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    Metro-CarnieClover Hope
    6/24/16 10:47am

    I have every sympathy for these teachers. Little Hudson is a fucking idiot.

    Just, I dunno, keep it on personal email or something.

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      xkspMetro-Carnie
      6/24/16 10:51am

      Hudson is an idiot because she didn’t know how to spell Ta-Nehisi Coates’s name? Seriously?

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      thetallblonde loves twinjaMetro-Carnie
      6/24/16 10:58am

      i’m going to re-post my reply to everyone who think these teachers’ comments are ok:

      if you are a teacher and you genuinely want to see your students fail, or you want to physically harm them, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PROFESSION.

      this is more than blowing off steam.

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    MisfitToyClover Hope
    6/24/16 10:47am

    Whatever, teachers aren’t saints and everyone has to blow off steam about their work. It’s also a well known fact that teenagers are awful (I can say that, having once been an awful teen myself). Maybe work on your firewalls or something.

    You should hear what your doctors say about you.

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      Lana, Lana,...LANAAAAAA!!!MisfitToy
      6/24/16 10:50am

      Seriously, I guessed their mistake may be writing it down somewhere, but I honestly don’t give a crap about teachers venting.

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      JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereMisfitToy
      6/24/16 10:51am

      So expressing a desire to physically harm a child under your care and calling them fucking idiots is totes cool?

      Nah.

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    SheeshTheseNamesClover Hope
    6/24/16 10:46am

    You know, if it were just teachers making sarcastic, exasperated remarks and blowing off steam, I would think nothing of it. But to refer to children as fucking idiots and hope they fail—while being part of the group that can actually make that happen—goes too far. I had a teacher who had it out for in 7th grade and she absolutely lowered my grades based on nothing more than personal dislike. Adults need to be better than that.

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      stroderealtySheeshTheseNames
      6/24/16 10:52am

      Exactly. Calling kids fucking idiots when you're literally the one who is supposed to be educating them... Says so much more about the teachers, really. This is more than blowing off steam, these are nasty remarks.

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      Flamingo83SheeshTheseNames
      6/24/16 11:05am

      Yup I had a middle school teacher that disliked me (mocha Mexican skin) so much she shut me out of advanced programs for high school based on her recommendations. When I was in the regular classes the science and math teacher recommended I transfer to advanced classes midterm. Hell the AP teachers talked to my parents about having me in their classes since they were certain I would be able to test out of basic college classes.

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    HobbylobbyistClover Hope
    6/24/16 10:56am

    I would respectfully suggest that understanding that nothing posted online is ever private is a more vital life skill than knowing how to correctly spell Ta-Nehisi Coates.

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      xkspHobbylobbyist
      6/24/16 10:57am

      Nailed it.

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      kiisseliHobbylobbyist
      6/24/16 11:22am

      Ha!

      Is this a safe space to admit that I’ve known how to spell Ta-Nehesi Coates for years from reading his work in the Atlantic.....but didn’t know how to correctly say it aloud until shockingly recently?

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    BusPassTrollop curls up and diesClover Hope
    6/24/16 10:59am

    I mean to be fair if a student is referring to someone’s work they need to fucking know how to spell said person’s name. Come the fuck on.

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      cutecuteBusPassTrollop curls up and dies
      6/24/16 11:31am

      While you’re sitting high and mighty about grammar I think it’s important to point out that your sentence could use a few commas

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      BusPassTrollop curls up and diescutecute
      6/24/16 11:39am

      Yes, because I’m in an academic environment right now, in the comments section of Jezebel. Ok cool, thank you so much for letting me know.

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    deerlady83Clover Hope
    6/24/16 11:13am

    At times, teachers do need to vent about students. It can be frustrating and wearing at times. The difference is we don’t wish them to fail or mock them for not knowing things. The things they were saying move past the line of venting to being mean. Frankly, they were dumb as hell to write it down.

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      wafflesfriendsworkdeerlady83
      6/24/16 11:20am

      My thoughts exactly. Both of my parents have been teachers and I’ve heard them complain about students—the difference is I never heard them say things that were just mean and nasty. If you want to be an effective teacher, you can’t be so disdainful of your students.

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      Count_Zero_Interruptdeerlady83
      6/24/16 11:20am

      Yeah. In my opinion it’s not just about venting, it’s about the kind of comments they’re making. And these comments are fucking juvenile. They sound like whiny kids themselves.

      Teachers don’t have to be bffs with their students, but they should at a bare minimum display more maturity and judgment than this.

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    HaHaYouFoolClover Hope
    6/24/16 11:10am

    Oh, boy. Popcorn gifs about how the comments are about to get all crazy aside, let’s actually talk about the problem here.

    Teenagers are The Worst(TM). Working with them on a day-to-day basis is a real, honest-to-god challenge, and teachers need some compassion for that. They need to be able to blow off steam when they are frustrated and feel stymied by all the various things that make their job teaching teenagers so damn hard.

    And, perhaps, in some contexts, the statement GOD I CANNOT WITH HER I HOPE SHE FUCKING FAILS (etc.) may be, simply, a moment when the teacher’s better angels are drowned out by the alarm bells of the constant stress of dealing with frustrating behavior by the students. I think we all know lovely people who are very good parents who, in private moments with their friends, have made similar expressions about wringing their kids’ necks, etc. We know it’s not a real threat or a reflection of how they feel about their kid, just an honest expression of the frustration of that moment.

    HOWEVER, we’re all adults with working brains here, and we understand that context matters. When the exasperated statements about failing and being an idiot, etc., are consistent, and paired with dismissive, discriminatory behavior towards the kids, it becomes clear that those comments are not indicative of an isolated stressful moment, but rather a more comprehensive perspective about that kid’s worth. The uproar her isn’t about policing specific language voiced in private between teachers, it’s about uncovering a poisonous attitude about the students that adversely affects how the teachers relate to them which has a dramatic impact on how the kids see themselves, each other, and their ability to learn.

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      AltairaMorbius2200ADHaHaYouFool
      6/24/16 11:41am

      People who work with teenagers should not think that they’re the worst. I’m a middle school teacher, and I understand that many of them are having a terrible time, but I’d rather be with them than two-year-olds, who are the actual worst. Teenagers are HILARIOUS and a fun challenge.

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      HaHaYouFoolAltairaMorbius2200AD
      6/24/16 11:53am

      Fair point!

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    litigiousmindClover Hope
    6/24/16 10:48am

    Oh FFS. These teachers were privately blowing off steam. This hacker is a dick for making the students see these comments.

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      Apricot Poodle Riding Eeyore Across a Rainbowlitigiousmind
      6/24/16 10:56am

      Using the school-sanctioned workflow software to do it is not ok.

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      Hobbylobbyistlitigiousmind
      6/24/16 10:57am

      There’s no such thing as private on the interweb.

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    The Real JanelleClover Hope
    6/24/16 12:21pm

    Eh. I’m a teacher and I’m sure I’ve called a kid a fucking idiot in private before. I’ve never said I’d hit them, but yeah, sometimes you’re exasperated because teaching is really fucking hard. Still, I can do that AND also be very respectful at my job and dedicate some time to every student to find out wtf is going on that makes the class difficult for them, and offer options and be generally flexible with stuff when students are respectful and honest. Don’t ask of me to just never be frustrated, because then it’s even more likely that I *will* take it on the kids.

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      miss_cheviousThe Real Janelle
      6/24/16 12:29pm

      Jesus, thank you. The venting is often what makes it possible to act properly with the students.

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      Zenmommy47The Real Janelle
      6/24/16 1:28pm

      You are a horrible teacher and any teacher that called my kid a fucking idiots better pray to WHOEVER that I don’t find out. My tax dollars pay your salary. I do my part being an involved passionate parent, you do the same as a teacher. If there is a problem with a subject my child is learning you better figure it out and communicate with me. I don’t care about your frustration, I care about my child and their progress. You can frustrate your assistance back to the classroom and suck it the fuck up.

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    dcgirl13Clover Hope
    6/24/16 11:04am

    This is why you don’t blow off steam in writing. Not just so you don’t get fired when it’s leaked, but because you’ll damage relationships that are required to do the job.

    The mangling of Ta-Nehisi Coates is the kind of thing people want to blow off steam about. But you’ve lost your effectiveness as a teacher once a kids hears you called them an idiot over it.

    Do your venting orally, in private, with people you trust.

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      kiisselidcgirl13
      6/24/16 11:17am

      Yeah, the line about Ta-Nehesi Coates is the one piece of this that feels somewhat sympathetic to me. I’ll sometimes message other teaching friends about students mangling things to a similar degree. THE DIFFERENCE IS, though, that I’ll usually follow up with something like ‘howww?’ or ‘I’m failing them’ (half kidding/half serious) as opposed to ‘fucking idiot’. Frustration happens, but the latter reveals a level of contempt that’s totally toxic to a teaching environment. Another difference - when blowing off steam, I never use names, and these teaching friends work in other schools with zero possible contact with the students in question.

      Revealing all these errors in judgement, letting their attitudes get completely fucking rotten and nasty, fantasizing about going above and beyond and being violent....and doing so in writing? These teachers deserve any consequences they receive.

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      dcgirl13kiisseli
      6/24/16 11:23am

      Yeah, it seemed like lots of rage. Of if it really wasn’t it’s completely lost in writing.

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