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Where does our right to free speech end today?
Natalie Munroe, a teacher in Pennsylvania, posted a blog over a year ago. She and her friends commented on each other's lives. Shared frustrations and triumphs. Built a place where they could be themselves, speak freely, and exercise what most of us would consider our right to free speech. And, if this had been weekly conversations over the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a plate of cookies, we would never have known how Natalie felt about anything at all. Which is exactly what most of us do, daily, on MySpace, Facebook, and other forms of social media.
However, when you put it out there, you have to be prepared for anyone to see it. And, in most cases, the response would be "So what?”. After all, you can overhear people saying some of the most outrageous, sarcastic and poisonous comments standing in line at the grocery store, thanks to cell phones and hands free devices. Usually, we just tune it out. It really isn't our business, and it isn't like most of us don't have the same kind of opinions about people or events in our own lives.
In the case of written opinions on the Internet, the answer should probably be that if you don't like it, don't read it. Or don't go poking around looking for something you might not like. If you watch any of the judge shows on television today, you will probably hear at least one lawsuit based on comments on Facebook or MySpace. And in almost every case, the judgment is that someone stating an opinion is not against the law. Often, the judge will also remind the Plaintiff of the old saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me”.
My grandmother used to say "Don't ask the question if you don't want to hear the answer." Of course, she also used to say "Just because you can do something, doesn't always mean you should do it.". Grandma was a pretty smart lady.
I would be the first person to say that I don't have what it takes to be a teacher. I have always known this about myself. I don't have the patience, dedication, imagination or mindset to do that job. When I think about the various things teachers have to do today, I get a stress headache. So I always tried to apply that self awareness when talking to my daughter's teachers. She is grown now, but I remember vividly many of her teachers through the years.
Speaking now as a parent, I have to say that there were some teachers who left me with an indelible impression of kindness, capability, fairness and empathy. I valued their input during parent/teacher conferences. I tried hard to take their advice, and I believe my daughter benefited from being in their classes. I also was left with a similarly indelible impression by other teachers. And the impression was not positive. This was not because they may have been critical of my child. No one is perfect at everything. And I was always open to hearing where my daughter could improve her work, or her attention to the task at hand. As a parent, I felt this was my job. I was her first teacher, and I was raised to believe that parents and teachers worked together for the benefit of the child. Call me old fashioned.
Some of the teachers I encountered were obviously tired of fighting the good fight. The minute you saw their face, you knew that the next 20 minutes were going to be unpleasant. Or, in some cases, not helpful or informative. I had one teacher spend her 20 minutes with me telling me how frustrated she was with teaching, how tired she was of dealing with her students, and how much she resented having to talk to me, as well as the other parents, since we weren't going to do anything about our children anyway. True story.
I didn't blame the teacher described above for her attitude of despair. And it would never have occurred to me to contact the school administration and complain about her. OK - I didn't like her after that. But my reaction was to get a tutor for my daughter for that class, to compensate for what I believed to be battle fatigue on the part of the teacher.
So my question today is: Why does the posting of an opinion by a teacher on a blog
