Teacher Natalie Munroe: Keepin’ it real

Last May, I wrote a post Weep For Today’s Youth, pointing out how depressing it was to watch how lazy and clueless kids have become.  Its nice to know that I’m not alone in this assessment.  Newly minted blogging sensation, Natalie Munroe shares my disgust.  This stance has resulted in a suspension from her job as a Pennsylvania high school English teacher.  Natalie liked to blow off steam by blogging about how her students at Central Bucks East High School were “lazy,” “frightfully dim” and “rat-like.”

For almost a year and a half, Munroe had blogged quietly about muffins, Food Network stars, her favorite movies and her job. And then someone at school found out and all hell broke loose.  She got suspended and a national debate has been launched about teacher’s free speech rights and the feelings of students.

In the aftermath, Natalie Munroe has done the morning talk show circuit to defend herself. “I’m sorry it was taken out of context but I stand by what I said.”

“I was writing it not about anyone specific. They were caricatures of students that I’ve had over the years, things that I would say if we weren’t limited in the canned comments that we’re allowed to write. And again, it was partially meant tongue in cheek for me and my friends.”

Thanks to Google’s cache some of Natalie Munroe’s best line are here:

“When I was first teaching, I put a lot of time and effort into the comments because I felt it was a great way to communicate the students’ efforts. Then it got to be a complete pain in the ass, just one more thing standing between me and being done with the report cards, and suddenly I realized why I’d always gotten the same comments from my teachers: they didn’t want to do them any more than I do,” she wrote.

“Also, as the kids get worse and worse, I find that the canned comments don’t accurately express my true sentiments about them. So now I pretty much choose ‘Cooperative in Class’ for every kid (or, in some instances, will speak in other codes. For instance, if they talk a lot, I’ll put ‘is easily distracted’ or ‘talks persistently’; if it’s a kid that has no personality, I’ll put ‘ability to work independently’). For some kids, though, my scornful feelings reach such fever pitch that I have a hard time even putting ‘cooperative in class’ and have, sadly, had some kids for which none of the comments fit.”

Munroe went on in the same post to list some of the comments she would “like to see added to the canned comment list.” They include:

* “Concerned your kid is automaton, as she just sits there emotionless for an entire 90 minutes, staring into the abyss, never volunteering to speak or do anything.”

* “Too smart for her own good and refuses to play the school ‘game’ such that she’ll never live up to her true potential here.”

* “Seems smarter than she actually is.”

* “Has no business being in Honors.”

* “A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically OK, your child has no other redeeming qualities.”

* “Lazy.”

* “Shy isn’t cute in 11th grade; it’s annoying. Must learn to advocate for himself instead of having Mommy do it.”

* “Dunderhead.”

* “Nowhere near as good as her sibling. Are you sure they’re related?”

* “Rat-like.”

* “Frightfully dim.”

* “Just as bad as his sibling. Don’t you know how to raise kids?”

* “Dresses like a streetwalker.”

* “Whiny, simpering grade-grubber with an unrealistically high perception of own ability level.”

To all the critics– I ask you to stop and make sure that your daughters aren’t dressing like streetwalkers.  Make sure that you aren’t making excuses for crass and rude behavior from your sons. If parents did their jobs, then Natalie Munroe wouldn’t have been so frustrated.   Like any good blogger Natalie is still at it.  Only instead of blogging about high school kids, she’s documenting the weirdness of instant celebrity. Hopefully she gets her job back.  Maybe she’ll write a book on parenting or she’ll replace Judge Judy.