Student suspended for ‘hot for teacher’ essay

[JerseyGirl]

Another case of...so what do you think?

An Oakland University student has faculty staff deciding if his ‘Hot For Teacher’ essay, based on the 1984 Van Halen hit of the same name, is an example of intimidating behavior, or an example of a student following instructions. Joseph Corlett, a 56-year-old student from Orion Township, Mich. has been suspended for a journal he turned in to his Advanced Critical Writing instructor, detailing how attractive he found her.

“I will not apologize for what I wrote and I will not apologize for making a good faith effort at doing my assignment,” Corlett says in the video below, courtesy of the Oakland Press. He tells the newspaper that he’d turned in a number of papers with sexual content previously, and received high marks from the woman he refers to as “My Ginger.”

“She walks in, and I say to myself, ‘Drop, mother (expletive), drop.’ Christ, I’ll never learn a thing. Tall, blond, stacked, skirt, heels, fingernails, smart, articulate, smile. I’m toast, but I stay,” Corlett wrote in the offending document. Van Halen’s message was simpler, but equally blunt.

After a meeting with the Dean, and a hearing in front of University administrators, professors and two students, he was suspended for three semesters and faces arrest for criminal trespass if he steps onto the campus.



MORE IN LINK ALONG WITH VIDEO: Van Halen Inspired Student Suspended For ‘Hot For Teacher’ Essay

 

[LG]

It might be okay to have a crush on a teacher, I'm sure we all went through that in school at one time or another, but given his age and the way things are today he's a moron for writing something like that.

If he had finished graduating and was no longer taking her class and they dated then that would be fine.

I don't have a problem with him being suspended or banned from the campus.

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

The fact that VH inspired him to write such a thing is comical in itself but that is sexual harassment big time and he was completely in the wrong and deserved the punishment he received.

 

[JerseyGirl]

If you read further in the article, this guy is married and his wife supports his topic on the essay.

 

[gcczep]

Inappropriate... There are some rules of decorum that has to be observed between teacher and student. Wifey must be blissfully ignorant with no social grace either.

On another note, I've never had teachers who revved up my motors though. There have been TA's ["teachers aides" to avoid confusion] that have distracted me.

 

[LG]

^^Had this one Beautiful temporary English teacher in grade 10 George...she was stunning and we were all smitten with her.

But we knew better than to cross the line and just worshiped her from afar...and she knew it too.

 

[Death on Credit]

Interesting...

As someone who wants to be a professor eventually, and a writer, I strongly believe that, when it comes to writing in a college setting, either everything is permitted or nothing is permitted. If the professor is teaching a Writing class, then there are a few texts that I'm positive she's had to read at some point that would drive the point home that good writing often is inappropriate. We're living in a post-****** Freudian world, repression is taboo. If you're going to assign a journal for students and you expect them to express themselves freely and openly, you should be ready to read some pretty shocking stuff (better yet, you should be prepared NOT to read your student's journals).

Of course, words are powerful, and you have to deal with the consequences of how they affect people. I've lost friends over things I've written, this guy lost an education. I think that the university's in the wrong, though. Censoring students is not ok.

 

[TheWhalerfan]

^ Can't agree with you there. Just because we live in a 'free' society doesn't give anyone the right to creep out an either the professor or another student. This guy has a boner for his prof, fine..but telling her that in his essay has erased the respectful boundary that exists for most people in a post secondary setting.
If this guy had leaned over to a fellow student and made the same remarks aloud in class, or the prof had done the same to the student, the result would be the same.
University did the right thing.

 

[Death on Credit]

Writing =/= Reality.

It's a teachers job to cultivate a creative, individual voice in their students. Societal norms and boundaries, barring threats of violence, have no place on a sheet of paper.

Besides, why not take the opportunity for some creative punishment? If I were her, and wanted to teach about responsibility and consequences while still maintaining freedom of speech, I'd assign the guy a 50 page essay on Respect, make it worth 99% of his grade. That would both keep him out of the classroom and force him to learn something.

 

[Riff Raff]

The fact that VH inspired him to write such a thing is comical in itself but that is sexual harassment big time and he was completely in the wrong and deserved the punishment he received.

May have had a similar message but it would be pretty ridiculous for them to also start blaming VH for the actions of some moron. Although if they were actually told to do it, the teacher responsible is just as much of a halfwit.

So they suspend him and do they even investigate the teacher who apparently told him to do the assessment on that?
Why does the teacher in question escape punishment?