Taking a Fall to Avoid a Review

In what could be filed in the "job-related stress causes people to do strange things" folder, 33-year old Brooklyn high school teacher Ilene Feldman was busted on video throwing herself down a flight of stairs to allegedly avoid a classroom observation which might saddle her with a second negative rating and potential termination given her untenured status. Feldman, who was eventually confronted with the video evidence by investigators, maintained her innocence, but quickly resigned and has since been made ineligible for teaching in the city school district.

My first instinct was to deride Ms. Feldman for her duplicity, but pausing to think, I feel a some sympathy for her. I can't know for sure what her motives were, but assuming that her actions had less to do with committing fraud and more to do with not wanting to deal with an unbearable work situation, I think I can understand her actions, even if I don't approve of them. There are probably few things more miserable than being awful at your vocation and feeling powerless to change that. It's possible that Ms. Feldman was in a situation where she knew she wasn't a good teacher and knew that the second negative observation was going to be the nail in her teaching career coffin, and in an act of desperation, she tried to avoid the inevitable. It would be akin to the corporate phenomena as constantly calling in sick to avoid being fired for excessive absenteeism - the old if-you-never-see-me-you-can't-fire-me trick (though I believe this is an urban legend, and it's entirely possible for a person to be fired in absentia).

I don't agree with how she went about doing it, of course, but perhaps Ms. Feldman has come to the reality that the better course of action for everyone would've been to resign in the first place. Or just as I counsel friends and colleagues who are going through immense job stress to the point of emotional or mental breakdown: Take a step back and remember that there are certain things that are absolutely impossible to walk away from - chances are is that the specific job that you have is not one of them.