Pa. teacher strikes nerve with 'lazy whiners' blog

[pauldun170]

Pa. teacher strikes nerve with 'lazy whiners' blog
By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press Patrick Walters, Associated Press 26 mins ago

FEASTERVILLE, Pa. – A high school English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was suspended for a profanity-laced blog in which she called her young charges "disengaged, lazy whiners" is driving a sensation by daring to ask: Why are today's students unmotivated — and what's wrong with calling them out?

As she fights to keep her job at Central Bucks East High School, 30-year-old Natalie Munroe says she had no interest in becoming any sort of educational icon. The blog has been taken down, but its contents can still be found easily online.

Her comments and her suspension by the middle-class school district have clearly touched a nerve, with scores of online commenters applauding her for taking a tough love approach or excoriating her for verbal abuse. Media attention has rained down, and backers have started a Facebook group.

"My students are out of control," Munroe, who has taught 10th, 11th and 12th grades, wrote in one post. "They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire, and are just generally annoying."

And in another post, Munroe — who is more than eight months pregnant — writes: "Kids! They are disobedient, disrespectful oafs. Noisy, crazy, sloppy, lazy LOAFERS." She also comes up with a colorful list of comments that she felt should be available on student report cards.

Munroe did not use her full name or identify her students or school in the blog, which she started in August 2009 for friends and family. Last week, she said, students brought it to the attention of the school, which suspended her with pay.

"They get angry when you ask them to think or be creative," Munroe said of her students in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The students are not being held accountable."

Munroe pointed out that she also said positive things, but she acknowledges that she did write some things out of frustration — and of a feeling that many kids today are being given a free pass at school and at home.

"Parents are more trying to be their kids' friends and less trying to be their parent," Munroe said, also noting students' lack of patience. "They want everything right now. They want it yesterday."

One of Munroe's former students, who now attends McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., said he was torn by his former teacher's comments. Jeff Shoolbraid said he thought much of what Munroe said was true and that she had a right to voice her opinion, but felt her comments were out of line for a teacher.

"Whatever influenced her to say what she did is evidence as to why she simply should not teach," Shoolbraid wrote in an e-mail to the AP. "I just thought it was completely inappropriate. As far as motivated high school students, she's completely correct. High school kids don't want to do anything. .. It's a teacher's job, however, to give students the motivation to learn."

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association declined to comment Tuesday because he said the group may represent Munroe. Messages left for the Central Bucks School District superintendent were not returned Monday or Tuesday.

Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, said school districts are navigating uncharted territory when it comes to teachers' online behavior. Often, districts want teachers to have more contact with students and their families, yet give little guidance on how teachers should behave online even as students are more plugged in than they've ever been.

"This is really murky stuff," she said. "When you have a teacher using their blog to berate their students, maybe that's a little less murky. But the larger issue is, I think, districts are totally unprepared to deal with this."

Munroe has hired an attorney, who said that she had the right to post her thoughts on the blog and that it's a free speech issue. The attorney, Steven Rovner, said the district has led Munroe to believe that she will eventually lose her job.

"She could have been any person, any teacher in America writing about their lives," he said, pointing out that Munroe blogged about 85 times and that only about 15 to 20 of the posts involved her being a teacher. "It's honest and raw and a little edgy depending on your taste. ... She has a deep frustration for the educational system in America."

Rovner said that he would consider legal action if indeed Munroe loses her job.

"She did it as carefully as she could," he said about her blog. "It's so general that it applies to the problems in school districts and schools across the country."

___

Associated Press writer Dorie Turner in Atlanta contributed to this report.

[the chi]

Go her. Boo to the school system.

Out of curiousity, since when is it a teacher's job to do anything but teach? They aren't paid to keep kids in school, off drugs, or motivated and involved. I thought that was a parent's job?

[Sixxxxer]

I cant say I disagree with her

[shmike]

Originally Posted by Sixxxxer

I cant say I disagree with her

I could but that is a lot of typing and I don't want to bother

[KSGregman]

Originally Posted by the chi

...since when is it a teacher's job to do anything but teach? They aren't paid to keep kids in school, off drugs, or motivated and involved. i thought that was a parent's job?

a-fucking-men!!!!!!

[defector]

If you are a teacher, DON'T FUCKING BLOG. First the reformed whore in NY, now this. Doesn't end well.

[L8 Braker]

Often, the truth hurts...

[azoomm]

Originally Posted by the chi

Go her. Boo to the school system.

Out of curiousity, since when is it a teacher's job to do anything but teach? They aren't paid to keep kids in school, off drugs, or motivated and involved. I thought that was a parent's job?

This was exactly her point.

However, as a general rule it is never a good idea to put something in writing that can bite you on the ass.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by the chi

Go her. Boo to the school system.

Out of curiousity, since when is it a teacher's job to do anything but teach? They aren't paid to keep kids in school, off drugs, or motivated and involved. I thought that was a parent's job?

Exactly.

Parents long ago abrogated their responsibility to actually instill values in their children, preferring to leaver it to teachers. More than once I've heard high school teachers and university professors make comments that have me shaking my head, over what goes on in parents' minds these days.

"Johnny can't afford to get an F on that paper. He'll never get into a good school!" That one is a pretty common complaint. Well maybe Johnny should have thought about that before he left the paper until the night before, then submitted an illegible and unresearched piece of trash?

In the spirit of full disclosure, though, I was one of those kids who waited until the day before an assignment was due, before ever setting pen to paper. I also rarely studied for tests. Then again apparently I could get away with it, since I won an honours award in high school and a bursary in college.

[Particle Man]

Originally Posted by azoomm

This was exactly her point.

However, as a general rule it is never a good idea to put something in writing that can bite you on the ass.

Pretty much.