School Scandal

Going into school today I did not imagine getting caught up in a war of words. Apparently a number of students have been leaving nasty comments about teachers on the German equivalent of rateyourprofessor.com.

But the comments went *beyond* mean. Some were so horribly slanderous and demeaning that no one would repeat them to me. One of my teachers said "I don't even want to think about it. This is the type of stuff you wouldn't even find in a gutter." Of course I couldn't do anything, considering the site was completely in German. But every teacher was involved with the conversation and talking about what to do.

The infomation about the site has been know since the beginning of the week. The principal confronted the website to report the absusive language but that apparently got no where. A major German news station wanted to interview the principal but he said no (good idea). All day today people from the radio were outside interviewing students and another newspaper wanted to get interviews done.

Some students were foolish enough to sign into this site using their real names, two of which I know personally. What made things even more complicated was the fact that this is the last school week for the 13th graders. It's tradition for the school that the teachers and 13th graders put on a show together, play silly games, and generally make a fool of themselves. Like my own highschool's "Senior Week" we liked to poke at the teachers a good bit, but all in fun. This celebration was to occur today, right when all this stuff about the website came out.

So the teachers had to make a choice. Ignore the site and still go in front of the school and joke around, or take a stand and say "no" to the celebration/gmaes in response to what students have been saying about them.

All the teachers talked together and debated for a good hour. It's like the entire school had shut down and everyone knew what was going on. Luckily I had one of the interns translate everything for me, but half the time I didn't need to understand what they were saying to know what was going on.

Out of 55 students only the principal and two other teachers thought everyone should go ahead and do the show with the 13th graders. One spokesman from the graduating class actually came in and made a very heart-felt plea but it wasn't going to work. Everyone was asked to go to the auditorium where the teachers made their announcement and you could hear a pin drop. The 13th graders had to cancel their show because their weren't enough teachers and many started crying. Everyone had to go to their scheduled classes and resume teaching/learning. I think the teachers made the right choice. They were very worried about pictures and videos being taken of them on stage and being put on websites/YouTube. This celebration is supposed to be all good fun, but how can one go up there and smile when just moments earlier they just read horrible things said about them? The teachers wanted to make sure they presented a united front, which was also a smart move.

Also, my CT mentioned I was on the site. The post about me was made yesterday after their tests were given back (in which the average between 60 students was around a D-). The comment: "What else does she do here besides follow Mrs. W around?" I don't know if there's any more comments and frankly I don't want to nor care to know.

The opinion of an angry 16 year old boy is not going to phase me and I'm going to do my best to treat him the same as I have been. But...I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't a bit dissapointed.

My CT wants to address the issue in class tomorrow and wants me to lead the discussion, though I'm coming up with a blank. All I have in my head right now is freedom of speech and Volatire saying "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it."