Do you think this is a reviewable offense from a teacher?

Question

I am the editor of a school newspaper, and we had a slight misquote where we accidentally printed "impossible" instead of "possible." I know it changes the meaning of the quote, but the teacher totally blew it out of proportion.

I have it in writing that she called our reporter "braindead." In addition, she wrote nasty emails in ALL CAPS and making "demands" of us.

Is this enough to send a teacher through a formal review process? I think it's a pretty serious offense to call one of the students in the school that you work for "braindead."

Answer 1

The Teacher has indeed gone beyond the behaviour of what is expected of an Adult instructing young Adults. If it was a genuine mistake then she should have listened to your side of the argument and then made a judgement on the consequences of what has happened. However, we all do something we later regret sometimes and I think a lot of this has been done without much thought of the consequences of her actions. Try to reason with the Teacher that you are still learning how to do journalism and that mistakes in typing do occur. If she is then still unreasonable then go and see your Head Principal and explain what has happened to see if it can be resolved informally or formally.

Answer 2

Lol.. its bad but not "re-viewable bad". LOL...

its not s bad as working for a real commercial newspaper and getting sued for misquote...Oh wait your on school newspaper and can still get sued if the quote resulted in something malicious..or brought harm to a teacher's rep.. call it even and let it go.

I would say measure your consequences.. and priorities..and decide if its worth a bit of inconvenience..

Answer 3

I don't even think it matters, but did you retract the quote in the next paper? Either way, it's not really acceptable. It was a mistake, and like you said, blown way out of proportion. I think there should be some sort of consequence for the name calling.

Answer 4

Yes, in my opinion, it would be an issue that would have to be reviewed. If she blew a small newspaper quote that far out of proportion, who knows what else she could be blowing out of proportion? Her grading could be very out of whack, she could be a teacher that picks "favorites" and never fails them, and so on.



So, if I were you or them, I would definitely try and get this in for review. Good luck.

Answer 5

I suggest going, with one or both parents, to discuss the matter with the principal. Be calm, and you are more likely to succeed. You want YOUR behavior to contrast with that of the teacher, remember. Also, bring a copy of that e-mail.



Best of luck -- I am a teacher myself, and want desparately for the idiots in my profession to be driven into other lines of work.