Education Archives

Getting fired is bad, m'kay?
Posted on March 12, 2007 3:53 PM
I think I found an easier major than Undecided. Judging from this article, psychology majors must get to sleep in, party late, and take softer classes than star quarterbacks.

Check out this astonishing insight from MSU psychologist Richard Lucas...
But nobody had specifically looked at the impact of big life changes, such as marriage, divorce or unemployment, he said. He found that marriage buoyed the spirits for only about two years, after which the spouses were no happier than they had been as singles.

But divorce, he found, could plunge you permanently into the emotional dumps. So could losing your job.

His findings, based on several different studies, were published in the April issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.

On the plus side, he said, divorced people could climb back to the relative happiness they enjoyed as singles by getting remarried. But for those who had been fired, even finding a new job didn't completely repair the damage.
You can tell this is professional journalism by all the sentences started with "but." There's your news flash, getting fired is depressing. Got any other deep thoughts Doc?

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Things not to say to your students
Posted by Fired Fred on May 30, 2007 4:44 PM
I really don't get it. Every time a teacher misbehaves with his or her students these days, it makes news. Especially if there is even a hint of sex involved.

Gregory Durio made a smattering of comments to his high school class that left his school board unanimously deciding to fire him, and a reporter plenty of money quotes from Teach that I'll share with you...
Durio was accused of and admitted to:

-- telling a girl she could put on fishnet stockings and get a job as a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas.

-- asking a girl who wanted to leave class to use the restroom if it was because of “feminine hygiene.�

-- telling a girl who told the class she enjoyed brushing her teeth with an electric toothbrush that he didn’t want to hear her 'vibrator story.'

-- telling a male student that he has a friend named Dick who was getting married to a woman named Fanny.
I just live for this kind of carelessness. It makes the world a nicer place. The Futon Of Love even feels comfier today. Life is good.
Teacher flunks Hysterical Parents 101
Posted by Fired Fred on September 20, 2007 4:05 PM
I know I would have liked having a teacher who assigned edgy graphic novels as reading material.

Not everyone feels quite the same way, which is why Nate Fisher had to quit his English teacher job...
The book, one of a series of comic book novels by Daniel Clowes, is called "Eightball #22." It includes references to rape, various sex acts and murder, as well as images of a naked woman, and a peeping tom watching a woman in the shower.

"It’s not even like a gray area," the father said. "It’s clearly over the line."

He said Fisher gave the student the book almost three weeks ago to make up for a summer reading assignment. The book is not part of the school’s regular curriculum.
I'll give him an A for taste and an F for handing Eightball #22 to a 14 year old girl. The parents sound like some seriously joyless people. If they think they're being shocked now, wait until their princess arrives on a college campus for her first Rush Week.

Image courtesy of Fantagraphics Books
Professor snakebit over Adam and Eve
Posted by Fired Fred on September 25, 2007 4:12 PM
You have to understand that we really don't have free speech in this country. There are "third rails" you just can't touch and expect people to handle a critical observation without getting emotional and trying to punch a ticket for a courtroom jackpot.

So this community college professor got fired for treating his students like thinking adults...
Adjunct professor Steve Bitterman said administrators at Southwestern Community College in Red Oak sided with students who became upset when he called parts of the Old Testament a fairy tale that should not be interpreted literally.

He made the comment in a class last Tuesday and was fired two days later.
Even better, he told one of these poor little crybabies to pop a Prozac. Being a good American, she ran straight to a lawyer...
Both sides say the conflict arose from remarks Bitterman made in a Western Civilization class about the biblical story of Adam and Eve. He said he approached the topic from an academic and symbolic standpoint, rather than a factual one. Bitterman maintains he wanted to spark debate. But he instead sparked a controversy over academic freedom and the perceived lack of support from administrators for part-time teachers.

Bitterman said the Prozac comment was a joke meant to disarm a student who "was screeching at me."
Sorry professor, but there are just some things you can't do. Treating young adults like adults is one of them. Hope you're not a bitter man after this. Oh, sorry, I guess you are.
Lunch lady loses her meal ticket
Posted by Fired Fred on December 27, 2007 8:46 PM
Did Iowa take a dose of silly pills this year? Yesterday I had a post about a would-be romance novelist fired for lusting and typing on the job.

Like the author, today's fired person also had unemployment benefits denied in Iowa. Unlike the author, the fired lunch lady deserves more derision than a snarky blog post can provide. Seems Nancy Harvey had a problem with feeding hungry, broke kids...
State records indicate Harvey was reprimanded twice and suspended once for allegedly grabbing, yelling at and embarrassing students who didn't have enough money to pay for their meals.

In at least two instances, the students were reduced to tears. Harvey allegedly told one supervisor that the children "didn't deserve to eat because they didn't have money."
One second grader told Nutso Nancy his mom was flat broke and they didn't have anything to eat at home.

I'd like to think the forces of karma have something in store for Nutso Nancy, and other people who abuse little kids. Preferably payback would involve a speeding bus, a meaty collision, and someone spending a few days twitching in a snowbank before anyone realized she was there.

Too much? Not really, since the principal told Nutso Nancy he'd pay for meals himself when the situation came up. The real shame is there doesn't seem to be any way to hit her with a criminal charge of some kind.
You can't teach with a gun in your truck
Posted on February 13, 2008 5:16 PM
Scratch one popular myth about Florida. There are places you can't carry a gun, even though there's probably enough guns in Miami alone to make South Beach the third most heavily armed nation on the planet.

In Polk County, the school board decided they were so horrified by Phillip Bradley having a nine in his truck that he had to be fired...
A hearing officer had recommended just a 90-day suspension, but school board members said that would have set a bad example for students.

Bradley said he was sorry for his students. He also said he felt as if the board was making an example of him in an election year.
If they really wanted to make an example for the kiddies, the teachers should haul out the 2006 crime report for Polk County and explain how tossing the truck mechanics teacher made the school safer. Three thousand violent crimes, population of a little over half a million? You'd be stupid not to get a gun permit.
Head-tapping teacher sues over firing
Posted on March 5, 2008 4:48 PM
Even though it's been a couple of years, Mavis Tjon waited for her day in court. She got tossed from West Fargo for getting a student's attention by tapping him on the head.

The report doesn't say if she tapped him with a finger or a pipe wrench, but whatever she did ticked off the school district. They don't allow corporal punishment, like pretty much every other school in the country.

If you ever wondered why kids act like little punk-asses in need of a good beating, this is part of the reason why. Mavis isn't accused of anything more than violating school policy.

She thinks she was wrongfully fired. Blame the kinds of ridiculous zero tolerance policies that get kids expelled for bringing an Advil to school for this kind of reaction from her old employer.

If she belted the kid with a trombone or some other brass instrument, I can't really support that. Sorry.