at a time when any poorly thought out thing you say or do might easily become the next flavor of the day youtube.

and i do think it's generally better for kids to go overboard in their attempts to figure out the lines in who they are and what they're about than not far enough.

i personally think she embarrassed herself that day, and maybe she will at some point too, but it's probably generally better to have to reign in going too far in youth than spending a life working up the courage to go far enough.

same with the kids who went overboard with the student journalist. they have lots of time to realize that even if they were doing right overall, in that moment they were doing wrong.

in my mind the professor is a different issue though. you expect kids to go overboard to some degree, but she was so caught up in the emotion of the moment that she completely lost sight of her role as an educator and a mentor on that field. that was really disgusting to me.