Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Punished for telling the truth

This story makes me very angry: Pa. teacher strikes nerve with 'lazy whiners' blog

I love my students - I wouldn't have put myself through six years of grueling graduate work, and put myself $60,000 in debt, and ended my marriage if I wasn't committed to teaching. But damn it, some of my students give me the lamest excuses for missing class, being late with work, missing deadlines - and while I haven't called out any particular student by name or even by group, I have certainly made public statements about how lame the excuses are in general - and have even mocked and made fun of the lameness! Sometimes I tell my students right to their faces that I don't buy their excuses. Does this mean I deserve to be fired because I speak the truth publicly about a general situation that exists in ALL colleges around this country and is UBIQUITOUS with this current generation of students?

Hell no. And neither does the teacher in the story. For two reasons.

One - If teachers can't speak out honestly about the serious problems in the education system - and yes, student attitudes are a big problem - then how can we EVER hope to CHANGE this system? The reaction of this particular school district makes me wonder if school administrators anywhere are TRULY interested in fundamentally changing the education system - revamping it a la Ken Robinson's suggestions, for instance - so that everyone (students and teachers) are more interested and engaged.

(School districts might have to stop cowering in fear from parents if real change is to occur.)

This travesty makes me think the answer is no - change cannot occur while the education system is held hostage by the attitude that we 1) can't hurt students' feelings by calling them out on their irresponsible behaviors because feelings are apparently more important than work ethic and 2) certainly can't speak out publicly about the student component of the problem for fear of being FIRED? WTF?!

I'm committed to challenging my students and work hard to get them past their own laziness and procrastination, which they readily admit to!! But I will not - NOT - stop speaking out publicly about some of the dumb things they say and do. And if that results in me having to change careers once again, then so be it. I've got lots of experience in many fields and I'm not afraid to use it.

And the second reason this teacher shouldn't be fired - This is obviously a free speech issue. It doesn't sound like this teacher violated any FERPA law or said anything that wasn't true - even if it was merely her opinion. Last time I checked, we have free speech and free press and unless her contract specifically states (like some private corporations might) that she is not allowed to speak publicly about her work, then the district is waving smoke and mirrors and has NO case.

Why don't they use this opportunity to have an open discussion with their teachers about the problems that exist in their school? Perhaps if they put their minds productively together, they might come up with some solutions to student attitude problems instead of punishing the very people who have the power to help CHANGE the situation?!

What the hell is wrong with this country?!?!?!

In solidarity with teachers at every level who are unafraid to speak out.

11 comments:

A. Hab. said...

Here is what I have learned in the past six years of graduate work: teaching is not like Dead Poets Society AT ALL.

Teaching is not just engaging students' minds. Teaching is not just imparting knowledge/wisdom/whatever. Teaching is not just inspiring a thirst for learning.

Teaching is, to me anyway, a challenge, a battle even. I feel at odds with my students at every turn; hell, sometimes I even feel at odds with my administration. I am scared all the time. I'm scared of what my students will say and do in retaliation of some tough love. I'm scared of what their parents might report to the administration or a court. I'm scared of how my administration will respond to one of my stricter course policies.

And I'm doing NOTHING wrong! I am not screaming at my students. I do not govern my classroom based on fear. I do not abuse them. I do not ignore their needs. I am not hateful toward them.

So, what am I afraid of? I'm afraid of not being "allowed" to honestly report my side of things. I'm afraid of consequences for venting very real frustrations.

I am not made of the mettle this woman is made of, what YOU are made of. I do not respond to this article with the ire you did--I reacted with utter fear and a sudden desire to delete any and all entries that mention teaching. I won't do it. But it was my visceral reaction.

This comment is getting a bit long, so I'm going to say the rest of what I want to say on my blog. Thanks for bringing this up! :)

American Puzzle said...

Thanks for responding and well said - I'm sure that you are not alone in your fear. I just don't have that gene, as you well know. ;) Can't wait to see your wise words on this issue, my friend!

A. Hab. said...

Oh also, I'd like to add--in the article they mention that she is eight months pregnant, right before quoting her saying how badly behaved the "kids" are. What does her pregnancy have to do with her badly behaved students? Just because she's going to have a kid of her own, does that mean that she's supposed to love everybody else's spoiled brat?

American Puzzle said...

I think they meant to imply that she's going to be a bad parent. Nice scare tactic. Cowards.

Lacy Marschalk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lacy Marschalk said...

These kinds of stories tend to make me more afraid, like A.Hab--but then that's also what I get out of Dead Poets Society. I love that movie, but the message I get in the end is that if you dare to teach differently, to speak honestly, to see your role as more than just a teacher, then eventually you'll be punished for it. (But that you will inspire a few students and it will all be worth it.) I still think teachers should do these things, we just have to be prepared for the consequences of refusing to do things by the book or be traditional. So far my fear hasn't changed my classroom strategies--I still teach exactly the way I want to teach, even if it isn't always traditional, and if my teaching style ever becomes an issue, like you said, A.Mo, I'll change professions. I will say, though, that I don't really write or blog about my students (beyond occasional generic comments) for this exact reason. I vent to friends and family, not on the web.

I interpreted the pregnancy comment to be a justification for her comments, sort of like, "Oh, she's pregnant and hormonal, so she probably wouldn't have normally said these things, but she's probably moody/cranky/tired and therefore more easily annoyed." Patronizing and sexist, in other words. No matter what they meant, though, that information was irrelevant.

Moka B. said...

I, too, thought the pregnancy comment was weird and totally irrelevant. I read it the same way Lacy did.

As for the situation itself, I was basically having this type of conversation with a friend of mine who teaches communications classes at another school and expressing much the same feelings as this teacher. I just find it very sad that so many administrations are more concerned with placating students and parents than they are with challenging those students to think and take some responsibility for their own education. The fact that so many of us teachers feel this way shouldn't go unvalidated, yet it does. In terms of fear, what are these administrations afraid of? Probably lawsuits. It just makes me think more and more about homeschooling. *Sigh*

Cori said...

I've been reading as many takes on this as I come across, just because I wanted to read what she actually wrote. Everyone's saying she was "hurtful," but the big news sites don't really quote it beyond the trash and rats comments. Obviously, I agree that if her district has no internet policy, then they have no grounds to dismiss her. You'd think that school boards would have started setting those up in the past few years, since this isn't the first case of "inappropriate internet behavior." (By the way, my tiny private school has this policy, which mostly concerns Facebook.)

She's right in her assessment, of course. I love my students (for the most part--I won't lie and say I love each and every one of them), but many of them are intellectually lazy, and it drives me insane. I've given many speeches in the past few weeks on accountability, the necessity of critical thinking, the fact that I am not their mama, and therefore do not feel it necessary to cover their tails when they mess up, and so on. Unfortunately, I learned last year that my attempts to challenge my students often fall flat, as most of their parents are more worried about their overall grade than whether they actually learn anything. Still, I have to try, so I'll give these speeches right up until the end of the year, when I quit. Part of me wants to make like Luther and take my issues public.

Now, I don't know this woman, and I'm sure we have very different personalities, but having read a sample of what she said, some of it was just silly and irrelevant, like the part about them being better/worse than their siblings. Most of her “report card comments” were dead on, though.

I don't have a blog, and if I did, I'm sure I'd just talk about pop culture, but if I wrote about my life, I would make sure that the posts of complaining were private, unless they were well reasoned, clearly thought out explanations of my feelings, which hers don't seem to be. She was venting. Of course, we all do it--it's just that most of us do it among ourselves during our planning periods or at home with family and friends. The people who are attacking her need to realize that she's not in the minority, and that pointing these things out does not mean that you hate your students, as many commenters on these stories are saying.

Cori said...

Also, she's started blogging again to discuss all of this. Unfortunately, she's wised up to Google archiving and purged most of the old stuff. You can check it out here: http://natalieshandbasket.blogspot.com/

And it really does come down to lawsuits, Monita. My mom's school district is dealing with inclusion problems and potential lawsuits, and their lawyers have advised them to focus on that, and let the "little stuff" go. They get it from all sides. Even the administrators who are determined to challenge their students are often let go because of parental backlash. If you get enough angry parents together, things happen, whether they have a good point or not.

Anonymous said...

To be honest, I feel compelled to respond without having anything new to say. We all know that the 20th and 21st centuries mark a gradual shift from teacher-supported to student-supported education. If we are really honest with ourselves, I think we should look at our research from the past century (something I'm doing in my diss) and see that we helped argue ourselves into this type of dilemma. (De-centered classroom, anyone?) I just don't think we imagined student-centeredness subverting not just our power as teachers, but the power of the administrators.

The whole education system, at all levels, is my Sodom and Gomorrah. I've walking away and not looking back.

American Puzzle said...

Pet - I love your insight. I bet you are right. You know I operate a somewhat de-centered classroom, but I still maintain control...but when de-centering goes too far? I think you might be right about that. An intriguing problem...perhaps educators themselves are the cause. Hmmm...how to regain control, then, and get back to teacher-centered classrooms?