Comments on: Online teacher 'hate' is free speech

By: absurd america

absurd america — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:08:17 +0000

There should be rights that protect teachers and businesses in general from random internet posts. It is unfair that educators in particular have to be popular with students, in most societies it is recognized that a “Mean teacher is often the best” we all know who the popular teachers are in a school and often those are the ones that teach the least and are most involved with student gossip and to me are just creepy.

What would Daniel have posted about Mr. Miyagi when he made him paint the fence?? THis is why American education is in the dumps. Students should severely penalized for disrespect towards teachers.

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[...] Online teacher 'hate' is free speech [...]

By: Rhymes With Right

Rhymes With Right — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:19:36 +0000

Swede, my comments are serious as a heart attack.

And if you truly believe that schools can intrude upon the First Amendment rights of students outside of school, then you surely would have no objection to the principal meting out punishment to kids who skipped church on Sunday or pray to the wrong God. After all, they have limited First Amendment rights and the school has to teach them what’s right.

By: Rhymes With Right

Rhymes With Right — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:16:27 +0000

Gotta disagree with you, Cranberry.

The school HAS NO JURISDICTION OVER OFF CAMPUS SPEECH!!!

And given that the speech in question, if truly defamatory, would constitute a violation of civil law, the proper response to any actual defamation (as opposed to wimpy teachers whose feelings are hurt by criticism) is to have the teacher file a lawsuit against the kid and his/her parents, not have the school punish the kid.

And as for this situation, it appears to me that the proper action is to terminate both the teacher (who apparently can’t handle the criticism that goes with her job) and the administrator (whose fascist actions make him unfit for his job).

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:05:33 +0000

There’s a difference between what’s “legal” and “right” versus what’s “legal”. As far as free speech goes, I don’t see why I should be held to a higher *legal* standard than a child.

By: tim-10-ber

tim-10-ber — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:08:29 +0000

It would be great if the students would tell why they do not like the teacher — one good way to get feedback….

In my city a very good student at a top 30 US High School posted his feelings about, and threats towards, his basketball coach on face book. This got his kicked out of school with one semester to go.

What the student did was very wrong. Was the school’s action justified? Probably not if one really knew his coach. However, because of the words used, everyone at the school said they felt unsafe.

This is a good kid…one I know personally. Sadly, this will probably haunt him his whole life…

By: I Lew

I Lew — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:59:50 +0000

As an attorney (actually still in law school), a quick review for Cranberry, Ben F and Swede

1. Curfew – Most states have had the courts disallow curfew laws.
2. Cranberry – Never ever trust Wikipedia, “adversely reflecting on a person’s fitness to conduct their business or trade” – A person can write, scream from the corners that XXX is the worst teacher/manager/anything, causing them to lose their business and there is nothing anyone can do unless it is implied that they are they are the worst for doing something or being something they are not. The reason for this is in the first instance it is subjective.
3. And over the last 30 years, students and minors have have more rights than most people realize. The limited rights have been slowly falling away.

By: Ben F

Ben F — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:26:42 +0000

Call me a Confucianist, but, unless the teacher is a bona fide reprobate, I don’t think it’s OK for a student to tell a teacher he hates his class. That’s called bad manners. And I don’t want to live in a society where that kind of behavior is accepted.

By: Swede

Swede — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:06:54 +0000

Goodness Rhymes with Right! Calm down! Easy on the hyperbole. Students are minors, and as such their rights are more limited than that of adults (i.e. voting, drinking, smoking, curfew laws, labor restrictions, and so on). Most people know that. Your post wasn’t serious, was it? By the way, I love how you used the word “compel,” as if being able to get a free K-12 education was some sort of burden.

By: Larry Strauss

Larry Strauss — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:03:53 +0000

We should welcome feedback from students–however negative, provided it is about what we do in the classroom. In inner-city L.A., students aren’t afraid to tell say they think the lesson is boring or that the teacher isn’t making sense or not treating everyone fairly. Sometimes they’re just whining but sometimes they’re right.

One of the guys I coach on the basketball team told me, during a bus ride, how much he hated my AP class last year and how relieved he was that he got out. I argued with him about the value of what I teach in that class and about his responsibility to make the effort to do difficult work but I also listened to a student who was overwhelmed and probably could have used a little more attention.

When I started teaching back in the 90′s, I remember hearing about and even seeing teachers literally run out of the classroom by disgruntled students. It was ugly in some cases and hard not to feel bad for some of those teachers but since then I’ve seen teachers who probably should be run out of the classroom and I feel bad for the kids.