Write and Wrong

A teacher who is psyched about engaging struggling students learns that bureaucracy is more important than pedagogy.

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  • Posted By: melbee1971 @ 08/22/2008 11:08:29 PM

    WARNING: Please, PLEASE.... Trust your children's teachers. Even if you don't always agree with them.

    Teachers, whether they are whatever box you want to put them in, are essential good people. We have got to learn to let them DO THEIR JOBS! If there are "cursed words" in contemporary literature, they have been trained to deal with it. They are working very hard and facing community, administration, union, and student pressures all at once: All for a relatively living wage.

  • Posted By: dfitzsimmons @ 08/04/2008 8:41:28 AM

    Once again I am beside myself as to the complete throw away society we have become. We throw away the old, the sick, the young, the impaired, and apparently we feel we have enough good teachers to just start throwing them away as well. Its time to wake up people in order to reach all the youth and give them an education they have to be in school for one and motivated for two. After all they are who will be here when we are all gone running things right! This book is fantastic and they can relate to it. I have a high school student who saw the movie and read the book and who has been reading and writing in a joural. It has improved writing skills and shows that hard work and dedication pays off. I have read the book and seen the movie as well. If people are afraid of a little cursing and true emotions of how someone is feeling then they are probally not dealing well with life in general. I thank Erin Gruwell and Connie Heermann and all the other teachers who have taken the time to make a difference to the youth of America who I feel have been screaming out to us for help for years! The Township Board has made a devistating mistake that has not only impacted its teachers but its youth and its future !

  • Posted By: Lindsay Guerra @ 07/31/2008 10:27:24 PM

    Both Erin Gruwell and Connie Heermann are and should be an inspiration to us all...they are standing up for what SHOULD be done out there in the education world, and as a fellow teacher I am inspired by their work in a field most people would shy away from doing in a second. Perry Meridian High School administration should be ashamed of their ignorance and stupidity, and recognize that THEY are the reason these students' are missing out on wonderful opportunities.

    • Posted By: Frustrated in Indiana @ 08/03/2008 10:39:10 PM

      As far as I can tell, the Perry Township School Board is a "run-away board," or as others have called it, a "teflon board." They seem completely unaware of (or uninterested in) the storm of continuing world-wide public outrage over this issue of book censorhip and "cruel and unusual" sentencing of an obviously dedicated, caring teacher. This unforunately is the result of the structure of the board as much as the participants in it. Until there is more "checks and balances" or "oversight" to school boards, this outrageous behavior will continue.

      Outraged in Indiana
      Emil Francis

  • Posted By: MackintoshD1 @ 08/03/2008 9:11:48 PM

    Earlier this year, I registered with Freedom Writers Foundation after watching the excellent film. I bought a copy of The Freedom Writers Diary which I read at almost one sitting, such was its strength and integrity as a record of young people trying to make sense of their lives. In my 30 years of teaching high school English, I have rarely been as moved by a collection of writing as I have been by Erin Gruwell and her students' road to personal fulfillment and success. As a New Zealander, I can barely fathom the mind set which would deny anyone, let alone students struggling to know themselves, an opportunity to celebrate the growth and personal development which is manifestly obvious and evident in the diaries. I care very much about education, internationally, so I hope that once the USA has settled on its new president - Obama I hope - that somehow, sanity might filter into the ranks of local authorities which would ban books capable of helping students achieve the very things educators, and surely administrators , want them to achieve - making sense of themselves and the world they are asked to live in and, ultimately, to run. Don Mackintosh, Auckland, New Zealand.

  • Posted By: KeniRee @ 08/01/2008 4:59:40 PM

    I am currently taking college course to become a teacher. My 16 yr old son's english class read the book last year. Prior to the class reading it, the teacher sent out consent forms for the parents to sign. I did sign the consent but asked to have a copy to read prior to the class reading the book. Although the first couple of chapters were filled with a lot of hate and cursing, I must say I was completely blown away by the book. These students were speaking from the heart. Most had a lot to overcome in order to even attend class. It inspired me a great deal and after reading it, I found my son and his classmates all agreed they loved the book. Mostly because it portrays the REAL emotions of today's youth but also shares their lives in ways most books don't even compare. I'm in Wayne County Indiana and am ashamed to know that Perry Township is not far from me. Some people in the educational system have no clue as to what kids in today's society are actually going through but this book tells it like it is! These students all went to college, know that much inspired my son to attend college also when he graduates. He is LD and knows he has a long road ahead of him but kowing others in his same circumstances were able to do, wil help him mentally once he is there! I say wtg Freedom Writers, Erin and Ms. Heerman

  • Posted By: tpurdue @ 07/28/2008 8:32:02 AM

    I was a student at Perry Meridian High School and am ashamed to hear about the injustice that has been served. I hope the newly elected Board will overturn this and give Connie Heermann her job back.

  • Posted By: Anna2007 @ 07/25/2008 4:31:38 PM

    This is exactly why I am afraid to go into the teaching field! America is no longer America. Few can battle the hypocricy.

  • Posted By: Krob @ 07/25/2008 11:51:23 AM

    It doesn't make any difference in the U.S.A. anymore if your right. It all must be politically correct!

  • Posted By: paleophile @ 07/25/2008 9:14:46 AM

    In the same issue that Jonathan Alter called for easier routes for administrators to fire teachers, Anna Quindlen gives us an example of how easy it is. Unions are not perfect, but teachers need to be protected from the capriciousness of administrators and bureaucrats

  • Posted By: mgerk @ 07/19/2008 1:45:26 PM

    Quindlen's essay was great reminder about where the real problems lie in education. Contrast that with Alter's essay in the same issue where he blames mediocre teachers and unions
    for the problems in public education. Let's be fair, dedicated teachers are hard to find and keep, but mainly because administrations and school boards make it difficult for them to really engage with students. I hope Alter read Quindlen's essay!

    • Posted By: reinadelaz @ 07/22/2008 10:22:38 AM

      The REAL problem in education in the US is all the finger-pointing!

  • Posted By: Indy12 @ 07/19/2008 7:01:06 PM

    Southside of Indianapolis.

    Connie has gotten just what she wanted. Her twisted story taken seriously.

    She was a terrible teacher, and if Anna Quindlen would have asked any of the teachers at Perry, she would have found that out before she wrote this story.

    • Posted By: reinadelaz @ 07/22/2008 10:21:12 AM

      If she is such a terrible teacher, how'd she get 27 years ewxperience? Is that how long it takes these administrative cronies to get rid of a bad teacher?

    • Posted By: CloseToSituation @ 07/20/2008 9:59:23 AM

      How sad that people have to take anonymous potshots at this great teacher. The story of Mrs. Heermann's removal from the classroom is now resonating all over the world. I think the reason is because of all the issues it peaks: wrongful removal from the classroom; a caring, innovative teacher censored; censorship of a great book; censorship of her students and her from the school newspaper; mistreatment by Administrators. All of this is a snapshot of what is typically wrong with education today. And I have news for you: it's not the teachers.

  • Posted By: real_large @ 07/21/2008 1:20:51 PM

    This is an outrage. Typical closed-minded censorship by timid, weak, hypocrites who don't understand kids and who don't give a damn about anything but their careers. Here is a link to Perry Meridian High School's web site, with photos of all the creepy administrators who committed this atrocity. I urge everyone to call them and tell them how shameful an act of cowardice they have committed.
    http://pmhs.msdpt.k12.in.us/administration.html



  • Posted By: lmmfumia @ 07/20/2008 3:26:03 PM

    Children are strong, competent and capable constructors of knowledge. They are fantastic learners. I wonder, what knowledge did they construct from this situation?

  • Posted By: lmmfumia @ 07/20/2008 3:24:36 PM

    Children are not dumb. They are strong, capable and competent learners. I wonder, what was the lesson they learned here?

  • Posted By: JudyHogan @ 07/20/2008 2:50:23 PM

    As a teacher for 24 years and as one who goes well above and beyond what is expected of me, Ms. Heermann is a teacher who I certainly look up to and admire! After just reading this article "Write and Wrong", I am angry beyond words. I just looked up the website for the Perry Township School District and found that e-dress for the Principal of Meridian High School is "not available." I wonder if it was yanked in response to this article? I hope heads are hanging low as a result of showing up the administrators and school board members to be the cowards and "glacial movers" that they are. I am furious that Ms. Heermann is on an 18 month suspension! I would hope that some school district will grab her up and pay her what she is REALLY worth!
    Administrators are the problem with American education. Legislators and administrators think they know what students want and need....rarely, if ever, do they ask the teachers! I am absolutely fuming right now about this injustice. Ms. Heermann is indeed a HERO!

  • Posted By: sec41273 @ 07/20/2008 11:43:33 AM

    As a teacher of children in the "at risk" population, it astounds me that the administration would take such a role. As a high school student, I lived in a gang infested area. My senior year Sociology teacher showed us the movie "Colors". What a highlight of the year were the uncensored discussions we held about that movie and life in general. When you trivialize the lives of students, you fail them.

    hero! !

  • Posted By: zhartvigson @ 07/20/2008 10:00:38 AM

    I read THE LAST WORD by Anna Quindlen, "Write and Wrong," Published Jul 12, 2008. From the issue dated Jul 21, 2008.

    In the essay she describes the experiences of Connie Heermann attempting to use ???The Freedom Writers Diary??? in her high school class. Her comments are excellent. I find myself becoming very angry at the kind of behavior shown against a teacher, Ms. Heermann, by school administrators. Originally I intended to become a high school mathematics teacher. While I was a married twenty-five years old student teacher I had an experience that caused me to decide to abandon secondary teaching as my goal. One of my ???remedial mathematics??? students came to me complaining that when he went to vote in the student body elections, the site where he was to vote was out of ballots. No alternative was available for him to cast his ballot: he was not allowed to go to another polling site in the high school, no additional ballots were obtained. He simply was told he could not vote. I shared with him the outrage of this treatment. I suggested that he challenge the whole election. He did. But no remedial action was taken. Instead, as a student teacher, I was warned by the principal to ???mind my own business.??? He said that if I persisted, I would be failed in my student teaching. I did not have the courage demonstrated by Connie Heermann. I kept my head down, completed my student teaching, and abandoned high school teaching. I went on to earn a Ph. D. in mathematics and on into university teaching.
    Is there some kind of flaw or error in the way administrators are selected that discriminates against people capable of courageous actions?
    Zenas Hartvigson
    Professor Emeritus of Mathematics
    Colorado University at Denver
    zhartvigson@cudenver.edu

  • Posted By: REALTORINDIANA @ 07/17/2008 3:48:41 PM

    iF SHE WAS TEACHING THERE 27 YEARS, DON'T YA THINK SHE WOULD KNOW THE PROPER WAY TO GET A BOOK APPROVED. SHE SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH PRACTICE BY NOW OR AT LEAST A HOW TO SHEET LAYING AROUND OR MAYBE SOMEONE TO ASK???

    • Posted By: CloseToSituation @ 07/20/2008 9:49:10 AM

      The rules for getting books approved changed by the book. No written policy is known to exist on getting books approved -- it changes per Administration.

  • Posted By: melbee1971 @ 07/19/2008 11:41:40 AM

    It's also interesting that the students were allowed to vote her "Craziest Person" in their newspaper. No censorship (or guidance about discretion) there. Now, if the students published a story in their newspaper that questioned the school leadership: principal, schoolboard, Classic case of controlling "the story" that is told about what "really" happened here.

    We wondering why bullying is such a problem in our schools. Voting a teacher the "craziest person" sounds like step one of a classic bullying situation. Single an individual out for ridicule. Keep your chin up, Ms. Heerman. People will see through this.

    • Posted By: CloseToSituation @ 07/20/2008 9:46:32 AM

      When they took Mrs. Heermann out of the classroom, she was banned from talking to her students. The school newspaper,FOCUS, posted a note that no stories or letters to the editor could be printed . Then several weeks later an editorial satirizing Mrs. Heermann (but not mentioning her by name) was allowed to be printed in FOCUS. The editorial was written by an AP student. But when scores of letters to the editor from Mrs. Heermann's at-risk students arrived, they were banned from the paper. Voices of weathier students can be heard. Voices of at-risk students were banned. A very sad situation. What's fair here.

  • Posted By: joe4miki @ 07/19/2008 6:39:05 PM

    Where is Perry Township?

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