The full story is below, and I think he was fortunate to get off so easily. It could have been worse, but we all make mistakes. I'm just glad that, this year at least, I only popped into the prom early in the evening to check the decorations. And I don't think people would think it a good idea for me to post my review of their attire.
Teacher's blog steps over the line06:42 PM PDT on Tuesday, May 10, 2005
EVERETT, Wash. – A teacher's extracurricular writing has landed him in some hot water. In a personal blog, an Everett high school teacher compared some of his students to prostitutes.
It all started with a recent dance at Cascade High School where tradition is that some female students dress up like call girls.
The teacher, Andrew McNamar, writes daily personal blogs about educational issues, such as cheating and accountability.
One recent posting dealt with junior prom night. He wrote he was disappointed with the principal for letting it happen, saying: "The unfortunate part about tonight was the crashing of the dance by the 'Senior Sluts'… dressed, well, like hookers."
Another line says, "…two of them I really respect as individuals and students. The other three, well, it was predictable…"
Some of the high school seniors were very upset.
The Everett School District sent a letter to the teacher with the simple message not to do it again.
The teacher in turn sent a letter home apologizing for his posting, saying he was sorry for causing any pain and embarrassment, explaining that his choice of words was poor.
4 comments:
You might need to expand on this teacher blog issue a bit. How do you reconcile your advocacy for the first amendment and thinking this guy deserved harsher treatment? OK, he dissed his "boss" (the principal) which is never a good idea, but if his choice of words had been a bit more careful, would his posting have been OK? Or was it the singling out of the individual students? This is an interesting topic!
OK, then, here we go. First, let me say that of course the teacher is within his First Amendment rights to offer commentary that is within protected speech. That's probably why the school district knew it could not get away with any punishment. I don't think he deserved any punishment at all.
As for what's a good idea -- this is not. He should not be calling his students names or raising issues of their promiscuity on a Web log that is available to anyone, and one where his students read regularly.
One must balance rights with responsbility, and that's what I teach my students.
I'd be interested to hear what others think, too.
-- L.
I think that it was definitely a bad idea to make statements like that in a blog under his name. I agree that he has a right to do such a thing, but perhaps it would have been more wise for him to make his opinion known anonymously.
As the only part of this blog that I've read is from the quotes in the news story, I can't accurately judge the teacher's entire posting.
From the story, however, it sounds as if the teacher was well within his rights. It would have been more wise if he had not cast judgement on the girls and simply reported the facts. Besides this, I see no problem with the posting, as long as he did not advertise his blog in class or have students read it for an assignment. Students were not forced to visit the blog.
Personally, I am tired of girls that dress promisciously and then become upset when the natural assumptions are made. If they did not want these assumptions made, then they should have dressed somewhat more modestly.
How can these girls demand respect when, by their dress, they aren't showing respect for themselves? Fashion is reasonably simple. If a skirt can double as a wide belt, then perhaps it may be too short.
If these girls are wondering why issues of their promiscuity are beig raised, they need to do some soul-searching before pointing fingers.
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