On Facebook and Teachers

The buzz in the newspaper yesterday was about an 8th grade teacher who’s managed to get herself suspended, in part over comments that she posted on Facebook about her students.

Seems that her students didn’t think she was “Christian” enough and did things designed specifically to needle her, like leaving a Bible on her desk with a Christmas card or singing “Jesus Loves Me” when they are around her.

She groused about it on her Facebook page.

Let’s not talk about the phenomenal stupidity of a junior high teacher that lets her students get that far up in her business, especially if her views on religion aren’t in the mainstream. Common sense says you need to differentiate personal life and professional life, especially before anything about your personal life goes through the imperfect filter of a 13 year old’s brain.

Or that she’s now allowed those same students to get the upper hand by manipulating her to the point of meltdown with silly little antics that a 30 year veteran of the classroom would probably ignore, or respond to differently – say, for example, by playing reruns of the “Gospel Singing Jubilee” or maybe tapes of some particularly onerous TV preacher. Give the little buggers a dose of their own medicine and then let them stew for a bit.  Going through transcripts of some of those sermons and grammatically correcting them, say, might be a perfect lesson in English.

Instead, she’s allowing them to control the situation by reacting to their stimulus. The inmates are definitely running the asylum, at least as far as her classroom is concerned, and rather than figuring out how to contain the situation, she's confronting the problems directly.

Anyone who's ever dealt with teenagers knows that's not any more effective than trying to exterminate by stomping cockroaches.  There are lots more of them than they are of us, and they're made to withstand nuclear explosions and still survive.

It would seem that this young teacher may need to re-think her career options, although depending on how her suspension comes out, that may be a moot point.  Administration may choose to cut their losses and let her go now; it's not like there aren't teachers waiting in line for any available position out there.

There are a couple of competing issues out there, though, that don’t immediately come to the top and which ought to be considered regardless of what happens to her or these students.

As Americans, we enjoy the right of free speech. We can comment on most anything of public interest without fear of repercussion, as long as we do it in the right forum.

Interestingly enough, that forum includes screaming it on the sidewalks in front of the Courthouse, although it doesn’t include the hallways inside the courthouse. It includes public parks, but not the food court at the mall.
It most certainly doesn't include the inside of a classroom at a public school, and probably doesn't include either the hallways or any part of the school grounds.

It probably includes a person’s social networking pages as well, assuming that you don’t put out protected information that you happen to have – like your student’s grades or personal information.

The question, though, is whether or not it’s very bright to exercise that particular right without a modicum of restraint. After all, just because a person can espouse their views in a particular location, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best career move to do so. It’s kind of like having the right-of-way at an intersection with a large cement truck coming from the other way without the apparent intent to stop, regardless of what the traffic controls direct.

You can pull out in front of it and argue that you are within your rights, but is that the wisest decision from a personal standpoint?

I’m constantly amazed at what people put up on their Facebook and other pages, and what people’s “friends” put up about them on their pages. More and more frequently, those pages are being printed off and used in custody or criminal proceedings, and it’s not usually to prove the upstanding character of the subject.

Let’s face it, a pic of someone drinking a margarita the size of a number 2 washtub with the caption, “I was sooooo polluted that night,” might seem humorous to someone who’s twenty and in college.

When you realize, though, that the person is the mother of a 2 year old and that the child is in the background in the picture because it was her weekend, then it becomes an issue – and a basis to lose custody.

I sympathize a bit with this teacher, in that she has probably done nothing legally wrong. She’s probably even morally correct in that she’s not required to acquiesce and hold the same religious beliefs as the majority of her students.

But it’s equally obvious that she doesn’t have the demeanor necessary to hold this position, and ought to use her suspension period to explore the other options which may be available to her.

I’m also sorry for the children in her class – not because of the quality of her teaching, about which we know nothing, but because these young people – in part through the reinforcement and example of their parents – have now learned that you can use religion to intimidate, embarrass and ultimately eliminate someone with whom you disagree.

That is antithetical to the foundation of our country, but we’re seeing it more and more. And with this incident, our society has simply contributed to the group of future citizens who think this type of activity is acceptable.

That can’t be good for anyone.