Jeff Bliss / Student Teaches Teacher
Background
On May 8th, 2013, YouTuber James Smith uploaded a mobile video recording of eighteen-year-old Texas high school student Jeff Bliss being removed from his world history class. In the footage, Bliss is seen openly criticizing his teacher Ms. Julie Phung for taking a passive role in lecturing and resorting to class packets and handouts. That same day, at least six different duplicate copies of the video were uploaded to YouTube, with two of them accumulating more than 1.8 million views[4] and 640,000 views[5] in the first 24 hours respectively. The latter upload has been shared on Facebook more than 54,000 times.[6]
Notable Developments
Online Reaction
On May 8th, the video was posted to Reddit[7] where it earned more than 19,000 upvotes and nearly 3,000 points over all. By the next day, however, all comments had been removed from the post after the disclosure of Bliss’ personal information. Also on May 9th, the video was submitted to the /r/Conspiracy subreddit, claiming it had been deleted from both YouTube and Reddit on multiple occasions. It earned more than 4,500 upvotes, 2,300 points overall and more than 600 comments. Additionally, a number of YouTubers began uploading video responses, resulting in more than 51,000 search results for "re: Jeff Bliss"[20] on YouTube by May 10th.
News Media Coverage
On the evening of May 8th, the video was re-shared on Viral Viral Videos[9], Gawker[8], World Star Hip Hop[11] and men’s culture blog EveryJoe[1], in addition to the websites of two local Texas news stations WFAA[2] and Fox Dallas-Fort Worth.[5] On May 9th, DBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported[17] teacher Julie Phung had been placed on a paid leave and that Bliss had not been reprimanded for his actions. On May 10th, the video was also featured on a number of news sites and internet culture blogs including Yahoo! News[12], Geekologie[13], The Blaze[14], Fark[15] and The Huffington Post[16], among many others. The same day, an Indiegogo campaign[19] was created by Californian James Johnson to raise money for Bliss to attend college.
Bliss' Response
Bliss created a Twitter account[18] to try to interact with lawmakers and start discussions about the American education system. In an interview with WFAA (shown below, left), Bliss said someone needed to share these feelings. He noted that he had gained a greater level of respect for education after previously dropping out of high school and wanted to get the most out of his education.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Every Joe – Jeff Bliss Goes Off, Legendary Duncanville Video is Born
[2] WFAA- Duncanville student's classroom rant goes viral
[3] MyFoxDFW – Duncanville student's teacher rant goes viral
[4] YouTube – Jeff Bliss, a High School student gives a lesson to his teacher at Duncanville [Original]
[5] YouTube – High School Student, Jeff Bliss gives a lesson to his teacher at Duncanville, TX
[6] Viral Video Chart – High School Student, Jeff Bliss gives a lesson to his teacher at Duncanville, TX
[7] Reddit – High School student gives a lesson to his teacher on how to do her job
[8] Gawker – Hero Student Goes Off On Bad Teacher After Getting Kicked Out of Class
[9] Viral Viral Videos – Student Rebukes Teacher For Her Apathy After Being Kicked Out Of Class
[10] Reddit – This video keeps getting deleted from youtube and reddit: high school student calls out teacher for her apathetic teaching approach. – [1:28]
[11] World Star Hip Hop – This Is The Future Of This Nation: High School Student Goes Off On Teacher About His Education!
[12] Yahoo! News – High School Student’s Rant About Teacher Goes Viral
[13] Geekologie – Kid Provides Solid Rant On Teacher For Not Teaching
[14] The Blaze – ‘JUST GET UP AND TEACH THEM INSTEAD OF HANDING THEM A FRICKIN’ PACKET, YO’: STUDENT’S RANT TO TEACHER GOES VIRAL
[15] Fark – Student rants to his teacher about the sloppy systematic teaching process at his school
[16] The Huffington Post – Jeff Bliss Teacher Rant: High School Sophomore Goes Off On Teacher In Texas Classroom (VIDEO) (GRAPHIC LANGUAGE)
[17] CBS DFW – Duncanville High Teacher On Leave After Student Viral Video Rant
[18] Twitter – @Real_Jeff_Bliss
[19] Indiegogo – Jeff Bliss College Fund
[20] YouTube – Search results for "Re: jeff bliss
![Jeff gives his teacher a lesson [Full]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/98_cmS-M9dQ/hqdefault.jpg "Jeff gives his teacher a lesson [Full]")
Top Comments
ConnerABacon
May 10, 2013 at 07:40PM EDT
Beta_Carotene
May 10, 2013 at 07:45PM EDT