Teacher tells class: I'm becoming a stripper!

avatar for samsung1
samsung1
Ohio
A layoff notice inspires a controversial comment by an educator. Was it really so bad for her students to hear?
A teacher at Enochs High School in Modesto, Calif. recently received a layoff notice, just like countless other educators during these dark economic days. But now she's being investigated by school officials because her alleged reaction to the bad news was, shall we say, less than typical: She told her students she was thinking about becoming a stripper and selling her eggs.

"You are in a position of authority. You don't make comments of that nature, you are dealing with teenagers ... teenagers who are very impressionable," said Anna Geisen, the mother of a 16-year-old student who came home with the allegation. Geisen reported the incident to the school board and the unnamed teacher is currently being investigated while she finishes up her work at the school. Now, not only does she face unemployment, but she could also be subject to some sort of disciplinary action.

Well, here's the positive spin: The teacher clearly has a future in stand-up comedy, because, told in a Janeane Garofalo deadpan, that is one guffaw-worthy line. As with most good comedy, though, it's funny because it hits on a raw reality: The recession has so many feeling profoundly hopeless -- and for women, true economic desperation often means selling our bodies in one way or another. Just last night, my roommate was mulling how she could possibly make ends meet while going to grad school in New York and I said dryly: "There's always prostitution." Much as I'm a rabid defender of sex work as a valid and respectable profession, the truth is that for most it's a last resort; and selling your eggs for money -- as opposed to doing it for altruistic reasons -- can be a similarly physical and emotional sacrifice. I can't count the number of times in the past year or so that I've heard my financially-strapped female friends toss off the same sort of sarcastic quip, and sometimes I haven't been entirely sure they were joking.

Maybe this teacher was merely joking, maybe not, but I think high school students are fully capable of processing the bleak reality that brought about their teacher's outburst. Talk about a teachable moment.

http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/201…

8 comments

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avatar for SuperDude
SuperDude
15 years ago
Parents are always concerned about what teachers say about sex or religion. Careful in these areas--even in jest.
avatar for Dudester
Dudester
15 years ago
Dear Penthouse,

I had this really hot teacher this year in school. After receiving a layoff notice, she announced she was going to be stripping at "Fred's". This Friday night, with 200 dollars in birthday money, I went to Fred's. I was barely seated when the DJ announced the next dancer as "Candy". In a second,though, I recognized Ms. Smith.

My mouth grew dry and my heart was trying to leap out of my chest......
avatar for gatorfan
gatorfan
15 years ago
Good for her, and don't just tease the class, STRIP for them! High Schoolers, right?
avatar for sanitago
sanitago
15 years ago
jeez, and to think she was expressing her despair at a stupid decision on the part of the school board. what would they have done if she'd openly questioned the wisdom of laying off teachers when most schools are taking heat for students not matching the No Child Left Behind standards? tarred-and-feathered her?
avatar for chi_sam
chi_sam
15 years ago
One of my grade school teachers became a stripper. In class! I just missed it, as she 'performed' for the class before mine. She was kinda' plain, but tight body, and I'll bet it was quite a show for horny 7th graders.

We all walked in to an empty classroom and were babysat by the principle for an hour. Nobody knew anything, and the principle merely said the teacher had gotten sick, and we would be getting a new teacher.

By the next day, the story was out. She just went loony. She was drinking throughout the day from a Thermos, and during 7th hour decided to do a strip-tease and took off all of her clothes and just sang and danced around till the cops came.

She never returned and we never heard any more about her. It was totally hushed-up. Her class was sequestered until the kids could be picked up and didn't ride the bus home that day. Nobody, I mean nobody, on the staff ever so much as mentioned it, and questions were not welcome. It didn't even make the local paper.

This was over 30 years ago, and things like that weren't discussed between kids and adults. I never mentioned it to my parents, and I imagine most didn't. If that happened today it would be on YouTube before dinner time.

Would have loved to have been there...
avatar for chi_sam
chi_sam
15 years ago
Oh crap! I know it's principal!
avatar for MisterGuy
MisterGuy
15 years ago
Right, because the kids are going to say:
"When I grow up, I wanna be just like Miss Thompson, and show my boobies at the Booby Trap!"

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1334/ki…

Not...

The story directly above reminds me of my old 8th grade French teacher (a short, young, and *very* busty brunette) that apparently spent the final day of school teaching all the kids how to swear in French. Unfortunately, I was out of school at the end of the year because some idiot decided to come to school with a full-blown case of chicken pox...just to preserve his stupid perfect attendance record!

Oh how I wish that my 9th grade Algebra II teacher, Mrs. Gustafson, would have been a stripper on the side. She sure had the smoking tight ass for it!
avatar for mmdv26
mmdv26
15 years ago
No Child Left Behind Act...LOL. Award-winning example of foolish politics.

I can't really think of any teacher that I would have wanted to see in any degree of undress.
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