So what is everybody worked up about? Apparently, because of the firing of Carly McKinney - a 23-year-old math teacher at Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado. Why did she get the boot? Firstly, for posting pictures of herself doing the infamous 'Express Yourself' twerk from Diplo's video. Secondly, for pictures showing her smoking weed. A discussion has caught fire, with Diplo and a majority of the crowd supporting the math teacher who is held by her students as one of the coolest teachers in the world. You can show your support or pitch in your thoughts using the hashtag #FreeCrunkBear on Twitter. Look below for some of my thoughts, and the pictures that got the teacher in trouble.
So, the teacher socialized on her free time, under the now deleted Twitter page, where she went by @Crunk_Bear. The majority of people are standing by her side for just that reason - the pictures are from the leisure time, under a moniker that she didn't advertise to students. As McKinney's students told to 9News reporters, she shouldn't be punished for what she pursues in her free time: "It's a teacher that's only five or six years older than our oldest students," an Overland High School student told 9News. "So we kind of relate to her on a personal level."
The argument about drug use is as invalid as the one about the tweets. Marijuana has been legalized in Colorado, so she wasn't breaking the law. However, many parents would argue that a teacher is a role model whether she's on duty or not. And that's a legitimate argument. As the student told to the press 'they relate to the teacher'. But I wonder what the school board thinks of the situation they've caused. Now that every student will know about the Twitter pictures and their teacher's extracurricular activities, they will probably 'relate to their teacher' even more. So, trying to get rid of the person they held as a problem, they've actually caused a problem of a whole new magnitude.
Free speech is at stake, and the pot-smoking teacher is at the spotlight. Diplo and numerous fans are showing their support. Your thoughts?
Tomorrow I'm gonna use all my internet mumbojumbo to get #freecrunkbear trending !! Ok so be prepared
— dıpןo (@diplo) January 31, 2013
Hahahah I'm dying. #FreeMckinney #freecrunkbear twitter.com/KatiePatrick2/…
— Katie Patrick (@KatiePatrick2) January 30, 2013