Some 14-y.o. student wrote and recorded a “love song” to one of his former teachers, “Mrs. Dunn.” It’s available on Napster, I believe. Does anyone know the title of the song and if it’s availble via the Web? Too funny. The kid could be in the Violent Femmes, easy.
It’s called “The Mrs Dunn Song”, it’s by Derek Dubois, and the sentiments expressed within are basically the same as those of any fourteen year-old with a crush on his teacher, albeit with a slightly more misogynistic attitude, but we can blame that on rap. What’s really striking is the child’s willingness to stick the track on the net. Hell, it’ll probably make him a star. It’s at least as accomplished as the majority of stuff out there.
Fourteen? FOURTEEN? I’d barely learned to ride my BIKE at fourteen. Sheeeesssh…
Okay, strike the above. For “slightly more misogynistic”, read “deeply offensive on about eight different levels.”
I wonder if there’ s a picture of this wily foxtress anywhere we could get hold of… and does she know she’s famous?
SORRY. I meant to say “I think someone should write to the child’s parents.” But come on: “I’ll be the pimp and you be the whore…”? I can’t believe I was going to post a reply defending the poor child’s right to unrequited love angst before I heard the track. Somebody slap the little monster in chains before he buys a gun. Before he can VOTE.
ps: I’m starting to think the whole thing’s a wind-up.
I think that’s sweet! I haven’t heard it though… the concept though, you know? of like writing a love song then putting it on the internet… that’s sweet…
and maybe a little psycotic…
Couple things. This happened in my hometown. Both of my parents have been teachers in town for 30 years.
Yes, this teacher knows she’s “famous”. She also hasn’t been back in the classroom since this whole thing hit the media. This wasn’t a love song, it was 14 year old boy being a total ass, and when he got caught, backpedaling and crying for his First Amendment rights. Which he is, of course, entitled to… but at what cost to the woman named in this song? While the First Amendment guarantees this boy the right to say what he wants, I don’t think that sexual harrassment should be protected.
The boy’s parents and the ACLU are up in arms because they feel the school should not have any recourse against him because he didn’t create this song while at school. If the situation was reversed and the teacher had written song about the student, would it be all right, as long as the teacher hadn’t done it on school time?
I’m not saying that we should censor what people are allowed to say or how they say it. But I’ve seen this incident made light of elsewhere on the web, and it makes me angry. Mostly for personal reasons; because I’ve watched both my parents, who are wonderfully dedicated, hard-working teachers, go from having a deep love of their profession, to counting the days till retirement because of things just like this. This teacher that was inolved in this incident had only been teaching one year; she was well liked for being enthusiastic and involved. The school system will probably lose her over this.
I searched the local paper’s archives and unfortunately, all I could find there were the following opinion pieces:
This one that defends the family of the boy and the ACLU’s stance, andthis one that is somewhat more against it.
Good point, Rasa. To that I’ll add that if the kid had given the teacher a ficticious name in the song, nobody would have thought twice about it. That’s long been my craven excuse.
Ok so I downloaded it and listened to it.
Wow. It sucks. The kid can’t sing for crap, the lyrics are lame as hell… the only part I liked was “oh fuck it nothing rhymes with Toyota”
Plus it was vulgar and inappropriate.
Do I think the school has jurisdiction over this student’s offense?
Maybe.
Do I think this song was a “threat” or “harassment”?
No.
Do I think that the song is sophomoric and that the teacher, if she heard it, should find it offensive?
Sure. The kid’s an ACTUAL SOPHOMORE. Of course it’s sophomoric.
Should he be suspended?
Yes. But because of the simple fact that his behavior–regardless of where it happened–is causing a disruption in the education of the entire student body. That’s where the school has a clear right to act, and how the administration should be tackling the case. The kid has every right to do whatever the hell he wants outside of school. But when he allows it to seep into school (in this case, by posting the song on-line, which let it out of his personal control) he’s culpable. I mean, he could have just played it for his friends in his bedroom. Posting it on Napster is as negligent as dropping flyers with the printed lyrics from an airplane. “Yeah, he didn’t actually put the flyers up inside the school…”
Anyway, even though it’s a shame that the teacher and school has been hurt by this song getting into the public eye (ear?), and the kid was, as JBirdman12 mentioned, too stupid to use an alias for her in the lyrics, I still thought it was funny. But then I like Eminem, too. (You can all throw rocks at me now.)