TA under fire after Facebook blunder
Excalibur (York University, Toronto):
A York University tutorial assistant (TA) is under investigation after comments deemed unprofessional were posted to her Facebook page concerning the academic level of her tutorial students.
The TA in question, Bianca Baggiarini, posted comments to her Facebook status Feb. 22. They stated, “My student’s papers are making me dumber, so very stupid; by the minute. Please, make them, stop. They are infecting me with there huge and apparent stupidity, and I fear they will start to effect in my opinion the way I myself right papers [sic].”
True, I feel that reading students' writing all these years has made me a worse writer. I was probably a better writer twenty years ago. Goddamnit. This saddens me.
ReplyDeleteWHY do people do this dumb shit? It's true that I referred to one of my colleagues as an "asshat" here on CM, and lord knows that I've said a heap of nasty stuff about my students.
ReplyDeleteBut it doesn't have my REAL NAME attached to it.
GAAAAAAAAAH (smacks head on desk).
Really, the students were "shocked?" Maybe this is an opportunity for them to become less egocentric and realize the whole world does not love them. Being outraged by this is the same as me being outraged that my students don't love me and wish me nothing but sunshine and rainbows.
ReplyDeleteSo the TA had her (presumably young, immature, "stupid") students as FB friends (Big Mistake #1), and she posted this? Did she really think the same crop of people she just finished blasting for being stupid would be sophisticated enough to get the subtle humour (e.g. deliberate misspellings etc) and maybe think there was some sort of point to her post? (Big Mistake #2)
ReplyDeleteObviously, she's also become too stupid to know how to block her student "friends" from seeing the comment. For heaven's sake, how many more times is this going to have to happen for people to remove their heads from their anal cavities?
ReplyDeleteI have my FB status on maximum possible security - you can't find me if you don't search for me, my posts are friends-only, everything is friends-only. But I have just recently realised that if a friend comments on one of my posts, it's entirely possible that all of HER friends can see not only her comment, but also my post. Which would mean that everything I write is potentially open to absolutely everyone. And this is after I've set everything to 'maximum security", and I never friend my students (or my colleagues at my own institution). But some of them friend their grad students, and some of those friend my students, and ...
ReplyDeleteI don't post unkind comments about anyone anyway - except politicians of course - but still. I have some sympathy for the TA. Who hasn't said anything particularly off-base in any case.
@Merely: The way I understand the current configuration (which, seeing as it's Facebook, may have changed without notice in the time it takes me to type this post), only people who are mutual friends and authorized by you to see your post can see the item on your friend's feed.
ReplyDeleteAs to the situation at hand: IMHO, the TA in question displayed some questionable judgment by either friending her undergrad students, or just plain not restricting her Facebook settings. (It's also possible that she was exposed by one of her Facebook "friends" - a chilling thought.)
Potential judgment issues aside, my only real criticism of the TA is that she didn't misuse an apostrophe in that status message - a required element (and therefore a mandatory technical deduction) when mocking undergrad writing.
She didn't say "student X is a shitty writer and a stupid person", she said "I can't believe the stupid crap I have to read, because it's so toxic it kills healthy brain cells on contact". I've only been around the blog for a few months, but really, who amongst us hasn't said the same thing?! Does my employer really get to police my communications to that level?
This is about the Learning Corporation™ trying to protect its brand integrity and customer satisfaction - because, god forbid, anyone suggest its students aren't all amazing and dedicated minds. For those students to fail and stop paying tuition, or get offended and take their tuition dollars elsewhere...well, in the neoliberal academy, that's just unthinkable.
So she showed that she doesn't respect her students. What ever happened to earning respect rather than demanding it without deserving it?
ReplyDeleteThat said, she should have been more careful with her privacy settings.
I wonder how many of those same students have never posted anything they wouldn't want to see in the Toronto Star.
ReplyDelete