Jeff Bliss still doesn’t agree with American education.
You may remember the ranting and raving Texas teen that told off his teacher and became a Youtube phenomenon. Well, we wrote a piece on Mr. Bliss not too long ago where we took a look at his accusations and tried to piece together the deplorable state of the American education system.
And I was so proud of my examination, the spoiled, self-assured individual that I am, that I began to wonder if Mr. Bliss would agree with my examinations. Does he really believe in the importance of education? Is he an individual who is frustrated with the apathy within American high schools? Was his rant even sincere? Or was it just another example of the teenage fuck-the-establishment attitude that seems so rampant these days?
Fortunately, the good people over at Gawker reported on the state of Mr. Bliss and his continued assertion that he was right, they were wrong, and education is important to young people.
Turns out, Jeff has no regrets and really does seem to care about education. He says he now knows the value of an education and that it is essential for his success. Better yet, Jeff doesn’t seem to be getting in trouble for any of this. Dr. Alfred Ray, the super intendant for the school, actually told Fox 4 that they “love it when students are passionate about their education”.
Now it could be that the school magically grew a conscience and started giving a shit about their students as soon as the spotlight landed on them. More likely, to punish this guy would be PR suicide. Can you imagine? A student gets angry about the state of his education and then the school suspends the kid for being insubordinate? Yeah, that would go over great.
As lovely as all of this is, I am going to play devil’s advocate. The internet has a way of grabbing on to sensational videos like this and wringing them like a sponge until every last drop of publicity falls out. The truth is; we are paying this guy way too much attention. In the same video where Ray mentions Jeff’s passion, he also warns not to make any assumptions about the video based on seeing a 90 second interaction that was, most assuredly, taken out of context.
That is great advice. Maybe this kid really is the super hero everybody is making him out to be. Or maybe he is a boy playing at a man’s game. Teachers are aware of the deplorable state of the education system. There is not one teacher that looks at the dull, blank stares of high school students and thinks ‘wow, everything is going great here!’
So many teachers are gridlocked by political correctness, fear of a lawsuit, and the tedious standardized tests issued by various government agencies. If Jeff really wants to have a lively discussion and find a teacher that will ‘touch his freakin heart’, then just coast through high school, get to college to take classes with any professor with tenure. Those guys will say anything including, but not limited to: crushing your dreams, ruining your chances at happiness, and general vulgarity to make a point.
Jeff’s 15 minutes are almost over. So I will put it to him. Put up or shut up. Stop dropping out of school, maybe get a haircut, spend all your money to become a teacher, and then see if you like it when the bratty kid in the back of the class trashes you for the whole internet to see. I’ll be patiently waiting until then.
the above image can be found here
Waste of an article. And to the guy who posted 3 days before this: a whole three years into a computer science degree and you attribute success to your short hair? My friend has been a programmer all his life and has hair down his back. He’s making $150,000 a year and works for major corporations because he understands what his code does at the machine level – which you will never learn how to do with today’s object-oriented courses, no matter what your hair looks like.
The writer of this blog is a moron who knows nothing. Teachers all over the world respect this kid. Nuff said.
“…maybe get a haircut…”
All credibility lost, you sad act.
Only people with buzz-cuts can talk sense about our society?
Dude, you fail so bad we can hear the facepalms of a million lost souls crying out for their education. Stick a broom up your ass so at least you clean up as you go and do one thing useful in your life.
I agree that the teachers are not oblivious to the problems… And it is difficult to get inspired to teach when the kids don’t care. But I don’t think taking it out on this guy is the right answer. I really don’t think he was being bratty. The teaching told him to ‘quit bitching,’ after he asked a question. I think in this case the teacher demands a reprimand not him. And if he inspires even one child to care about their education then all this publicity was worth it. I also find the comment about getting a haircut rude. There is nothing wrong with his hair, and there are many people with many professions with long hair, and one should not discriminate.
Coast through high school and go to college….. Normally coasting===a worse college. Furthermore not everyone can afford a ************************ college.
Stop dropping out of school? He realized education was important and returned. Shouldn’t behavior like that be commended rather than insulted? Sure he’s a sophomore at 18 but he’s entitled to his second chance just like anyone else. Sounds to me like he’s trying to get the second chance, why insult him?
This author has a limited vision of the bigger picture; Judging someone just by his appearance but not by who he is or what he says. maybe jeff’s 15 mins of fame is over, but the importance of what he says shouldnt die with his 15 mins of fame.
original jeff bliss video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iflIOklflrg
Why would you bring his hair into this?
My favorite part was “maybe get a haircut”. I’m three years into a computer science degree at an excellent university, and no one seems to have doubted my abilities just because I have hair halfway down my back.
Jeff, if Your’e reading this – please don’t cut Your hair man. They’re friggin awesome.:D
I am glad he cares about his education. But I think you make some excellent points here, esp. this: “Teachers are aware of the deplorable state of the education system.
There is not one teacher that looks at the dull, blank stares of high
school students and thinks ‘wow, everything is going great here!’So
many teachers are gridlocked by political correctness, fear of a
lawsuit, and the tedious standardized tests issued by various government
agencies.”
Teaching is not a particularly lucrative job, so I think that most people who go into teaching probably have a lot of passion for it, at least initially. Sadly, things like “tedious standardized tests” probably make that difficult to get a across, and the general vilifying of teachers in this country does little to create a sympathetic environment in which teachers can do the best job to the benefit of their students. I think that Jeff Bliss deserves an excellent education, but I doubt that this particular teacher is the bad apple that has fucked up the education system.
One more thing: why do students think that it is the teacher’s responsibility to make them care about a subject? It is the teacher’s responsibility to present the material in a way that allows the students to learn it, but each individual is responsible for motivating himself.
whoever wrote this does not know WTF is he/she talking about. This vid got translated to multiple languages and the chinese one alone has almost 150k+ views. if this isnt impacting how teachers should teach, u should stop writing dumb articles. if he didnt do what he did in the classroom (in ur view being a dick) and be a nice kid that raised his hand and said it, there wouldnt be this video.
Funny I see the young man getting a lot of respect from teachers around the world. Could it possibly be that you’re are an idiot. I think it might be so.
Wow you are a dick.