The Slam Book

Looking at the referring URLs for e-verities visitors in the last week, I came upon a link to http://www.ratemyteachers.com/ . I was reminded of something from my junior high years.

A little over forty years ago, I remember hearing about and seeing an occasional glimpse of something called a "slam book." I remember a spiral-bound notebook decorated outside with glued cutouts and crayon drawings. On the inside, there was one name on each otherwise blank page. The book was passed around and comments were written about the students named on each page. There may also have been some kind of legend identifying the students making comments.

I don't believe I ever read a slam book or even held one in my hands. This was for two reasons. First, junior high principals judged the books to be mean and hurtful in spirit, and therefore confiscated every one they found. Second, the students making and passing them around seemed to me to be part of the "in-group.” Whatever that phrase meant in reality, it had a clear meaning to me. The in-group was not any group that associated with me. In fact, I was so far from being part of any in-group that I was untroubled by the distance. I don't remember ever wanting to read from or write in a slam book. The books and the opinions in them didn't concern me, and I was unconcerned about what the in-group opinions of me were. I reserved my agonies of insecurity for closer relationships.

It now occurs to me the principals may have judged wrongly. The motivation for making slam books was probably more insecurity than meanness. In social groups substituting pretense for openness it seems there might be an aching desire to know what others really think. In fact, in such social groups there might also be an aching desire on the part of in-group members to say what they really think of others.

I suppose students who feel they cannot honestly express negative feelings or opinions about their teachers without fear of unfair reprisal have a real emotional need for the anonymous slam book outlet of RateMyTeacher. In fact, Michael Hussey, developer of the site says one of the reasons he created it was because as a student he had “nowhere to go for constructive criticism without fear of grade retribution." The fear Hussey shares with his anonymous high school raters is possibly the most significant teacher criticism offered, because any teacher reprisal for such expressions would be unprofessional, unethical, and in my opinion immoral.

A cheap-shot rebuttal to this articulated retribution fear would be to say Hussey and the students expect to receive what they know they would dish out. I would rather rebut their criticism by encouraging them to be authentic and open about their feelings and opinions. I would further encourage students to avoid giving anonymous criticism. Anonymity is frequently a prima facie reason for ignoring criticism, and by definition ignored criticism cannot be constructive. Finally, I encourage any criticism, even if anonymous, by posting a link to this cyber slam book below.

The verities here are honesty and transparency, what some have called authenticity. Living authentically brings the eternal part of your being into the here and now. To hide behind pretense (for example, by hurling anonymous criticisms from behind a barricade of false propriety), elevates the ephemeral beyond its true value and crowds real value from your life.