This isn't Natalie...just on the inside.
Teacher Natalie Munroe was suspended from her job at a Philadelphia-area high school after her online rants about her students, co-workers and administrators were found, read, and distributed by some students and parents.
Munroe, however, neither had the common sense or the understanding of her obligations as a professional to apologize, and has decided to be defiant instead. She pulled down the offending blog posts and is now defending herself, arguing (naturally) that her First Amendment rights have been violated (yawn!), that her comments were “taken out of context” (an old stand-by), that her insulting opinions about her school duties were but a small proportion of what she posted (and, she might have mentioned with the same rapier logic, an extremely small percentage of her total communications output since birth, and an infinitesimal percentage of all the words uttered by homo sapiens since the Stone Age ) and most of all, that what she said about her Central Bucks East High School students, none of whom were mentioned by name, was all true.
You can read her self-absorbed excuse-making here, if you have a high boredom and annoyance threshold. Or you can read one of the blog posts that got her suspended, in which she confesses how she would like to describe her various students to their parents, listing, among other descriptions…
“Rat-like…Lazy asshole…Sneaky, complaining, jerkoff…Frightfully dim…Dresses like a street walker…Whiny, simpering grade-grubber with an unrealistically high perception of own ability level…One of the most annoying students I’ve had the displeasure of being locked in a room with for an extended time…Rude, beligerent [ Note to Natalie: English teachers shouldn’t misspell words on their blogs], argumentative fuck…Weirdest kid I’ve ever met…I didn’t realize one person could have this many problems…Liar and cheater…I hear the trash company is hiring…Utterly loathsome in all imaginable ways…I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son…There’s no other way to say this: I hate your kid.”
“I hate your kid.” Now why, Natalie wonders, would any parent get upset about that?
Munroe, the professional whom Doylestown, Pa. parents entrust their children to for their education, has admitted that she detests her job, loathes her responsibilities, and has feelings ranging from contempt to revulsion to hatred for the very same young people she is supposed to be helping…and she is indignant that school administrators and parents think this disqualifies her for her job.
She writes now:
“I am a professional and take pride in my work. I am perfectly capable of separating my personal feelings about some of the people I have to work with from the work I accomplish. In that way, I’m also like millions of people around the world; at some point, we all have to work with someone we don’t like. But we do it anyway, get the job done, and move along. That’s how life works. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous.”
Here is another way life works, Ms. Munroe. Teachers are professionals. Professionals have to be trusted. Lawyers may not like their clients—frequently they don’t—but if they tell their clients that they think they are slimy morons who probably would do society a lot more good behind bars, that client is going to find another lawyer. If a doctor, in whose hands I am going to entrust my internal organs, confides in me that he hates my guts, believe me, I’m taking my guts to another doctor. And if you think President Obama would have a chance at re-election if he was found to have posted on his secret blog, “So many Americans appear to be under-educated, bigoted, hateful cretins. I can hardly stand looking at them,” you are deluded.
A teacher who writes, with or without using names, that her students are assholes and fucks, and that she hates some of them, is not going to be trusted by any parent, or any student. She is theoretically a professional, but she is an untrustworthy professional, which means that she is a lousy professional. She is useless, because such strong personal dislikes and biases are difficult to overcome, and everyone knows it. Do some of the other teachers feel similarly? I’m sure they do, but I will entrust my son to someone who might harbor secret hatred for her students before trusting a teacher whom I know harbors such feelings, and whom, moreover, has shown the common sense and judgment of a fourth-grader by sending such sentiments into cyberspace.
Natalie Munroe needs a lesson on how the Internet works, some humility, a vacation, and most of all, a new profession.
______________
Addendum: Stories like these always expose the most persistent misconceptions, ethical fallacies and flawed habits of analysis in the public, and the tale of Ms. Munroe’s blog is doing an unusually good job of it. Almost all of these are on vivid display over at the Huffington Post. I may use the comments there to do a survey and de-bunking of the most typical rationalizations and unethical mindsets adopted by HuffPo’s readers…if they don’t depress me too much. They might.
Ethics Alarms 
Riti Sped was the pseudonym of a teacher of handicapped kids who ran the “Tard Blog” for a short time. I think she quit the blog not because she was discovered or had a change of heart, but because she simply quit being a teacher.
The lack of attention to the truth content of Ms Monroe’s blog is more telling than the content of it. Maybe kids who spend more time texting than reading textbooks, and their equally distracted parents , need to hear this. I’d be curious how may animated paperweights and careerist slurpers in the educational bureaucracy have prevented Ms Monroe from holding students and parents accountable? What happens to a teacher who refuses to negotiate grades and won’t compromise her standards? Your editorial contributed more to the problem than to the solution – in itself an ethic alarm of epic proportion.
How, exactly, is private griping and hurling snarky insults “holding students and parents accountable”? How does Ms. Monro, who makes it clear on her blog that she did compromise her standards, fit your ideal? The ethical way to approach the problems is for teachers to work with parents, students and administrators, not snipe at them behind their backs. How constructive is saying that she took leave days to avoid dealing with a student (now THAT’S professional!) or that she hates some of her charges?
The issue isn’t the problems in the schools, culture and parenting, but Monroe’s immature, surreptitious and unprofessional way of responding to them. Your comment is a non sequitur. The point is that once she has publicized her bitterness and distain, she no longer can be part of the solution. “They had it coming” is a rationalization, not a justification.
Spoken like someone who’s never been in the classroom. The problem is that too many parents know their kids deserve this kind of ridicule and don’t want it publicized.
Their children deserve public ridicule by their teacher????????
What color is the sky on your planet?
Right—I’ve “never been in a classroom” Good one.
Again, you fail to address the truth content of the blog – which, by definition of blog, is anything but “private griping.” Educational bureucracies are entitled, entrenched juggernauts which are bent upon flattering parents to maintain power, and incessantly lie about how the problems of education can be buried under piles of other people’s money – which we are all justly worried about. I’d be curious about how many brick walls were thrown up between her and holding students and parents accountable; if her blog brings the discussion and private frustrations of conscientious teachers into the public light, bully for her. Her method may be questionable, but how does your ignoring the message help? Sorry, but this IS the issue, and shooting the messenger just perpetuates the problem. Your response is like criticising a church organist who runs away with the minister for wearing too much makeup.
1) Jack: If a doctor hates my guts, I’ll take them to another doctor, not another lawyer. Although, now that I think about it, maybe I should go see a lawyer in that case as well….
2) dr p: I think Jack might have meant “private” in the sense of “private property” rather than “a private room”–meaning it’s on a blog that belongs exclusively to her. But I agree that “public griping” would be clearer.
3) Both: Interestingly enough, there WAS a church organist in our parish (in fact, she played at my wedding) who was dismissed a couple of years ago because she made comments to the press (as an employee of the church) in support of a policy that the church officially does not support (IRCC, it was about woman priests).
There are a number of interesting similarities between that story and this one (the *biggest* difference of course being the use of the words “argumentative fuck”).
–Dwayne
Thanks for the doctor-lawyer correction, Dwayne. I have lawyers on the brain.
Blogging like hers is private griping in a public forum, which is to say, a big mistake. She obviously didn’t expect it to become truly public.
Her defense IS that it was private griping! She says she never intended it to be read by anyone but a few friends. You are making up your own story here.
She’s not a messenger. Be serious. She didn’t intend to send the message at all, and now that she’s been caught, she’s trying to shift attention to the reason why she acted unprofessionally, and you’re buying it.
Let me clarify something that should be obvious: I don’t have to write about every aspect of every issue in each individual blog post. I’ve had plenty to say about the educational system here, and will have more. Shifting attention to that while addressing one (silly, careless, arrogant, profane, undignified, untrustworthy) teacher’s misconduct and efforts to duck accountability for her own words and conduct just helps her look like a victim, and she surely is not. Similarly, I did not discuss the stresses of air travel when writing about the Jet Blue (jerk) steward who insulted passengers and jumped out the emergency exit, who was promptly hailed as ” a hero.” Actually, he was an attention seeking, narcissistic, lying drunk.
The teacher’s method wasn’t “questionable”…it wasn’t even a method. There is a time and place to discuss the issues she touches on, but she forfeited the right to be part of the conversation. I just don’t think teachers who hate their students are objective. Perhaps you do.
addendum: I agree wholeheartedly with you re: the “ethical way to approach the problems is for teachers to work with parents, students and administrators.” I’m sure that you have spoken with may teachers, and have heard how difficult this is to accomplish due to institutional roadblocks. Whilst not wanting to let teachers off the hook, I’m sure you are also aware that no amount of spending and slick programmes can substitute for public respect for learning and basic accountability. “The game” is fixed so that bureaucratic interests trump all – so my family abd friends in education tell me.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, DP. No disagreement at all. Teaching is damn near impossible in the current environment. Administrators are too often fearful and inept; parents do not prepare their children or participate in the process, and the culture misidentifies the reason for education, which is knowledge, not money and jobs. Teacher unions keep standards of practice low, and there is no accountability. I pulled my son out of the public schools after too many horrifying examples. But whatever the road back to sanity is, insulting kids anonymously on a personal blog isn’t part of it.
CORRECTION: “If a doctor, in whose hands I am going to entrust my internal organs, confides in me that he hates my guts, believe me, I’m taking my guts to another lawyer.” –>I think you meant to write, “I’m taking my guts to another doctor.” Just noticed it while reading, maybe you should edit that.
Signed,
An English Teacher 🙂
Just fixed it before getting this. Flagging typos always welcome. Thanks.
I just spent an hour in a classroom of high school students trying to sub for their English teacher. They were rude, horribly behaved and unwilling to do anything creative and/or thoughtful. I would be more specific but it might echo the letter I left their teacher too closely. The day before that, History students used horendous language and wrote obscene things on the board about their full time teacher–different grade level, same apathy. You can blast this woman all you want for unprofessional or unethical behavior but the greater problem by far is that we are raising a culture with no inherrent interest in learning or basic courtesy. If this lady had the guts to point that out, the LAST thing on your mind should be her spelling! The FIRST question should be “can we fix this?” the next “HOW?” and finally “how much longer will we condemn people who genuinely care about their jobs and the causes behind them for telling the truth?”
The rules are a joke. The books and materials are EXCERABLE in either quality, presentation or relevance.
We NEED engaging and strong humanities curriculuums, we NEED involved, ethical parents and school officials and we MUST give kids in our care a better education and moral outlook.–not by enforcing stunted ideals from the so called “golden years” nor by refusing to give kids credit for their own ethical capabilities, but by setting some rules, giving them GOOD material to work with and then enforcing rules but having faith that kids can follow them. Work on that instead of dismissing and belittling a whisteleblower!
Please read my reply to Dr. P. She’s NOT a whistleblower. Someone who is too naive to know that what she writes on a blog will get back to the people she’s writing about is just a tech-inept coward, not some kind of working class hero. I agree with you premise, but it has nothing to do with Natalie Munroe. Again…do you really think the educational system’s problems can be solved by teachers who call their students “fucks”? No wonder you got no respect from the class. Monroe is part of the problem, a big part—unprofessional teachers who think they are too good for their duties.
“Working with” the system is no solution – just a bureaucratic canard. Frankly, if I were in Ms Munroe’s position, I would have blogged with my name, avoided the profanity, and called a spade a spade. I suggest that the response would have been no different; ie the entilted demanders would have entitledly demanded my head on a pike. I’m glad you agree with me – an homeschooling father of four who, like you, still has to fund the juggernaut – but where we won’t see eye to eye is in your lack of solution other than the tried-and-false. “Working with” – try “shut up and pay your taxes,” which is akl school boards seem to care about (at least that’s what I see in mine). Creating a ruckus on the ‘net – whether by outing and ousting corrupt officials in China or superannuated tyrants in Egypt – seems to be the only way to get what should be a public matter public. Is she my heroine? No way. Did she do us all a service by her actions, however tainted they may be? You bet.
DP—and would you have been “shocked–shocked!” if you lost your job? Because she still deserved to—I wouldn’t trust her. Would you? Sure–an open, honestly named blog under her own name educating the public as to what the school system is like? Brava. And, by any standards of employment, she would still lose her job. (Whistle-blowers have to report corruption and law breaking, not institutional and cultural stupidity.)
She’s in the system, so she is obligated to work within it. You and I aren’t—but I have no idea what to do, other than reverse the advances of women’s liberation so we have a huge pool of over-qualified women to teach because they don’t have better options. Well, that’s a non-starter.
The whole model needs to be tossed and built from the ground up, and that was obvious long ago–just not to policymakers. None of Munroe’s observations and bitches were new, enlightening or constructive….and if she had her way, nobody connected to the school would have read them. No kidding she’s not a hero. And I’m not giving her any brownie points for accidentally setting off a debate.
I applaud her boldness and think this article is terrible. I left teaching after 3 years. People who don’t teach just don’t understand what teachers have to put up with.
What???? Arrrgh! What was BOLD about what Munroe did? She bitched on a blog that she thought nobody would see. Once she was outed as confessing her contempt for her students and school, then she decided to style herself as a truthteller punished for being honest. Her conduct was wrong—cowardly, uncivil, abusive, irresponsible and arrogant, and none of that is changed one bit by the fact that the problems she was reacting to are real and serious. Why is this so hard to grasp? If Obama loses it and tells off the press, foreign powers and the public, are you going to excuse it by saying, “It’s a stressful job, and nobody can know what a president has to put up with?” Probably so, based on this comment. Well, you’d be wrong. The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct. Write that 100 times on the blackboard, please:
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct.
The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct
See? I did it for you. You’re welcome. Now please stop turning Munroe into things that she isn’t—like a whistle-blower, hero, victim, or anything other than an unprofessional teacher who got caught. You quit when you found it was too much for you, and you were right. So should she.
She was very foolish to vent about her job in such a way. I am hoping this was just venting, and I am going to giver her the benefit of the doubt. I have had many students that were lazy in my class, didn’t care about the material or learning, vastly overestimated their own ability and knowledge, and were rude and disrespectful. In every single case, this bothered me. Sometimes you need to vent about it. The internet is not that place. You may think your private blog is private or that your facebook privacy settings are appropriate, but if you put it on the internet, you have to assume everyone in the world can see it.
I disagree that she absolutely needs to get out of teaching. She probably needs some time off and definitely needs to grow up in the way she thinks about her students (and in her use of language), but I wouldn’t want anyone teaching in the public school who doesn’t get aggravated by that type of student behavior (at least a little bit). If the type of behavior she is describing doesn’t bother a teacher, I want them out.
My basic point: Her big problem is that she has let this behavior get to her too much. Her second biggest problem is that she had really poor judgement in the way she vented her frustrations. Her third biggest problem is that she doesn’t realize the two problems above exist, but she will very soon.
“The fact that a job is difficult doesn’t excuse unprofessional conduct”
Private blog. She got Dooced. Plain and simple.
She got Dooced.
Good for her!! I hope she sues the school district and wins. It was her private web-site and she has the right to say what she wishes on it. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. If you are a student or you are one of the parents of one of these students, then maybe you should look at yourself and do a little reflection.
No, Miguel. She has a right to to say what she wants, and the school has a right, indeed an obligation, to decide that they don’t want a teacher there who hates her students so much. How good or bad the students are has absolutely no bearing on the appropriateness of her conduct.
The real lesson is that her conduct prompted this article on this blog here, and anyone that continues to praise Natalie Monroe in these comments who is a teacher, that person needs to reconsider whether they should continue on in their career.
Your points are not without some merit, but I agree with Michael and Miguel ; ie Ms Munroe only said what any sane teacher thinks, and a little public mayhem is in order. I am not aware that criticising the system requires termaination – after all, isn’t that what tenure (which I oppose and hope you do too) is supposed to protect against? You are also assuming that she hasn’t “used the system” prior to her blogging; as for her left-handed apology, it sounded more to me like she got lawyered-up. Asking me to believe that she really didn’t think anyone would read her blog and connect the dots is to ask me to believe that she’s an idiot; I’ll stick with the benefit of the doubt here and try to keep my assumptions to a minimum. Should she be reprimanded? Yeah. Should she be terminated? Naaaah. Do I enjoy watching pins letting hot air out of stuffed shirts? Any day.
I don’t think the criticism, per se, would necessarily be reason for termination. Her attitude, disrespect for the children, hostility, profanity, and the tenor of her comments, as I wrote, disqualify her. Students can’t be expected to respect or trust her, neither can parents. The language she uses alone are just cause for termination. She’s a role model; role models don’t call their followers “fucks.” Or if they do, they can’t be role models any more.
I spend all day seeing examples of lawyers, doctors, corporate execs and prosecutors who put outrageous things on-line without thinking that they will come back to haunt them. Are they idiots? Perhaps. Are they demonstrably less competent than Munroe? Hardly. You give her far too much credit.
I’m totally on the side of this teacher. My mom was a teacher in the1970’s . Kids were awful at school then and just became progressively worse to each other and then the teachers. In my teen life I went to several school districts. I was a naughty kid. To those teachers who think they can judge having been fortunate enough to work at a school (junior high is the worst behaved ) in a community where more parents have quality rearing skills. Thank god, this teacher finally said something where everyone can hear. Kids have too many rights and abuse them. Faculty is often not backed by the administration. You have to truly love teaching and kids to swim in those kind of waters. My mother was kind enough to to suspend time with her husband, rent an apartment in another middle class school district just a few miles away and live alone with her rotten teen when I asked her to. Just so I could go to a school where I could concentrate because student behavior was just that much better. Parents have delusions that their kids aren’t major problems. This lady just used the same language she’s surrounded by. I love how the students got her in trouble and the little weasels were rewarded with her suspension. Teachers should be aloud to blog omitting names. Teaching can be excruciating and I’m sure one feels like a lone soldier with no one behind them. Kids blog to the point of driving other children to suicide. I think it’s great that a teacher can express her frustration in the the same arena. If kids want to tattle, fine. Maybe, one day a parent will take an honest appraisal of themselves and their family and not look for a scape goat because they’re in denial, finding it more important to appear the perfect mother and father. It sounds like Monroe’s school, has a full infestation of diseased minded kids that she’d have to stop teaching to make time for the amount of parent teacher conferences (which I doubt would make any difference) that would endlessly be needed. People hear that noise. That’s the the sound of your head finally popping out of your butt.
“This lady just used the same language she’s surrounded by.”
Rationalization. So she’s justified in talking like the high school students she detests? Terrible argument.
“I love how the students got her in trouble and the little weasels were rewarded with her suspension.”
Excuse me? Any student who found a blog where his teacher wrote things like this is obligated to let the school know. They weren’t “weasels.” the waesel was the teacher ridiculing them and the school behind their backs. Where are you values?
“Teachers should be aloud to blog omitting names.”
They are allowed, but when their comments interfere with their ability to hold the respect of the students, then they are toast, and properly so.
“Teaching can be excruciating and I’m sure one feels like a lone soldier with no one behind them.’
Then don’t do it. Simple. Do a job you can handle.
“Kids blog to the point of driving other children to suicide.”
What does this have to do with anything? Students are irresponsible so teachers should be too? Did you actually read what you wrote here?
“It sounds like Monroe’s school, has a full infestation of diseased minded kids that she’d have to stop teaching to make time for the amount of parent teacher conferences (which I doubt would make any difference) that would endlessly be needed.”
No—it sounds like this is what one burned out, bitter teachers thinks. You have no idea what the school, or the students, are really like, do you?
Your reality’s truly warped. What? do you work for the school district? I sat here a few minutes waiting. Why? I had a feeling you would be sitting and waiting to retaliate. Your behavior and your intense blogging says to me, you have to be right even when your wrong. I’m not gonna bother waiting here anymore. I think anyone reading this in the future will see. Your an obsessed nut with a personal agenda of his own. Bye.
Well, Morgan, THAT was certainly a civil and rational response to my points in rebuttal of your various pseudo-arguments. A rebuttal isn’t “retaliation,” name-calling isn’t an argument, and just saying someone is wrong without having any logical line of reasoning to back the claim up is not vaguely persuasive. Sorry you aren’t up to the challenge. I can be convinced I’m wrong about most things, but not with lame rationalizations, which as all you could muster. You’re welcome to try again if you can come up with anything more pithy than “you’re a nut.” Frankly, I don’t see that you have anything.
Visitors. No respect.
Hey—you just reminded me. Send my your last draft of the NP 2 privately, and we can finalize the revision.
Jack:
I could not agree w/ your comments more. This is not about free speech or whether she has a point. It is about professional conduct and being a role model for the students she teaches. Your points were excellent, well stated, and I agree 1000% with everything you said. I am in education, my parents were educators, as are most of my friends and family. I am also a parent. This woman does a disservice to the teaching profession and the students she “teaches.” It is time for her to move on. As you said, it is all about credibility and trust and she will never have that again. Nor should she. We are indeed free to say anything we want but we must also be willing to be accountable for what we say, how and when we say it, and accept the consequences of our words and deeds. If she is surprised that she is suspended and might be fired, she isn’t just unintelligent, she is delusional. I am appalled that there are a large number of people who seem to support what she has done. I truly cannot wrap my mind around that and it makes me even more pessimistic about the future of our kids and our society. Can we please go back to using some modicum of COMMON SENSE in this country? How can anyone sincerely argue that it is okay for a TEACHER to use vulgarities and ugly comments about students on a public blog site? Really???? I continue to be shocked by this kind of logic though I don’t know why I allow myself to be surprised anymore. Thanks for so beautifully stating all my thoughts on this topic. It’s heartening to know there are still intelligent people with high standards and common sense out there!
I don’t think we disagree that there has been a breach of ethics here; in fact, I’m showing this to my kids so they realize that the ‘net truly is a public forum where things thought should not always be written. We differ on the magnitude of the offense, and hence the appropriate response thereto. I do not suggest that there be no repercussions, but addressing subprofessional conduct on only one party will only exacerbate the problem. Punishing Ms Munroe alone is just appeasement a la Chamberlain.
Where should teachers go to tell the truth about school? Look for safe, supportive, solution-oriented vcnues specifically for teacher, ask the unions, ask the therapeutic community, ask the clergy. “They will all tell you the same thing, no, why ever would a teacher need support?”
So, let’s be fair and give the “Dunce” the benefit of seeing her side of the isolating, debilitating work of teaching in a nation that that pays for entertainment and gives education away. Students want cool teachers, they tell me, they diss teachers because they seem square and stodgey, perhaps because we are forbidden from talking like their favorite athletes and rap stars.
1. Who says she is telling the truth?
2. She was not interested in telling the truth. She wanted to vent, and chose a public venue—dumb, irresponsible.
3. I see her side clearly. The problem is that she’s supposed to be on her students’ side, and proved that she wasn’t.