Did you hear about the high school teacher that got dooced?
Dooced: to lose one’s job because of one’s website.
There was a high school teacher at Fegner High in Chicago who had a blog called "Fast Times at Regnef High". In it he complained about fellow teachers, the students, and his job there in general. All was going well until he decided that he wanted someone to read it. He told some fellow teachers about it. No sooner than he did, knowledge of the site leaked from those teachers to other teachers and on to the students. The story hit the papers in Chicago and got some exposure nationally. You can imagine what happened next. Everyone got rather upset about his unflattering descriptions of them. The teacher has not returned to his job recently as he is "afraid for his life."
I have some level of sympathy for the teacher. He started the blog as a stress relief from his job. Teaching in an inner city school is rather stressful especially when you are dealing with an uninterested student body, an underfunded school district, and other teachers who have long since lost the desire to really teach. I have a friend who was teaching in an inner city school in St. Louis but quit after his first year because he couldn't take it any more.
That said, the teacher in question failed to undestand one of the basic tenants of free speech. You can say what you want as long as you are prepared to accept the consequences. I can say that all men are pigs, but I should be prepared to accept the scorn of my fellow men. The teacher in question was not prepared to accept the consequences of what he said. He said it anonymously and viciously. That he said it in a public manner and then publicized it is stupid but immaterial to the point that he was not willing to stand behind his statements.
The good in this story, if there is any, comes from the reaction of the rest of the school. They are attempting to use this in a constructive manner to address some of the issues and perceptions raised by the blog. And they are doing it without the teacher in question whose fitness as an educator is somewhat in doubt.
There was a high school teacher at Fegner High in Chicago who had a blog called "Fast Times at Regnef High". In it he complained about fellow teachers, the students, and his job there in general. All was going well until he decided that he wanted someone to read it. He told some fellow teachers about it. No sooner than he did, knowledge of the site leaked from those teachers to other teachers and on to the students. The story hit the papers in Chicago and got some exposure nationally. You can imagine what happened next. Everyone got rather upset about his unflattering descriptions of them. The teacher has not returned to his job recently as he is "afraid for his life."
I have some level of sympathy for the teacher. He started the blog as a stress relief from his job. Teaching in an inner city school is rather stressful especially when you are dealing with an uninterested student body, an underfunded school district, and other teachers who have long since lost the desire to really teach. I have a friend who was teaching in an inner city school in St. Louis but quit after his first year because he couldn't take it any more.
That said, the teacher in question failed to undestand one of the basic tenants of free speech. You can say what you want as long as you are prepared to accept the consequences. I can say that all men are pigs, but I should be prepared to accept the scorn of my fellow men. The teacher in question was not prepared to accept the consequences of what he said. He said it anonymously and viciously. That he said it in a public manner and then publicized it is stupid but immaterial to the point that he was not willing to stand behind his statements.
The good in this story, if there is any, comes from the reaction of the rest of the school. They are attempting to use this in a constructive manner to address some of the issues and perceptions raised by the blog. And they are doing it without the teacher in question whose fitness as an educator is somewhat in doubt.
posted by mypetrock at 9:39 AM
1 Comments:
His fitness as an educator isn't necessarily in doubt. I wouldn't trust him to teach logic or science, since he doesn't seem able to predict possible consequences of an action, but he'd probably be fine to teach history or english or a foreign language.
-rev_matt_y
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