imagine, clearly you’re troubled to write something as foul and low about a topic you are clearly uneducated about.
Are you aware that there are people in this world that have a severe medical condition which causes them to be that way? My mother for instance is one of those people. She is a truck driver that has bad knees and a bad back from driving the truck but you probably do not care about that case either. Oh well I am not one of those people I am 6’4″ 245lbs and I exercise every day. I would love to see you say something like to my mother in front of me. Probably never happen though you are probably just an internet tough guy. I doubt very seriously you would say that to someones face. Just my thought.What do you think. Oh I am sorry you probably do not have a brain. I on the other hand will be happy to buy you a plane ticket to come here and see if you have the nerve to say that to someone I know.
What are you talking about? How much do you bench?
‘Bout tree fiddy.
terrible article Lol!
Robert bateman h.s is a great school! you sholdnt be disrespecting it in anyway! you came to take photos of the protest not the “geeks” and people “littering” smh!! This is a terribly written article that says little to nothing about what the title is about. btw i caught a couple spelling mistakes you have made in your what so called “article”. #LESGOOOOO WILD
But who was grammar?
lol u kill me. i called the cops on u btw.. bye
HAHA THIS IS JOKES!! BATEMANS A DUMP!!! I USED TO GO THERE AND ITS A TRASH HOLE!!!
It a big sin to lie, and in this article, its a huge lie, i have met alot of good people here, no one perfect but you disrespect bateman then gtfo out of burlington before i come after you and sue you
I am a student at Nelson and everyone says that Nelson is the best school, but in my opinion I think Bateman is a much better school and no one should be criticizing it. As well journalism should have facts, but from reading it, it sounds more like a whole bunch of opinions about a school you don’t know much about. Do your research and stop stereotyping teenagers.
Maybe it was with “good intentions” and offense was “not intended”, but you still need to apologize for insulting not only the school, but the students as well.
Also, was this not an article about the peaceful protest in order to keep our school’s football team? It had 4-5 paragraphs max about the actual protest itself. The way I see it, the protest was only an excuse to trash the school. A little background about the school wouldn’t hurt, but the article was just about the smokers and the “cliques”, which was also far fetched.
How long as it been since you actually entered a high school and observed the students with clear, open minded eyes? “Cliques” don’t exactly exist anymore. They’re used in cheesy disney movies and kid shows. It may be a little hard to believe, but most teenagers are capable of hanging out and getting a long with people outside their group of friends. Most teenagers are capable of looking past differences and stereotypes. I’m not exactly a fan of smoking myself, but I will not say that they are “not anything to be proud of”. Whether they really are anything to be proud of, you wouldn’t know.
The “slightly ‘cool’ ones”? No, the students most likely do not think littering is cool, and what makes you think the student who dropped it thinks she is cool? She may just not care, but it’s something only she’ll know. What I know is that you can’t just take a picture of it and practically insult her by sarcastically calling her cool. If you really care that much, you’re very welcome to go back to her and tell her to pick it up, or pick it up yourself. Perhaps instead of complaining in your article, you should just have told her in that moment.
Another thing, it is NOT legal to take pictures of people without asking even if it is on public propert, especially if they don’t want pictures taken of them. Maybe you asked if you could take pictures of the protest, but from the rest of the comments, you did not ask the rest of the students.
Being a bit biased is obviously more than okay, but judging students from afar and putting them down isn’t.
“They carry a lot of books in those bags on their shoulders”
lol.
this is embarrassing. Seriously not impressed with this articles lack of a message, and “jesus’s” one dimensional argument. I hope you are proud of your ability to turn, what had the potential to be a great article detailing the upside of perseverance and what it means to be dedicated, into a piece of junk article that could have been written by a three year old. the entire article is based on visual you quoted one student. I hope u aren’t being payed to write these “factless stories”
Hey pepper, it’s the cool kid that was spitting, do you want me to just swallow the shit from my chew? No.. Everyone spits, its no big deal, take this off and get a real job, noone realy reads this stuff anyways… PEAACE
Geek or cool, Prep or skid none of this matters when you go out of your way to cut up our school and say the students have “sloppy civic behaviour”. Those students have nothing to do with the football protest if your story was that short you should have filled in the rest with something else.
I am a student at Robert Bateman, and am thoroughly disgusted by the content of this article. Our school football team had a passion for a sport they loved, and organized a peaceful protest in order to gain their sports team back- however, this article barely skims this topic and instead focuses on social stereotypes. The “cool kids” “geeks” “smokers”, etc..? We are students, and fitting us into these stereotypes is teaching us that it’s okay to judge others based on appearance. which it is not. You even made a comment on a student’s body type! Not very professional.
I would also like to point out that there was no consent from the students who were smoking to have their pictures taken. Many of the students who you pointed out were simply enjoying a smoke in between classes- I’m sorry, but how many high school students smoke? Many do. And that still does not make it wrong of them to have a cigarette. We don’t criticize construction workers taking a break from the job to have a quick puff, so why is it different for these students?
The fact that you focused so much on the negatives on Bateman really saddens me because we are a great school that does a lot to be an active part of the community. Our school held a Relay For Life run, and raised hundreds of dollars for cancer research this year. I’d say that’s a pretty amazing accomplishment and proves we are not just a school with a bad reputation.
This article is very unfair and does not shed an accurate light on Bateman.
Can we talk, Can we talk for a minute!
I am a student at RBHS, you are making it seem like it is a bad school. Bateman is no worse than MM or Nelson. We’re gonna talk about this! This article is to be thrown it the trash. You must be one crappy editor, you need to get your facts straight. The Bateman students will pull through this, it is just a inconvenient stepping stone.
This article, reading it from my POV looks like Madonna wrote it. get your facts str8, then we’ll talk!
I would write a report like this too if my mom was a whore.
I’m still a hater of pepper but that is too far
As a RBHS graduate, ex RBHS football player, and current University Student, I can undoubtedly say your writing and journalism is completely unprofessional, and a disgrace to the city you claim to represent. Robert Bateman High School is by far the most accommodating school in the city in terms of the “types” of students it educates. Not only does Bateman provide education to those students who you claim to be “nothing to be proud of” or “geeks”, it also provides the highest level of Education in the city through the IB program. So instead of producing a productive piece of news regarding the removal of a football program that has been around this city for over 40 years, you used this online media to send your own slanderous message to the citizens of Burlington about what you think you know about the students at Robert Bateman. To be quite frank, you are a fool if you think people do not already know about the quality of students Robert Bateman educates. Everyone accepts that the students of Bateman and Burlington for that matter are the way they are. And that its people like you who do nothing to help but state the obvious for your own personal joy.
And to smack talk an anonymous contributor on your pathetic article regarding their level of education is abysmal. Especially since you are writing this article as a “professional”, while it is apparent that it is you who needs to brush up on some English classes because the message your sending and the quality of your work is pathetic.
This is absolutely ridiculous why did we go from talking about Bateman’s football team to all of the students and their habits? This is an extremely bias article. It’s really a shame this person on their one day visit (which is hardly enough time to judge one person, let alone an entire body of students) to Bateman, didn’t take the time needed to get to know all parts of the school. I think this person uses their eyes too much to judge people and doesn’t actually have the decency, respect, and certainly did not spend enough time to perceive the school for how it is. Bateman is great school with a spectrum of staff and students who deserve respect. Just because you can’t see the smokers pit at other schools doesnt mean it they’re not there.
Wow! I really hope this isn’t your day job. Most of the terrible aspects of this pseudo-journalistic pile of steaming sh*t have already been outlined, but I think it’s necessary to reiterate how poor of a job you have done.
Photos taken from a far without consent or common courtesy? Check.
‘Article’ about high school without interviewing a decent sample of students? Check.
Completely irrelevant banter about ‘those damn kids and their spitting and their cigarettes’ Check.
Poorly designed blog website attempting to look like actual news source? Check.
It seriously looks like you didn’t even step out of your car while researching for this. The ignorance and spitefulness spewing from this page/website is unnecessary, out of place, and slightly nauseating. For accuracy reasons you should re-title this piece as ‘Lousy teenagers protest for football team as an excuse to get out of class’
Even though there are different groups at bateman non of that matters when something like this offends us students. We will always stand up for what we believe in witch is one of the reasons Robert Bateman is one of the gratest high schools in burlington
Even though things are mispelled , I’m pretty sure everyone understands your point.
If you are doing an article on the football team’s protest, you should of stopped at doing it on that. You might say that you weren’t trying to bash anyone, but you obviously did. You didn’t have to take a random picture of them. Bateman is a great school. So what made you have the right to take a picture and start saying this crap about us..
The fact that you judge the students at Bateman because of few people’s actions clearly shows a lack of intelligence on your part.
Dear Pepper Pal,
I believe that you began your article with the best journalistic intentions, but sadly you lost your way and meandered into territory that was best left for another time (that time being never).
The focus of the article should have been on the political activism that was spearheaded by Chris Bishop. I would have liked to read about some other students’ points of view. Was the football team supported by the student body? If not, why not? Were there any teaching staff that might have made comment on the “protest” that was taking place outside their place of work? Did Chris Bishop use social media at all to inform his fellow students of the action that was planned?
Personally, while I agree that some of the behaviour you witnessed was perhaps distasteful(honestly, did we not spend millions on an anti-littering campaign?), your depiction of these young people in such stereotypical terms was trite at best. Also, am I really that old that I cannot imagine what a “swishy” girl is? Sorry, is that slang, yo?
The rest of the story gets back on track and there you have it!
A lovely and capturing ending!
Sorry, but you missed the point. Better writing ahead, Pepper Par!
This is a horrible article it starts out so good showing robert batemans sincere and passionate students. Then the whole artivle veers off track and is putting down students who work hard for there grades. I am a former student and i took a oyao program at bateman and i honestky could never see myself going to anyother highscool if i was to go back and have to choose again i would always choose robert bateman high. I also played for the football team and the baseball team for Rbhs and i met so many wonderfull people i was a student there for all of highscool my friends gave me a nickname in grade 9 and it stuck through all of highschool.i hust believe it is atrocius how the burlington post slandered the name of good students who work hard in school i beleive something needs to be done about this it is unbeleivable how the burlington post has singled out this student she deserves to be recgonised for working hard in school not smoking or spitting but naking goals and achieving them.
Sincerly: Preppy
Editors note: The piece was not published in the Post. It was published in Our Burlington; a newspaper on a web site.
This is a terribly written article that says little to nothing about what the title is about. Furthermore, the fact that the “Editor” of this article chooses to use pointed remarks in defence of his/her poor performance in the comments section is very telling of the lack of professionalism that is more than apparent here. Though I’m not entirely sure who Pepper Parr is, this article gave me the impression that she may be a high school student herself and has been given the task of reporting on the situation at Robert Bateman to gain experience as some sort of journalist. If I am wrong about this claim, and if you do choose to defend yourself against this claim, then I would imagine that would be far more embarrassing for you as I’m sure that most people who have a good critical eye would get a similar impression from reading your article. I am not familiar with this website, as there are far better outlets that can be used to receive the municipal news. I just hope that anybody who might be offended by what was written in this article and the effect that it may have on his/her child will read this comment and realize that this website (with a .org domain name) most likely receives very little traffic (noticing the lack of advertisements) and is barely a blip on the radar of what makes a primary news source. Speaking directly to the Editor again; you may also want to look into the fact that commenter “Shrice”, whose english you rudely criticized without even successfully defending your article, mistook your article for a Burlington Post publication. What might that tell you about the way that people see your website? A single article like this showing up in any real news publication would either cost them quite a lot of money in lawsuits or cause their whole organization to fold. You may not have a lot of respect for your readers or commenters, but if you truly care about what you’re doing then you should keep this in mind going forward.
this is annoying people should not be judged for what they do this is illegal and the photos should not have been taken. there had to be consent and since there was none things will be done. im sick of people picking on Bateman students leave them alone. and stop this annoying shit.
Another thing – I would not be commenting on HIGH-SCHOOL students English skills when you, a supposed journalist, lacks them herself. Why don’t you come back to the school, and just do a whole article about what exactly we stand for? Perhaps actually speak to even those who smoke, you tell them how awful the school is and listen to their response. Why don’t you go to Nelson into the creek, and talk to their students?
I cannot express what an awful, awful writer you are. I understand that it may be rather difficult for you to fail in your career, however I feel that it is absolutely pathetic that you stoop to the level of picking on minors.
I implore you to return to our school and speak to any one of us about your feelings. I will have you know that not one Bateman student would stoop to the same level that you do.
I started reading this article because I thought it was cool that the Burlington Newspaper recognized our schools little protest, but as I continued to read this article, it became more and more offensive. It swerved away from the message my school was trying to get across about football, and focused more on “geeks” and some kids with poor habits. You in fact did bash our school, “not the best and brightest at Bateman High” That sends a very negative message. When the “cool ones” and other kids go out front it’s to relax between classes, have a smoke if they choose to, and relax before next class. sometimes it gets stressful juggling homework, volunteer hours, and part time jobs. I’m sure if you go to any other high school you’ll see the exact same thing. All I retained from reading this article is litter, geeks, classification, smoking, and spit. You didn’t bother to ask if anyone wanted to have they’re picture taken or what we even thought of the situation of our schools football team, instead you looked at all the negative and judged and bashed the hell out of my school. I came to this school at the beginning of grade 10 from another city not knowing anyone, and everyone accepted me. Robert Bateman High School is the most accepting schools I’ve ever been to and I am proud to be a student there.
Excellent reporting sir! Random insults directed at teenagers!
I smoke. I have smoked and littered in that same spot. I’m a med student now. This article is shoddy journalism. Most of those students could probably come up with a better story. That school has a wide range of students and classes. They have a center for special needs, IB program, essential for slower students, college, and university. In addition to that there is SHSM programs (which aided in my success), OYAP, and co-op. Your ignorance is appalling. I never once was part of school “click”. In fact most people just hung out with everyone no matter the stereotype. This article has put labels on young adults. Way to go. You have given them a reason to break off into groups. Smoking and littering does not determine someone’s intelligence, ignorant, tasteless, and poor journalism does though. Go to any high school. You will see the same things, perhaps worse.
Right on, this is a ridiculous article, I can’t believe I even wasted a minute reading it. Bateman is an amazing school with plenty of individuality and great people, and nobody is taking too kindly to any of these students being put down.
There was a long discussion about this article today. We talked about the positive and the negative aspects of our school, and the public’s perception of us. We think that this is not a true reflection of our school. We are very environmentally conscious. We work hard to educate and motivate our student body to act in an environmentally responsible and respectable way. We have many great student groups and many wonderful leaders in our school. We recognize that we are a diverse school, and we try to be respectful of each other. There will always be challenges at every high school. We want to stand up for the good things at our school. I am proud to be a part of RBHS, and I know many others who feel the same. Perhaps you can return and interview some of the student leaders in our school to find out how hard we work to make our school a safe, fun and respectful learning environment.
you never ment to “negatively bash” the school students but there is still no need to bring in other students that are not even in the protest that are just haveing a smoke brake.
I was thrilled as I started to read your article about our school’s senior football team and the dedication and heart of the players wanting their senior team to be able to play again….but then your article segued into what seems to be a “put down” of the students. Why?
I guarantee if you drive or walk by any high school in Halton, Peel etc you’ll see students smoking AND spitting, male or female. Not saying that this is right or wrong, but it’s what you see teenagers do in this day and age. It’s EVERYWHERE.
Such a shame that your original storyline turned into a negative bashing of Robert Bateman High School and it’s students.
Editors note: No one set out to “negatively bash” Bateman students. We merely observed poor behavior and commented on it.
Well done! As a student at RBHS I couldn’t agree more. The editor should be ashamed!
Are you serious right now? “Not the best or the brightes t.” Look at Batemans test scores and say that again. Last year a student who graduated from Bateman High got the highest average IN ONTARIO! Not the brightest eh? We have the IB program. As well as STA and White Oaks. Bateman is a great school. I am a returning student BY CHOICE because it is an amazing school. I could not see myself in any other school. Just because a handful of students are outside smoking, does not mean it is the whole school. Bateman has around 1,200 students. You saw about 20 people maximum besides the football team. At Bateman we do not segrigate. We do not have cliques at Bateman. We have people from the center to IB. We have amazing students in this school. This article is not even about football which is what it was supposed to be about. Have some compassion. Imagine if these were your children.
Editors note: Go back and read the piece again; no one said “not the best or the brightest” – we said geeks are usually the best and the brightest people in the room.
You check again the fourth pictures caption says and I quote “Not the best or the brightest at Bateman High” so you did say that.
Editors note: We stand corrected – we did say what you said we said. However, the cut line refers to the people in the picture; the ones that throw food wrappers on the ground and spit on the street and feel they have the right to do so. Those are not the best and the brightest at Bateman High School.
Dear Editor…..YOU may want to reread the article yourself. Underneath the photo of the student you are blatantly centering out for littering it reads…..”Female student casually dropped the donut wrapper on the ground and puffed away on her cigarette while enjoying her coffee. The wrapper, shown on the right, blew away into the street. Not the best or the brightest at Bateman High.”
Note to Bateman Student, I congratulate you on a superb comment. Your description of Robert Bateman students and school is wonderful to read.
I would like to say they were protesting because they didn’t have enough kids to have the football team this year so we had to cancel it and the so called ”kids” that were smoking are not apart of the football team the kids you see with signs are the football team. stop talking about stuff you don’t know about and I would like this to be taken down since you did not have the right to take the photos. NO ONE WAS ASKED IF THE PHOTOS COULD BE TAKEN AND IT IS ILLEGAL TO TAKE PHOTOS WITH NO CONSENT.
Editors note: While we went to the school to tell the story of the football team protest – seeing sloppy civic behaviour on public property is reportable. The response should have been some embarrassment over how these young people were behaving.
Do you know what paparazzi’s are?
People shouldn’t have an expectation of privacy in public domain
Its not public property its the property of bateman this writer taking these photgraghs should have asked promission ever heard of respecting others? Most people here are very mad that the photos were taken and everything that is said in this artictal is twisted even staff aren’t to impressed
shuttup pepper. you dont know nothingXD
Bateman shouldnt be closing down the football team me being one of batemans old students know that the football team is everything to most of the people that attend robert bateman high school. If they take the team away then bateman will have alot of drop outs druggys and loads of other stuff.and who is burlington post to jugde students that smaoke its not there choice its the students choice not yours being a ex student and a smoker that went to bateman its nobodys choice but there own so why is burlington post picking on stidents who spit and smoke i happen to be a female and do both myslef.that to me is just wrong people always tell other not to jugde a book by is cover yet all burlington post seems to like to do to these students who have minds and bodies of their own they think its neccisary to pick on younger people well on day those younger people that the burlington post picked will be the ones in control of the news. Karma always comes back to bite you in the ass
Editors Note: The article did not appear in the Post.The writer of these comments might want to attend more English classes.
English classes would be a good idea
Who are you to judge? The writer of this story might want to not make an ass of themselves, making both minors who I’m sure did not give consent to be in this article, and my school, look bad.
My child was one of those geeks, this is not acceptable. My child now gets made fun if everyday because of what this reporter said. I am not inpressed and you will be hearing from my lawyer.
Editors note: The intention was not to make fun of anyone. To be called a “geek” is to be named as one of the brightest, smartest people in the room. It is the “geeks” that have provided us with the technology we probably couldn’t live without. The “geeks” that I saw were focused and talking intelligently with their friends. They were also carrying back packs loaded with text books.
i am one of those student. i didnt not and will not stand for this, i didnt give permison, niether did my friends. i hope you know you youve made life alot harder for some of those geeks, just because one person threw a wrapper dosnot mean we all do. i expect this removed or i will being calling my lawyer, i also expect an appolige to robert bateman students whos pictures were illeagly taken.
That’s not how the law works, freedom of speech protects him from ridiculous lawsuits, and the pictures are legal
Taking pictures of minors on school property during school hours is not legal. Mocking people without knowing them is the lowest form of criticism and the first step to prejudice, something “Jesus” might understand.
there’s a difference between freedom of speech and publicly insulting students for reasons *unrelated* to the topic and taking pictures of them secretly and purposely creating a reputation of the school in a bad way. smoking doesn’t mean you’re an idiot. more than Bateman students smoke and spit so ‘not the best or the brightest at Bateman’ is rude and ignorant. Bateman’s not a bad school being a former student, its peoples’ arrogant perceptions that gives a bad reputation.
HOW would you be able to judge if they were “talking intelligently”? Why not the smokers – they might have been having an informed, interesting conversation. Perhaps about yellow journalism.
None of these students are old enough or gave the right to be in these images. This article is hateful towards robert bateman and specifically singles out students without knowing , speaking or asking students permission.
Editors note: The pictures we took were of people on public property – and there was certainly nothjng hateful in our intentions. we were rather impressed with what we saw – looked like a good school filled, for the most part, with neat kids getting an education.
Lol “gave the right to be in these images” LOLOLOLOL “asking students permission”
Historically, Bateman football has been very poor in terms of attendance and commitment. Between injuries and quitters, the team usually loses between 8-10 players from the start of the season. With only 18 students (roughly) attending the first week of practice, that would leave less than a full line-up by the end of the season. This is simply a case of protecting the players from injury!
IT WILL TAKE THEM TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP ! GO WILD