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Yearbook Captions Girls as ‘Fat’ and ‘Skinny;’ Where Was the Faculty Adviser?
Wenatchee High School in Washington is the latest to print mean-spirited fodder about its students
Last week I wrote about a high school in California that delayed the release of the bulk of its yearbooks after a staffer wrote a nasty article about the (in)appropriateness of the cheerleaders’ uniforms. While the school couldn’t force the yearbook staff to retract the article, they students did anyway, rewrote it and apologized. But what had me wondering was where was the faculty adviser who should have seen it and stopped it from being printed in the first place?
I’m scratching my head over the same thing today about a high school in Washington. Wenatchee High School’s yearbook has identified photos of two freshman girls not by their names, but by “fat” and “skinny.”
According to speculation, the staff put those labels in as placeholders because they didn’t know the girls’ names and forgot to update the page before the yearbook was finalized and 1,100 copies were printed.
The school has since cut out the page in question and the yearbook staff adviser said she doesn’t know who’s responsible for the captions.
“I believe the intention was to go get their names and replace them,” she said.
She admitted that no matter the intent, it was still unprofessional and wrong nonetheless.
The 280-page yearbook, which was compiled by a staff of 21, was sent to the printer in January or February but the mistake was not discovered until the books were distributed on May 31.
The yearbook staff posted an apology on their Facebook page:
“We made an awful mistake and it wasn’t intentional at all. If you could please stop talking about it, it would make the situation a lot better. Thank for understanding.”
The school’s assistant principal said they are now focused on healing and they will eventually talk about “what needs to be done.”
Um, how about have the staff yearbook adviser read every page of the yearbook before it goes to the printer? It may seem like a daunting task (depending on the size of the school and the yearbook), but isn’t that one of the main reasons why the position exists?
When kids call a fellow student “fat,” there’s no mistake about the fact that they’re being mean — plain and simple. Off the top of my head I can think of several dozen other placeholder captions that could have been used to identify girls whose names were unknown until they figured it out (how about “Freshman Girl 1,” for example?).
Clearly these high school kids aren’t mature enough to oversee a permanent publication without supervision. I blame the kids for being mean-spirited, but I blame the teacher in charge even more for not trying to get the kids to understand the seriousness of their responsibilities, and most of all for not catching a word so hurtful before it fell into the hands of 1,100 other students.
Mistakes happen, but this is one that shouldn’t have occurred in the first place.
Do you think a mistake like this is understandable or unacceptable?
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8 Comments
Lauren commented on Jun 09 11 at 1:21 pmUnfortunately it seems that monikers describing our physical features will forever be game. Wonder why? Could it be that the media salivates over opportunities to “dish” about celebrities every day? Could it be there’s so much focus EVERY WHERE on what shows on the outside and very little attention paid to the important core ingredients of kindness, decency, tolerance and patience? I think everyone who was responsible for putting that book together should have to write individual letters of apology…they are ALL responsible for the mistake. I also think that NONE OF THEM should be on staff next year since they cannot do their job correctly. The sad part is that these two girls will live with this in their psyche for the rest of their lives. I pray they are forgiving and able to understand the truly ugly people in this story are not the “fat” or “skinny” girl…but all the “normal” people who are ignorant and unkind.
Z commented on Jun 09 11 at 1:39 pmWell said Lauren. I just cant wrap my mind around why this even would have happened. Like you said someone is not doing their jobs.
Caitie commented on Jun 09 11 at 1:40 pm“yearbook staff adviser said she doesn’t know who’s responsible for the captions.”
Uhh, she was, she was the adult presiding over the yearbook and was the one responsible for those students.
Gabriela commented on Jun 09 11 at 1:42 pmThe school made a mistake that they can never take back. Speaking from experience, no amount of apologies can undo the damage that those two words have caused
Liz commented on Jun 09 11 at 1:42 pmOH MY GOSH. How horrible. I can’t imagine how mortified that girl must be feeling. Kids can be so terrible to one another.
RT commented on Jun 09 11 at 2:14 pmOnce again, we see a generation of people who cannot take responsibility for their actions!! As evidenced in the facebook post, all that come out of situations like this are faux apologies that are more like, “I’m sorry that it happened to you” rather than “I’m sorry for what I did.” Of course there were plenty of other placeholder names that could have been used, and of course itway least somewhat intentional. Someone made the decision to write “fat” in the first place. I wish someone in this culture could lay down their pride long enough to admit their own wrong doing without defending every single decision they make! The advisor would do well to set the example.
RT commented on Jun 09 11 at 2:53 pmOnce again, we see a generation of people who cannot take responsibility for their actions!! As evidenced in the facebook post, all that come out of situations like this are faux apologies that are more like, “I’m sorry that it happened to you” rather than “I’m sorry for what I did.” Of course there were plenty of other placeholder names that could have been used, and of course itway least somewhat intentional. Someone made the decision to write “fat” in the first place. I wish someone in this culture could lay down their pride long enough to admit their own wrong doing without defending every single decision they make! The advisor would do well to set the example.
MamaK commented on Jun 09 11 at 10:03 pmI think the worst part was the pathetic post on their Facebook page where they act like saying it wasn’t intentional made it OK and then get all pretentious and act like the people who are talking about it are the the ones doing something wrong… How about an apology???? That is going to stick with that poor girl forever. And what faculty would ever allow a label like that to be used? I think some jobs should be lost and the girl who was labeled fat should get to post pictures of all the staffers through the school with whatever labels she chooses.
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