The Life of an Introvert

When Teachers Don't Like You

Remember earlier on when I talked about how some teachers misunderstood quiet children or sometimes underestimated them? Well, this is somewhat different. This lady just really seems to dislike them.

So I saw some news article about this teacher named Natelie Munro. She started a blog online about how she really felt about her students.

Honestly, I know that everyone, teachers included, gets frustrated with people. Yes, we sometimes cannot help what we think. This woman, however, did not seem to understand that what goes online stays online, ready for everyone everywhere to see.

Anyway, the reason I am talking about this is that it seems Munro had a bone to pick with the quiet kids. Here are some of the lovely things she had to say.

"A kid that has no personality."

"She just sits there emotionless for an entire 90 minutes, staring into the abyss, never volunteering to do or speak anything."

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

I get that when a person or a student seems stubbornly quiet or refuses to participate in class, it can be frustrating for a teacher, but I've never seen such spiteful comments about kids who are simply quieter from a teacher.

Let's look at this a little bit closer, shall we? I'll post here what she said, and what my very pleasant responses are. (Seriously, this time I promise my responses are actually pleasant).

What she said: "A kid that has no personality."

-Assuming she was talking about a quiet kid, being a quiet or shy person in general does not mean you have no personality. Everyone has a personality. No two people act the same. Being quiet by itself means you have a personality. It means you reflect on things deeply. Maybe it means you're more of a calm person in general. I'm quiet. I still have a personality.

What she said: "She just sits there emotionless for an entire 90 minutes, staring into the abyss, never volunteering to do or speak anything."

-So what? Some people don't like to express their emotions that much. Some people hate being the first one to go volunteer. For all we know, this girl is having problems at home and simply cannot enjoy school. Just don't be nasty to her. I was always more likely to speak up in a class where the teacher was friendly and accepting. If the teacher is unfriendly and impatient, the kid probably isn't going to want to speak up as much or volunteer to do as much stuff.

Or maybe she stares into the abyss because the abyss stares back at her. Brownie points for anyone who got that reference.

There are things you can do as a teacher to encourage class participation besides simply complaining about the students who don't participate. For this teacher's and this student's sake, I hope Munroe was at least trying to do that.

Here's our last one

What she said: "Shy isn't cute in 11th grade; it's annoying. Must learn to advocate for himself instead of having Mommy do it."

- If shy kids were trying to be cute, they would have gone to school in overalls, with their hair in braids and implants in their cheeks to make them chubbier.

Trust me, as annoying as it may be for you, it's probably 10X more annoying and frustrating for that kid. Some kids never learn to speak up for themselves if they have overprotective parents. It's probably not going to help him by telling him that he needs to stop acting cute. Believe me, he knows.

When I was little, I was painfully shy as a kid. It got better because people encouraged me and helped me along the way, not because people yelled and got irritated at me.

At any age with a kid, teachers should have the tolerance and patience to show them the understanding that they need.

Being painfully shy is a lot worse for the shy person than it is for the people that they interact with. It's the teacher's job to continue to treat them decently despite that, and help them in ways that do not involve belittling them and putting them down.

I would hope that despite what she's written here, this teacher still treated her students well and didn't bully them or put them down. If not, I feel sorry for her students. I know that this was a blog, but I feel if that's really how she felt and what she posted online, then some of it must have shown in class.

Munro also kept talking about her freedom of speech, and how she was entitled to it.

Understandable. However, even freedom of speech has its limitations. Everyone is free to say whatever they want, but that doesn't always come without consequences. I know a student in my school year that posted a long rant about a specific teacher on Facebook, calling him many names that I probably shouldn't include in here.

Anyway, the administration somehow found out. Did this guy get in trouble? Absolutely, and rightly so. Look, you're well within your rights to get angry or dislike your students or teachers. Teachers are still humans, and I do acknowledge that some students can be complete pieces of shi...I mean shipwrecks. Of course. That was what I was about to say.

But when you post anything online on a public forum, you should always be careful of what you say. I don't mean to give anyone the "blah blah be careful on the internet" speech but seriously. The internet is like your mother. It will always find some angry rant you posted online about your parents when you were 10 years old and bring it up when you're trying to apply for a job. If you want to rant about someone freely without consequences, the best place to do it is...well...not online on a public forum.

I'm getting off track now. I'm just surprised at the spite this woman seems to have for quieter kids. I get that teachers are human beings and are allowed to have feelings too, but when I interact with or listen to certain teachers, I just cannot fathom why they went into a job they seem to hate so much.

This teacher I believe did get fired. Not because of her blog. Well, the blog did prompt the administrators to keep a close eye on her, and they found out that she actually wasn't doing her job that well and fired her.

My own teachers do encourage every kid to participate, but they do a good job of it and don't put anyone down in the process. Right now all my teachers are great, and I feel lucky to have them.

I hope none of you have teachers like Munroe at your schools.