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SMU Lecturer Takes Heat For Blog
nasta writes "Houston Chronicle article For most of the past two semesters, nobody knew the identity of "The Phantom Professor."
The educator's anonymous Web log, set at an unnamed university "in the South," spun tales of spoiled-rich "Ashleys" with their $500 sandals and $1,500 handbags, eating disorders, plagiarism and drug use, legal and illegal.
"At this school it seems like every kid is on multiple medications," the professor wrote, describing her charges as "barely literate," prone to emotional problems and "terrified of displeasing Mommy and Daddy.""
...in case anybody was wondering.
Man, no kidding. I'm surprised by how many people I know who are on one, two or more medications. And we're usually talking xanax, prozac, zoloft and the like rather than blood pressure meds. And not just spoiled little rich kids, though they tend to be the most likely, because they're more likely to get a therapist if they have "problems" and, in turn, are more likely then to be prescribed drugs to deal with whatever lame problem they supposedly have.
I can't even count how many people I know who claim they have "anxiety disorder" and "panic attacks". So they dope up on half a dozen things, instead. I mean, yeah, life sucks - but holy shit.
And then after awhile, they start trading their prescriptions with other people. A few zoloft in turn for a few valium. Or if they have some leftovers (especially stuff like valium and percoset), they hand them off to their friends so they can get off on them, too.
It's just pathetic. And I bet that half the people I know other than at work are like that. Often people I would have never guessed. They'd like you to think that they need it because their life is so terrible, but the truth is lots of peopel have a hard life. These people just have a hard time dealing with life.
And yeah, I know the girls with 400 pairs of expensive shoes who have traveled more by the age of 18 than I could ever hope to travel in four lifetimes. Their biggest concerns seem to be "panties or not?" on any given date for any given night. Oh, such dilemmas.
If I were a professor and I had to deal with people like that for a living on a daily basis, I'd probably vent, too. In fact, I'd probably climb the nearest clock tower.
Yet another reason for keeping the telly disconnected.
Why is this posted under Privacy and not It's funny, because that's what it is. :o)
from the who's-rights? dept.
Who's? You mean "who is"? Or "who has"? "Who was"?
Pertinent question, though. Surely the lecturer's blogging activities, although possibly unprofessional, were completely within the realm of acceptibility -- as long as she wasn't giving away enough specific personal information so as to convey the identities of the people she was writing about.
Hmm. Newsflash: Kids these days are fucked up. Film at 11.
Sorry, zero sympathy from me. Beyond the fact that she blatantly despises half her students and sucks up to the other half by badmouthing the "rich girls" (which is unprofessional enough), violating confidentiality the way she did is way over the line. A tenure-track professor should have been bounced for doing what she did, never mind an adjunct.
Points off to SMU for weaseling about it, though.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
http://phantomprof.blogspot.com/
It is entertaining actually.
"Signed with a top agent last week."
Hmmm....
1. Write a blog about your job and the idiots you work with/teach
2. Get fired for it
3. Get an agent
4. ???
5. Profit!
Am I the only person here who has read Tom Wolfe's novel, "I Am Charlotte Simmons?"
Goddamned kids! Get off my lawn!
Your apostrophe key is broken.
The educator's anonymous Web log, set at an unnamed university "in the South," spun tales of spoiled-rich "Ashleys" with their $500 sandals and $1,500 handbags
... only an adult version. She finds it ironic that the First Ammendment is carved in the building in which she taught? I find it ironic that she was supposed to be teaching ethics. Personally, I hope they DO make a movie ... and she's the villain.
...I'm posting anonymously, I figured she'd appreciate that.
"I heard the two words every writer waits a lifetime to hear," she said. "Movie deal."
I'm assuming she won't be buying anything with the money from her movie deal? She sounds exactly like the kid that was picked last for every team
Liner, listed on a campus directory as a lecturer, is still working toward a master's degree.
C:\>
Earlier this month, Elaine Liner, an adjunct professor who taught writing and ethics classes in SMU's public relations department since 2001, revealed in an online publication that the blog was hers.
The Phantom Professor on term papers:
What they don't realize is that it's just college. These are just little assignments that teachers give so we can figure out what grades to type in next to your name at the end of the semester. They're not life and death, these grades, these papers, these group projects. They're very often little more than glorified busywork. Truth? They're to prepare you for a career of TPS Reports and annual "employee self-evaluations."
I was bored on the first page, with her current entries. She's full of herself and how she's better than the people she purports to teach, and yet she says she reads "gawker.com" at lunch. Whether that's a wink to them to try to get a deal, or really her idea of entertainment, I can't be sure, but how can I respect someone like that?
:)
Of course, my idea of entertainment is slashdot, so I really shouldn't point fingers... oh, yes, I'm a student at SMU, too. But at the geek campus
photo
My wife is on depression meds, the right ones now, which address the bipolar symptoms of what was regarded as garden variety manic depression with an accent on depression. No more violent outbursts, much more rational thought, much more mature behavior, much greater happiness.
I probably should be on meds but practice willful almost psychotic disassociation from myself and my cares and instead go right past all the stages, right past acceptance, to someplace riding the wave ahead of everything. This place is called DILLIGAF Land. It's why I don't smack people with a keyboard when they pronounce TCP/IP "tee cee pip".
There are such things as these intrusions on normal thought processes, and partly they are of our own making. The modern world as I've noted before seems hellbent on a concept that the whole world is wrong, unfair, we're screwed before we start and can never win, it's someone else's fault, boo hoo hoo. When you hear this over and over again, you can't help but be affected by it. I think this common mindset in the west, most especially that seen in America, is one of the things working to subconsciously hobble us.
Then there's the real chemical imbalance issues which people have always had, but used to have more societal back-up and reinforcement in fighting. A lot of very secretly screwed up people kept it that way largely, secret. They kept it under control. These days, society isn't helping. Now you're on your own if you want to fight those feelings. In fact, you're encouraged to let them run free and loose. And appear on Springer or Povich.
I used to think everyone was just farked and lazy and if I could go without meds and manage and behave, then so could they. I've come to realize their collectively created social environment has already gone too far round the bend for it to be easy for any one unexceptional person. My psyche's little quirks just seem to lend themselves to sitting between apathy and disinterest. I recommend to everyone that the last person they need to concern themselves with is them and yet, the first and only one. It's a matter of how. You have to cut your emotional attachments to your old sense of self and rebuild a new one based on rationality and not chaotic FUD. My world ended a long time ago and I feel fine. On with the new world.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Her name is Elaine Liner: More here:
How many of these issues are caused by just bad parenting.
I would love to see a study comparing the mental health of people to the number of hours spend in with their parent.
It is beginning to look as if drugs, TV, videos, and the Internet are all be used to replace parents.
I watched Nanny 911 last night. I have to wonder why it took an "expert" to tell these parents that.
1. Children should not have unlimited candy.
2. That yelling at your children is not always the best action to take.
For some people those drugs you talk about are life savers.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
After being misdiagnosed, I finally went to a doctor who noticed that some of my difficulties were consistent with ADHD. The medication helps, but I've also had to develop strategies to work around some of the difficulties. Although I take Ritalin, I've never considered sharing or trading it. There's really no temptation to take more than prescribed either; in fact, it's challenging to remember to take it consistently. So the idea of psychiatric meds being for spoiled brats who can't handle life bothers me.