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I disagree that kids that little..



How little ? I searched, and could not find an answer to that question One of your earlier posts sid 6-11, but that seems to be assuming a education organization similar to what we use here in the states - is that a valid assumption ? Not to mention there is a large difference between 6 and 11.

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, many of which obviously were not farm kids...



Again, you seem to have a magical crystal ball, because that also definitely did not show up when I searched for more information on the story.

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...it can be traumatic and apparently was not considered...



Just a wee bit melodramic don't you think ? Children are pretty resilient, particularly about somethin as indirect as a vote. Having them watch the butchering - yeah, that would be tramatic. Voting - most won't even think about it by the next day.

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...nowhere can I read that the school advised all the parents 6 months prior about what they were doing and who was voting and how it would end. I could be mistaken.



Again, seemingly a fairly large assumption. Anything magical about six months ? If she had only given the parents 3 months warning would she still deserved to lose her job ? The truth is we don't know - the school could have had their entire, detailed syllabus hand-delivered and read to each parent or guardian prior to commencement of the school year for all we know. I'd rather doubt it, but...

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Everything I read does not involve the parents until the lamb was about to get the axe, or knife, or bolt or whatever.



Another way to read that was that the objecting parents did not bother the say a word the end.

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But when he was 7 if the teacher took the class to the pound to watch the dogs being killed I would be P`&&id beyond belief.



But that's not what happened here, is it ? A more apt analogy would be "if the teacher told him that stray dogs were put down..." (not exact, no involvement in the process, but there wasn't in your analogy either).

I will admit that, if given its in a farm community where the children are familiar with what happens to farm animals, I am not sure what the point of the lesson was. I also don't understand the point of the vote, though I think you are seriously overstating its "tramatic" effect. But in both cases I'll not denounce anyone based on an incomplete understanding of the lesson plan.

I will not denounce anyone for a lack of communication with the parents when I don't know what communication did or did not happen.

Which brings us back to early arguments that “before the internet...” The difference is that in the age of the internet a few irritated parents can scream out their side of the story and people around the world jump on it, in the most cases not bothering to find out the whole story, putting their own spin on it to advance their own agendas. The beauty of the internet is that much, much more information is available to a lot more people, a lot quicker than ever before. The flaw is that a lot of it is pure garbage. The tragedy is the number of people that cannot tell the difference, and for the most part do not seem to care.

No, the fact that any support she might have received was drowned out by those calling for her head does not mean she was in the wrong – it means that mob rule won. Not the same thing, and a sad day for civilized society.

I was interested on how the good Friar’s original post was interpreted as a call for government control. Personally I took it as a gentle reminder of the one of the reasons for a moderated forum, restraining the worst of the vitriol so that debate may occur. The moderators here are fairly lenient, and as is typical, members – basically the scenario is a veneer of formality to self-policing.

Yes, the internet is a lot less anonymous than a lot of people think - but tracing it back [italics]can[/italics] take a level of official-dom not available to most people in most situations – or at least not in time to make a difference. Kind of like how cops can deter and investigate crimes, but they can’t stop all of it and knowing your murderer will likely be caught and punished doesn’t mean a lot to the person killed.

But that same sense of anonymity allows for the denouncement of despots, whistle-blowing, and other positive benefits to society. The answer ? Each must question everything, discourage rashness and oppose injustice. Nobody ever said freedom was without cost.