There is appropriate behaviour and then there is inappropriate behaviour. Bullying a teacher is inappropriate – full stop! It doesn’t matter if it is in the classroom, the schoolyard or on Facebook – it’s not on. Students must refrain from slurring the reputation of their teachers. Is that so difficult to live with?
When a student calls his teacher a “douche bag” and “fat ass” on Facebook, and then gets suspended from school as result, you would think that the matter has been dealt with and all can move on. But that wasn’t the case when a grade 10 student in California referred to his teacher as a “fat ass who should stop eating fast food, and is a douche bag” in a Facebook post – apparently in reaction to getting a large pile of homework
Such a story should never have made the headlines or been discussed in the media.
Enter the ACLU – a U.S. charity that promotes free speech (and spends most of its time being a general nuisance). The ACLU couldn’t let the school get away with protecting its teacher from being verbally insulted online.
After learning about the incident, ACLU attorney Linda Lye wrote a letter to the school, asking it to reverse its decision to suspend the student.
She argued that the student’s post did not constitute cyberbullying because it did not “materially or substantially [disrupt] the school environment.” Also, he posted the status update from home during non-school hours.
Didn’t disrupt the school environment? Who do you think is responsible for establishing and maintaining the school environment? Teachers, Ms. Lye – teachers! What kind of school environment do you have where it’s considered acceptable to say nasty things about a teacher on Facebook?
And so what if the offence took place out of school. Does this mean a student can voice their displeasure about their teacher on talkback radio or graffiti insults at the local train station without any punishment? Let’s just hope our students don’t know any skywriters!
But there’s more:
“Schools have an obligation to provide a safe school environment,” wrote Lye. But “petty comments, insults, ordinary personality conflicts … don’t rise to the level of harassment.”
You see that’s the problem. Those insults were not petty, they were harmful. I am sure if Ms. Lye was the subject of similar comments on Facebook she wouldn’t find them so petty.
Of course ACLU were successful with the suspension subsequently erased from the student’s record.
Freedom of speech is not supposed to allow students to insult their teachers on Facebook. Teachers work every day to keep their credibility and authority intact. If we allow students to undermine their teachers without consequences, we are sending a terrible message that will have potentially severe ramifications for our education system.
Topical Teaching 