I just read a blog by a college student who will soon be applying to grad schools. In the current blog entry the student names and says negative things about a rather well known university oboe instructor.
Bad idea.
Even though the student isn’t applying to that school at this point, the named person could easily run across the blog (one only has to google one’s name to come across “interesting” things) and other instructors might now reading the blog as well. In addition, google alerts can fill us in when certain names are mentioned, or certain instruments (gee, can you guess which instruments I might have put in there?).
It’s just not a good idea to bad mouth someone you may eventually run into, need as your advocate, or end up sitting next to when you play a gig. Really. And another teacher might read that and think, “Bad attitude!” or “Well, I really like that instructor the student wrote about so I’m not sure I want to take on that student.” You just don’t know.
And no, I’m not going to contact the instructor, nor will I contact the instructor the student really wishes to study with. I’m also not going to link to the student’s blog. (The student should really set that blog to private, though!) I can be mean sometimes, but not like that. Just like I won’t “out” an anonymous blogger even when I am distressed by what I have read. But someone else might …?
It is so easy to write things on a blog that one doesn’t fully think about. I know I’ve done that. Some of you have graciously contacted me to say, “You really want to have that there?” I appreciate that greatly. 🙂
