http://yhoo.it/f7K2Lj
Natalie M., a school teacher in Pennsylvania, is suspended with pay this morning over a personal blog in which she characterized the students she teaches, in a general way and not individually, as rude, unengaged, demanding, and having an entitlement mentality. Apparently she also posted some tongue and check remarks that one might want to put on report cards. Students found the blog, reported it, and the teacher was escorted out of the building. She appeared on television for an interview, unrepentant, and internet blogs are abounding.
Public opinion seems to say that teachers are reponsible for motivating their students and so she should be fired and leave the profession. Teachers respond on the contrary that her characterizations of the students are correct and that given that she identified no specific students, she did nothing wrong. A telling comment from one of her graduates was “Yes, students do act this way” and “it was inappropriate, so she shouldn’t teach.”
How does this add up? What do you think?