Northampton Principal Fired For Calling All Of Her Students “Asshats”

(Bos) - Northampton High School will have an interim chief executive for several weeks, as administrators probe what happened when the principal referred to students as “asshats” in an internal communication.

The comment by Principal Lori Vaillancourt came to light through a 267-page compilation of administrative messages released by a former School Committee member, who received the materials in response to a public records request, MassLive reports.

The revelation sparked swift backlash from parents and students, who organized a walkout in protest.

This is an extremely dangerous precedent to set. Feels like prior to this there was a clear line drawn in the sand. Hole gets you fired. Hat is a slap on the wrist at most. ‘Asshat’ has no vitriol. It is a barb that is sans venom. You call someone an ‘asshat’ and you’re laughing about it. Asshole? You better have a damn good understanding of your audience before you start dropping hole-bombs on people. Especially an entire group of people.  You can call your best friend an asshole as a sign of respect, you can call your worst enemy an asshole and lead directly into fisticuffs. Asshat has never once in the history of the words ass and hat caused violence.

Especially in this scenario. I’d argue this principal dropping ‘asshat’ when talking about HIGH SCHOOLERS is the greatest display of restraint in educational history. She showed a great deal of respect to the Northampton student body by not speaking the full truth about teens. There’s no age group on the planet worse than the teens. They don’t fear death, they’re hopped up on stimulants and hormones, they’re angry about everything, the have a false sense of intelligence, truly no redeeming characteristics to speak of. There may be no more perfect word to describe teens than ‘asshats.’ To prove my point I will now reveal why she called them asshats in the first place: the students wanted HARDER MATH CLASSES! ASSHATS, THE LOT OF THEM. Anyone begging for more math is a more hatted ass than a donkey wearing a fedora.

But while I side entirely with the principal here, I have to give credit where it’s due: 

Last Wednesday, students walked out of classes, many while wearing stickers reading, “Hello, my name is Asshat,” according to the news site.

Wearing a bunch of “Hello, my name is Asshat” stickers is funny. And also not the sign of an asshat. A smart ass most definitely, but not an asshat.