Teachers Fired For Flirting With Students On Facebook

Originally posted by jennybee35
reply to post by Brood

 

Wow. I have never heard of a high school that offers law classes, or client management and professional services classes. I had no idea there was a high school that offered psychology, either! Where the heck did you go to high school?

Barrie, Ontario . It was a catholic school, too, so I don't see how the elective curriculum could be lesser than that of a public school student. Maybe it's just a Canadian thing.

reply to post by Brood

I don't know if it's a canadian or catholic thing, but they certainly don't offer such useful classes around here!



Lucky you!

reply to post by jennybee35


It must be a Canadian thing, my Catholic school didn't offer those awesome classes...sure we got some business law and a basic psychology classes, but nothing what the other poster is making it seem like.

Back on topic...

I think Teachers need to stay out of their students Facebooks, as I think employers should stay out of their employees. I for one will not even add my coworkers or even family to my facebook. My personal life is mine, they don't belong in it. I have also been getting more and more disenfranchised with "Social networking" so I am not the most neutral of people. I even dumped my old facebook, got a new one and refuse to add people just 'cause I happened to have had Math with them in Highschool. If I don't talk to you, or wouldn't mine having a basic relationship with you, you don't get added.

I think it's bad for Teachers to get involved in Facebook for the obvious abuse of it, but what if a student decides to not accept the friend invite? Will the teacher be hurt and take it out on them? I know for the most part friending a teacher on facebook is harmless, but there is too much of a chance for abuse.

I think the solution, satisfying free speech and protection of children would be a mash up of LadySkadi's ideas and Brood's...

If a teacher wants to have contact with students through Facebook or other networking sights, it seems reasonable to ask them to create a "professional" account, and to provide the account info to the administration and the entire class. By doing so, it creates transparency which protects both students and teachers.

I am sorry, but "personal" online contact between teachers and select students is just unacceptable, from a professional teaching AND a parental point of view. There is no way to justify it. Inappropriate, period.

I ran into problems adding certain coworkers to my page, and ended up unfriending several. It was a bad idea, of course I did not think so then, and the next place I work I will not even mention facebook.

Facebook is not a bad thing, but I just ran across another truly disturbing article about Facebook, and the potential for bad is definitely there.

Sorry, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. How about the parents watch their child's Facebook profiles? How about the students deny their teacher's friend requests? How about the students remove and block the teacher's if they make inappropriate remarks?

Not to mention the only age mentioned in the article was 18. Is 18 illegal now too?

I'm tired of this "OMG PROTECT THE CHILDREN!!!!!" nonsense. It's nothing but a politically correct social trend that has become far too extreme and paranoid. The majority of the outrage surrounding these adult-teenager relationships is fake. It's an excessive show of emotion for the sake of fitting in with the crowd.

I'm going to be completely honest with you people: I don't care if a teacher, or any adult for that matter, has a relationship with a child in high school, so long as it's consensual (for those planning to do so, please look up the definition of pedophile and note that I only said high school before accusing me of endorsing pedophilia). I don't believe it should even be a crime. There is nothing magical about the age of 18 that makes a person any more capable of handling a relationship with an older adult than someone who is 16. Crimes should be reserved for instances where there is a victim. There is no victim if it is consensual.

I saw nothing in this news article to warrant the firing or suspension of these teachers. It's excessive political correctness. That's all it is.

reply to post by PETROLCOIN


While I understand your sentiments, there has been a very long-standing unwritten rule regarding adults in authority positions limiting personal interactions with minors in their sphere of influence. It didn't really have to be written until fairly recently.

Young people are, well, young. Easily impressionable and controlled. The theme of puppy love for a teacher, whether male or female has been a staple of cinema since forever. It's just simply what can happen in a teacher student relationship. It has also been tradition for teachers who take advantage of their position of authority to be fired or turned over to the police.

Look at it another way: A teacher friends a student on Facebook. If the thought crosses the student's mind, "If I don't accept will this affect my grade somehow?", then it is clearly a case of unequal power balance, and that is why it is inappropriate. The same holds true for a situation where a manager friends an employee. Sure there are cases where it is welcome, but rejecting the manager on a personal level might cause problems at work, thus the employee is compelled to accept the personal advance.

That is why people are making a big deal about it. Worst case scenario is a teacher using their authority to prey on their students, knowing exactly how and why to exert the pressures that will lead to sexual activity.

Originally posted by blamethegreys
Young people are, well, young. Easily impressionable and controlled.

There are many adults who are impressionable and easily controlled as well. There are many adults who are gullible or get easily attached. There are adults who are mentally challenged. Should it be illegal for adults who do not fall under these categories to date adults who do?

The laws against adults dating minors is not because minors are impressionable or easily controlled. It's because someone in authority at some point decided that someone over 18 could not date someone under 18. Personally, I don't know or see why.

Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with a law that punishes adults who engage in sexual relationships with minors; I don't think it's right for a 54 year old man to date a 12 year old girl. But what I do have an issue with is the definitions of "adult" and "minor". I see no reason why 18 should be considered the point at which you legally become an adult. Why not 16?

I'm under no delusion that there are not adult men and women out there who strive for sexual relationships with, or to impress upon or control, minors simply because they are minors. But not everyone over 18 who dates someone under 18 is a pervert or a pedophile. That's an incorrect assumption that a lot of these overly outraged, politically correct individuals make when they see or hear a story about an adult-minor relationship.

Originally posted by blamethegreys
Look at it another way: A teacher friends a student on Facebook. If the thought crosses the student's mind, "If I don't accept will this affect my grade somehow?", then it is clearly a case of unequal power balance, and that is why it is inappropriate.

I do agree that that is inappropriate. But that needs to be dealt with as a separate issue, not used as evidence of teachers exerting their authority in order to engage in sexual relationships with the student. In the event that a teacher does send a friend request to a student, if the student is afraid of that if they deny it they will be targeted in class or through their grades, they need to involve their parents and the school, not accept it and open themselves up to other potential issues.

Originally posted by PETROLCOIN
There are many adults who are impressionable and easily controlled as well. There are many adults who are gullible or get easily attached. There are adults who are mentally challenged. Should it be illegal for adults who do not fall under these categories to date adults who do?

Adults are assumed to have "entered the fray" so to speak...at 18 (yes 'cause someone decided ) ...as an adult you operate under Caveat Emptor when it comes to relationships and love. (that's "buyer beware" in latin). Should it be legal for an adult to date an adult that maybe isn't the sharpest tool in the shed? Yes. Caveat Emptor.
As for mentally challenged folks, no I don't think so...but it depends on the level of a person's disabilities. If a mentally sound person is dating a specially abled person, there is a high level of scrutiny from those around both the abled and disable person. It is not an accepted social norm for that type of relationship to happen, because obviously it is a recipe that invites sexual abuse.

The laws against adults dating minors is not because minors are impressionable or easily controlled. It's because someone in authority at some point decided that someone over 18 could not date someone under 18. Personally, I don't know or see why.

18 is an arbitrary number. I would image it had to do with modern schooling being complete at 18, nothing more really. BUT the reasoning behind creating an age of consent was to allow young adults to mature emotionally in an arena that excluded older, more experienced players. What age does a mother bear protect her cubs to? Are those cubs ready to fight some big ol moose the next day? Probably not, but even in nature, protection of the young ends up being an arbitrary amount of time. Is 16 a better age for today? Maybe, but I still think that it depends on the 16 year old.

Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with a law that punishes adults who engage in sexual relationships with minors; I don't think it's right for a 54 year old man to date a 12 year old girl. But what I do have an issue with is the definitions of "adult" and "minor". I see no reason why 18 should be considered the point at which you legally become an adult. Why not 16?

I personally thing a range rule would be the best fit for our modern world. Say under 13 or 14 is stat rape, no matter what. After that I think maybe a 4 year difference would be about the max of appropriate. So for example a 17 year old could be with a 21 year old w/o the 21 year old being guilty of stat rape.

I'm under no delusion that there are not adult men and women out there who strive for sexual relationships with, or to impress upon or control, minors simply because they are minors. But not everyone over 18 who dates someone under 18 is a pervert or a pedophile. That's an incorrect assumption that a lot of these overly outraged, politically correct individuals make when they see or hear a story about an adult-minor relationship.

I agree with you on that point. And to tie it back to the OP, I also think that schools have no business hiring teachers in their 20's or early 30's to teach teenagers! It's a recipe for disaster, even in emotionally healthy adults. Reminds me of a story out of Rohnert Park, CA about 7 years ago. They hired a 21 year former student (male) to teach the girl's volleyball team. He had gone to school with some of these girls! No surprise what happened, and he went jail. In my mind, he was set up to fail from the very beginning.

I do agree that that is inappropriate. But that needs to be dealt with as a separate issue, not used as evidence of teachers exerting their authority in order to engage in sexual relationships with the student. In the event that a teacher does send a friend request to a student, if the student is afraid of that if they deny it they will be targeted in class or through their grades, they need to involve their parents and the school, not accept it and open themselves up to other potential issues.

But that's the very point the thread is making! If a teacher is friending specific students, and is engaging in personal communication with those students, it is more than fair to make an assumption that either the teacher may be unsound emotionally to teach, or the teacher is looking for more than teenage chat. Again with the social norms: It is not (generally) socially acceptable for a person to exist in a much lower social circle. When an adult is innocently drawn to young adult or childhood social circles it is a pretty good bet there is something wrong emotionally or mentally with them. If they aren't drawn to those circles innocently then there is often a need for control and power.

In the example from earlier, about teachers being on students' friend lists and yet the discussion was professional, it goes back to my point that a "professional" transparent facebook account would protect all involved.