I have substituted at many elementary schools so far and more than a few times I’ve gotten a class where the kids tell me that “our teacher lets us take turns giving her back rubs.” Now, school district policy, for subs at least, is that we are not supposed to have any physical contact with the kids. I don’t know if it’s the same for teachers, but I think this backrub thing is a little creepy. What do you think?
Even if there’s nothing sexual or otherwise hinky about it, that’s kind of a shitty deal on the part of the kids. The teacher gets free back rubs and the kids get doodly-shit. I mean, would a teacher bring a turret lathe into the classroom and have the kids take turns churning out bolts?
I did that when I was a kid. I was absolutely in love with my teacher (a woman) - most of the girl students were - and we took turns playing with her hair and giving her back rubs. She was really nice about it - in hindsight, we were probably really annoying and bothersome about it, but she always thanked us and made a show of enjoying it. So, no, I don’t think there’s anything inherently creepy about it. Unless the teacher is asking for backrubs, instead of the kids doing it voluntarily. That would be a bit odd.
On the other hand, I’d be a little surprised if regular teachers were encouraged to have physical contact with students and subs are forbidden. (I know, the opposite of encouraged is discouraged, not forbidden). So even though I think the backrubs are probably harmless, I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t really supposed to take place.
Of course, sometimes beurocracy manifests itself in weird ways, so maybe the no contact rule only does apply to subs.
Yeah. Like the little bastards wouldn’t have ink, jelly, glue, or deadly-to-adults-only contact poison smeared on their grubby little paws. Karana made whips & chairs to keep kids at a respectful distance. Karana is most wise.
I think this, whether technically okay or not, is a horrible idea. It just takes one situation of a misunderstanding… then you’re out of a job and have a ruined reputation. I mean, can you imagine? “Then the teacher told me to rub her back…” I’ll bet the union wouldn’t back you if you did something as stupid as inviting kids to touch you on a regular basis and it backfired one day.
I used to teach fourth grade. If a kid came up to me and gave me a hug, I’d pat them on the shoulder back… if a kid was fighting another kid, I’d pull them away by the arm… but I would never invite a child to touch me. (I’m a guy, for starters.)
Last, as Argent Towers notes, isn’t this exploitative? Jeez, some people lack common sense and shortchange the kids to boot!
What if the kids want to, though? Girls like physical contact and tend to be very clingy - when I taught elementary school kids, the girls loved giving me hugs and playing with my hair (I’m a girl too, FTR). It would be weird if the teacher was a guy, I admit, but I could see how girls would actually enjoy giving their favorite teacher a back rub. Like I said above, my friends and I did it all the time.
It was, however, 15 years ago, and I’m aware times have changed. What was normal then might be weird now, I suppose.
Funny, I was teaching around the same time as you - about 11 years ago. We were told in certification classes - as well as by veterans - to redirect kids who wanted to touch us. There were certainly a few “grandmotherly” types on our faculty who did their own thing. If you started teaching in the 1960s, I guess, they weren’t going to worry too much about you groping kids.
We were also told to be aware of “clingy” kids - sometimes this could be a sign of sexual abuse. We were encouraged to go for brief, socially neutral contact like handshakes and high-fives. I had a friend who had a student who insinuated that he looked up her dress - no formal complaint but it very nearly cost him his job and he had a hell of a time dealing with parents and the kids. Keep in mind I taught 4th grade, and though my certification is in PK-6, I’m definitely an upper elementary guy. It’s probably different for the early elementary folks.
It’s just that you’re putting your career in the hands of a child… if a student accuses you of something you’re kind of up a creek. Failing that, you’d have to also be certain that it’s okay with the parent that their child is giving you backrubs at school. The other issue is gender equity… is it okay for girls but not for boys? I was trained to be as consistent as possible in dealing with boys and girls (and tried to do this, but I admit I would walk into the boys room if there was a ruckus going on in there… I’d send a female student in if it happened in the girls room).
Actually, I meant that 15 years ago was when I was a student, giving backrubs to the teacher. 
It was actually when I was in 5th grade.
Granted, I went to school in a small suburb near Atlanta. We had 15-20 kids per class, three classes per grade, and very few new students or kids moving away. Up until 5th grade, it was perfectly normal for girl students to hug their teachers or even give them a peck on the cheek. We never had any kind of trouble related to accusations of abuse. I never thought it strange until now.
I taught little kids ESL in Seoul up until last month. The ones that liked hugging and were clingy were very young - 2nd graders, I think. Still little enough to sit in my lap.