April 11, 2012 - 6:32 p.m.
Most people don't
they say... don't reveal weakness.
some stay bottled up.
not me.
when I am hurt, I don't lash out,
I puff up, I spill, I recoil and spread
What kind of career, other than this,
can you expect
that it will be considered part and parcel
to face hate speech, verbal abuse and ... disrespect,
without recourse.
'in the private sector you'd never be treated like garbage the way we are'
at first I thought she was flapping canary wings for the sound effects alone
but in 4 years
- 1 lunge, swing and a sheepish adolescent later learns to dance, socially
- 1 'can I fuck your mother'
- 1 letter on file because a parent of a poorly placed lump of a child is pissed because I allowed a choice...
I'm corrupting the minors ... with material that is tame compared to what they hear in the hallways.
-my 'feelings are hurt' according to inept admin who need to have me repeat the word 'homophobia' several times before they can attach/find its meaning and attach it to the 'dance is for faggots' comments thrown by loser, low-lifes...
I cannot defend myself, but I can defend them.
I can defend a student's right to come to school and feel safe. I will fight tooth and nail for them.
Why then, do we recoil and collapse in our own defense?
Why can New York fitted cap asshole scream at me, lie to me and say 'I guess you'd better get to class'... shoe-fly me away and
tail-tucked, I go... because they know we know
we have no power here.
I can't even name one in 2400 let alone a million
and I cannot say with the force it merits,
that I am angry
that we've been asked to be okay with
being so vulnerable.
we are held to this standard
and the standard sticks
but routinely, we are maligned, cut, cut down, and subjected
to abuse
and we aren't even allowed to say so.
without being 'unprofessional'.
If twitter had been dealt with... dare I say it... the 'problem' and it wasn't just the dad's firing rounds into their kid's laptops,
and the admin had our back
at all, rather than just the hand of the higher-ups, pulling themselves up,
maybe we'd be shielded from this fallout
but instead, the same kids who lash out and learn that it's okay to speculate about the personal life of your teacher, to slander and attack her on one forum
are the same who take it to new levels where other social media are concerned.
Disgusting. And all - up in arms - if it's them... not us. like we aren't people. and we keep calm, carry on... hold our heads up high.
and while I watch this next thing unfold, I recoil. grossed out by the pit of my stomach feeling of been there... called it.
last time, they did nothing.
this time... they did ...
nothing.
how many teenage meangirls will it take
to break our silence?
How many IEPs or plain old bad attitudes will we swallow before someone says - it's not okay to call your sweet, fair teacher a whore and say she will always be alone because she is deducting late marks for work that is ... late? or that calling your teacher a faggot is a hate-crime not part of some kids exceptionality.
What are we teaching? Except tail-tucking and turning the other cheek?
