teachers pet
Received this nastygram regarding such an important issue (*eyes rolling*):
To: CatherineDu.Robinson@outinleftfield.com
From: Sbushhart@aol.comI find your blog both offensive and naive, the same qualities found in
Debra LeFave. To indicate that you contemplated advice provided to you by
several co-workers, and then decided that you would disregard their advice on a
moral issue that effects you and the students you teach and influence seems
to be contradictory to someone who is educated with children’s care in mind.
This has been of great concern to parents even more so lately, and yet seems
to be of lesser concern to teachers and staff. You may attend as many
classes on ethics as is mandated, but your being void of a natural instinct
to recognize the difference between right and wrong (only a little leg and
bra? what is your line that you will not cross over?) makes me question
whether you chose the right field. You are right about one thing in your
blog. Had you not had a picture to view that you are more than a recent
graduate, I would have confused your psychological thumbing your nose as
coming from a child.
Which is worse? That this creep CC’d one of my superiors or that he/she compared me to someone who committed crimes against a child.
Take your pick.
There are already lots of comments chiming in on the post at Out in Left Field.
Tags: diversity, education, tampa
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February 9th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
sbushhart, eh? i shit you not, i think i saw her car the other day. in all seriousness, the license plate said: “SHART”. i guess if you don’t get it, you don’t get it.
kate, thanks for bringing all the nutjobs out of the woodworks so we can identify which rock they crawled out from under and spray for vermin.
February 9th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
If you believe that this is an unimportant issue, which I happen to agree since there are so many problems in the world, then why keep bringing it to light as if it was important? You are standing by your decision and the pieces will fall where they will.
February 9th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
So basically when a problem arises — ignore it and maybe it will go away, Maureen?
February 9th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
No, treat it as worthy of fighting or let it go. It is a contradiction to pretend like something is insignificant and not worthy of talking about and then to do just that.
February 9th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Apparently I wasn’t clear - I don’t think my picture, while sorta cute in a distant-blurry-lense kind of way, is important enough to warrant anonymous emails to my superiors. I do think the anonymous emails and ridiculous double standards for teachers is important enough to warrant a post.
We clear?
February 9th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Yes, thank you for clarifying.
February 9th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
kate obviously got confused and thought we were living in a democracy with free speech. welcome to the new world order.
February 11th, 2007 at 12:28 am
yeah, exactly.
The NWO takes some getting used to. Nice wreath, natalie !!!
February 12th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
I am constantly amazed at how many people want to toss around ideas about freedom of expression with no idea how they apply.
Kate, did someone tell you to take your post down? Did someone deny you other, unrelated freedoms (assembly, sufferage, etc.) because of your picture?
No, no they did not.
You are fully entitled to express yourself however you like, but that does NOT mean there are not consequences to such expression.
Those consequences can (and obviously do, in this instance) include hate mail, increased scrutiny from your supervisors at work and the random judgment of people who don’t “get” you.
What’s the worst that can happen here? You lose your job, because your values are construed as misaligned with what your administration prefers.
Do we have a freedom of expression issue here? Nope, you have an at-will employer deciding to exert its will, because YOU EXERCISED YOUR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.
Maybe that means you have a close-minded employer who has to cater to an increasingly vicious public, but it is not an infringement of your rights to expression, which if anyone ever looks at how weak our Constitution really is, are *penumbral* at best.
Careful, chickie, sometimes you’re really not fighting the good fight; you’re just having fun making noise.
Make sure you’re cool with the difference.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I teach the difference every day. Yes, I have freedom of expression as a guaranteed right. Nowhere in the Constitution do I have the guaranteed right to a job. That’s why I never tossed around the idea. Every action has a reaction and so far, no complaints. Although I find it mind-boggling that people hold unreasonable expectations for teachers, and that’s the only reason for this post.
I like these sorts of discussions and that’s probably why I teach and write and get involved. I am fighting the good fight every single day, in so many more ways than one. Having fun making noise every once in a while keeps sh*t interesting.
I embody both. And am way cool with that.
February 13th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
You are very much tossing the idea around.
When you refer to double standards in your above comment, aren’t you referring to the standard to which your expression is held compared to others?
Of course you are, and you do seem to be OK with it, but I can’t help but wonder a little bit about Maureen’s comments, too.
At a certain point, this discussion is not an abstraction, but something acutally happening in your life.
And, really, is the picture such a big deal? You could just as easily ignore the people who disagree with it and I bet any noise would go away.
You are very specifically posting things people disagree with and then writing about why you think it’s OK (it avoids a double standard; it’s your right, etc.).
It just seems like if you did lose your job, it totally wouldn’t be worth it, and if you don’t lose your job (which I don’t really think you will), it’ll just look like some loud-mouthed antic that you got away with (please note I said LOOK LIKE, not will be) and that’s not much of a good fight.
I dunno - I guess when I consider the practical effects of this specific discussion/turn of events, I just don’t see the point and you usually have a very clear one.
Either way, interesting.
February 13th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
I’m not tossing around the idea that this is a freedom of expression issue. Those are others’ comments, not mine.
I’m taking one email and sharing it with others to open up a discussion. I’m not expecting anything bad to come of it - I have a supportive administration and am not advocating anything immoral or illegal. I also kick *ss in the classroom. The only loud-mouthed antic came by way of the anonymous email - and nothing came of that.
Perhaps that’s my point.