Replies to '06/12 Teacher Sex Scandal, Part 1'

To a great extent I do agree with you and Jillyinoc that a teacher should never be alone with a student, but fifteen years ago when I was teaching, I lived right in the middle of town in the only house for rent in the little backwater place, and it was impossible to keep my location secret, and ultimately I had students coming by to say hi. Now, I had NO intentions of ever messing with my own life and job by messing with these kids, and frankly, as an adult I had no attraction to high school kids, and I would encourage them to move along after five minutes or so. Of course, I never had students show up by themselves, always with friends along, and I left the front door open the whole time they were there so there was never a chance I would be suspected of anything, and thus never was. Shoot, even 20 years ago, when I was a student in high school, I remember me and a couple of friends going over to see our journalism teacher at her new apartment to give her a house-warming gift!

It makes me sad that because someone like Mary Kay Latourneau broke the rules, that all teachers are now suspected before anything happens. Teachers have it hard enough as it is without this new thing overshadowing their daily work, and I think it's horrible that anyone accused and then vindicated of such charges should still lose their jobs and whatever life they made for themselves because some little punks feel the need to hurt someone just to make themselves feel like big men. SHEESH.

But just as a sidenote - right before I made the decision to leave the teaching business, we had a teacher meeting during which our principal advised us to NEVER touch a child, even if it's just a pat on the back. Why? Because we could be accused of "hitting" the kid and get sued. Now, this wasn't a warning for our own benefit - it was for the benefit of the SCHOOL BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION! There is so much fear of being sued in the schools these days that we can't even give kids the positive reinforcement of patting them on the back and saying, "GOOD JOB!" Once he told us that, all the heart of my job went out the window and I gave it up for good at the end of that year. There is no joy left in teaching, and situations such as these are not encouraging for those who want to teach and are very good at it. It's downright SCARY.