There has to be a line.
I am the teacher. You are the student. We are not friends even though we are friendly.
Our paper is full of articles - as I am sure yours are - of teachers crossing the line. Having sex with their students, sexting their students (do not understand that one), basically behaving inappropriately. Crossing the line.
The teachers were abuzz at the school about one teacher who discussed her underwear with the students. (HOW would that EVER be appropriate?) Students have told me she would sit in a way they could check out her underwear. Did I mention that she has grown children and has taught longer than anyone else in the department? In other words, more than old enough to know better.
When she was finally called on it and fired, it was all some could talk about.
What I find incredible is one of her biggest attackers has the same kind of inappropriate relationships. Kids are in her room every morning. I like kids. But I don't want to hang out with them.
It came out at the end of the year that several couples in her room were behaving in a manner better suited to dark places, a car, and a Saturday night that a school classroom. And that she knew it and turned a blind eye until she couldn't anymore. At which point she kept saying that she just discovered it.
The kids will always tell.
And teachers need to remember that there is a line.
The Small Subtle Poisons
1 hour ago
6 comments:
I'm a female and I only wear slacks and tops like sweater sets. I do a lean-over test to make sure nothing gaps. I don't stay in a room with only one student (or I maneuver the kid so that we are in the doorway. I never stay in a room with a student with the door closed. Just being wise and keeping myself from the machinations of a teenager who might decide to make any kind of accusations-more teachers need to follow rules like this, and no principal should be in an office with a student of the opposite sex without another adult present. NEVER! Too many kids who know they can ruin a teacher/principal with NO proof-just the allegation can ruin a career.
I have followed this for 30 years of teaching, combined with stellar moral values and behavior.
So why don't the millions of teachers who do the right thing get our names in the paper as examplars?
I am a young female (but in elementary school). I remember to dress as traditional and conservative as much possible, nothing tight-fitting, nothing tho show my cleavage, no open toes shoes(well flip flops, I have some open toe shoes that are professional looking).
We had issues with a teacher sending inappropriate texts to students in our school district. Needless to say, he was fired. It makes me sick to think about. Parents trust teachers to educate their children. Breaking that trust is inexcusable. There are definitely lines that teachers should not cross - hearing stories of teachers crossing those lines is horrifying.
i think that what you are saying has a fine thin line: i have students in my room in the morning and after school and during lunch (non of them are making out etc. and if they were i'd notice!), i talk to my journalism staff via FB or email all the time...teachers do need to be wise to how students are and adjust accordingly. i am amazed at what i hear teachers saying or doing with or about students. however, i do think that it's ok to be a person to your students and not that old-school/I never smile or talk to you except about the lesson kind of teacher, kids today need more than that kind of teacher! :D
Stephanie - that isn't what I am saying. I had a student come see me every morning this year to say hello. I know (because I could see it and because he told me) that I made a difference in his life over a 4 year period and his direction changed.
His parents love me. I talk - some - to him on FB. I am happy to see his changes and to see him. We are not friends.
I wouldn't talk to him the way I do to my friends - more the way I talk to my children. He would not think of making out with another student in my room.
That is the line I am talking about.
The one who has kids in her room every day is not maintaining the distance. They are her friends. I think it is creepy.
And I am the one they come to when they have problems. And there are some who call me their BFF - but when I say we are not friends, there is an intimacy with friendship that would be inappropriate to experience with the students I teach.
I am grateful and happy to be there teacher. But there is a line.
That should read "their teacher" - LOL.
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