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Re: [Phys-l] Should teachers blog???



I am not necessarily defending that particular teacher, but there is an
important principle here. Can teachers say things which are true, but not
necessarily nice? The sort of things that the individual in question was
saying are exactly the types of things you hear in the teachers lounge,
except the students are named in the lounge.

While there is a lot of anger, there is also a lot of suppression of
information in the name of being nice and gentle. So the question is where
you draw the line. If you come out and say that 75% of the students do not
have proportional reasoning so they have poor reasoning, can that be
construed as being demeaning to students? If you say to students that they
have to improve their reasoning is that grounds for being called onto the
carpet? But that is exactly what administrators do. I know from personal
experience.

If you say publicly that student evaluations or teachers are worthless,
administrators will object. They can possibly even fire you.

So the question of academic freedom is not academic. To have the right to
express well founded opinions, you also have to have the right to spout
drivel. Some politicians do it all the time! Where does the line between
freedom of speech and the employer's rights lie? Remember that public
schools are government institutions so they must honor the laws and the
constitution. Private schools have a lot more leeway.

A lot of people are locked into jobs that they wish they could leave, but
have no idea of what to do as an alternative. So saying they should leave
teaching may not be reasonable. I know a lot of teachers who look at
students and say to themselves that certain ones are stupid. Sometimes it
will be express as Joey does not have a lot of wind in their sails.
Actually this comes from the conservative idea that IQ and intelligence are
fixed and can not be changed, so you can be stupid. Once you realize that
it is possible to improve thinking, then the equation is turned around.
Mazur and others in PER have demonstrated that students failed to learn
because of what we do.

Actually what this teacher in question is doing is just expressing what a
lot of her colleagues are thinking. So what is really needed is a paradigm
change on the part of many teachers. Firing this one will merely make the
opinion go underground and won't change any attitudes.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX



Having now read through all the posts in that thread, I'm amazed at
the number of teachers defending their "right" to complain about kids
in a public forum. You're right. If they are that angry about what's
going on in their classroom, they need to find a different profession.