Student Lectures Teacher: ‘You Gotta Make Kids Excited’ For What You Teach [Video]

Published on: May 9, 2013 at 10:27 PM

A student lectures his teacher in a new video that has gone viral. Student Jeff Bliss was filmed by a classmate as he left his classroom at Duncanville High School in Texas while delivering an impassioned speech about teaching techniques.

The original video was posted to YouTube on Wednesday and has quickly racked up 300,000 views.

Many online commenters have chimed in to support Bliss, who in the clip urges teacher Julie Phung to stop “handing [us] a frickin’ packet” instead of providing “face-to-face” lessons.

“I’m telling you what you need to do,” rants Bliss. “You want kids to come into your class, you want them to get excited for this? You gotta come in here, you gotta make them excited. You want a kid to change and start doing better? You gotta touch his frickin’ heart. Can’t expect a kid to change if all you do is just tell him.”

Bliss then reminds Phung that education is the future for himself and many others across the country:

“You’ve got to take this job serious. This is the future of this nation. And when you come in here like you did last time and make a statement about, ‘Oh this is my paycheck,’ indeed it is. But this is my country’s future, and my education.”

While Phung repeatedly tells Jeff to leave the class , the student lectures the teacher until he feels enough has been said. With his speech done, Bliss delivers one last line before departing:

“If you would like, I’ll teach you a little more so you can actually learn how to teach a frickin’ class, because since I got here, I’ve done nothing but read packets.”

Mashable reached out to the local school district about the clip, and Duncanville Independent School District spokeswoman Tammy Kuykendall confirmed Bliss will not face further action. Kuykendall added:

“He makes a number of valid statements about how classrooms across America need to change and we view this as an opportunity to have more conversations about transforming our schools to better meet the needs of our students.

“As a district with a motto of Engaging Hearts and Minds we focus on building positive relationships with students and designing engaging work that is meaningful. We want our students and teachers to be engaged in learning every day, and want classrooms to be reflective of that.”

As for what his parents thought, Bliss told a local Fox station that his mom (who is also a teacher) was proud of him, but thought he needed to tweak his attitude.

You can watch a Channel 8 News report on Bliss’ outburst below. What do you think of the student’s lecture to his teacher?

[Image via Facebook ]

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