There are a lot of these cases hitting the news of older high school students either having sex with or being in relationships with teachers or staff.
There was a case local to me where a teacher’s assistant was in a sexual relationship with a 17 year old girl, the paper even printed a censored digital photo he had sent the girl of him nude(an unedited version was on facebook lol) his age? 21!
It occurred to me that having twenty somethings in a room everyday with 16-19 year old kids is probably not the best idea if you’re trying to prevent inappropriate interaction. I wonder if requiring at least a twenty year age gap between older students and their teachers and staff would be a prudent measure to prevent hooking up.
I’m guessing most of these relationships the older member doesn’t even feel it is “wrong” the way an older person would.
I’m not excusing teachers or school staff breaking the law or ethics, I just think preventing it from even happening is a better idea.
Great idea! Let’s cut the pool of people available and willing to work in classrooms down to about a quarter of what it is now, and make sure none of them are young enough to be on the student’s wavelength at the same time. That should stop them having any fun, and that is the important thing, obviously. :rolleyes:
The problem is you’re treating all teachers as if they’re as guilty as the handful of teachers who actually do commit a crime.
And those handful of teachers who do commit crimes by having sex with their students? Those are the ones we should be keeping away from kindergartens - which is where your system would place them as they begin their careers.
I think the population of teachers who would rape a 5 year old, is WAY, WAY, WAY smaller than the population that would “rape” a 17 year old.
Anyway please note I did not post this is great debates, I just think having early twenty somethings working with high school seniors you’re inevitably going to have inappropriate shit going on. Of course not all teachers or staff are going to violate their students, but I bet an actuary could put a number to it.
Are you suggesting that a 21 year old who is attracted to 17 year olds (as in the OP) would thereby also be likely to be attracted to 5 year olds? (Are there any 21 year olds in the world who are attracted to anybody at all who are not attracted to 17 year olds?)
The sensible solution to this “problem” is to stop freaking out about it. Some young people are having more fun than you you did when you were young (or I did when I was, come to that)? Tough.
Eh, the fact that there are a few cases in a country of 350 million doesn’t really make this a huge problem. Certainly not one worth upending the entire teaching profession by forbidding half the population from working in High Schools.
We already have laws against statutory rape, and HS’s already have policies in place to make it less likely, and detect it if it does happens. I don’t really see much evidence that these measures aren’t adequate.
How to you propose to find 38 year old instructors willing to start on the ground floor of teaching secondary education for crap wages? One of the largest factors in educators getting out of the field is lack of money, especially in the first five years. Now try that when you’re pushing 40 instead of pushing 25.
Two words - chastity belts. I’m not sure for whom.
The problem with the 21 - 17 year old case is not the age gap, which is hardly too large, but that teachers and students shouldn’t be involved, just like bosses and employees. This is hardly a new problem. And the case in NY seems to indicate that it is a few teachers with lots of students.
I was substitute teacher at 19 years old. I got hit on several times and had students leave their numbers on my desk after class. It takes a little bit of discipline, but it really isn’t that difficult to simply not fuck your students.
The only incident that came to light at my school when was there involved a 16 year olds (who actually dropped out of the school first, apparently solely so it’d be legal) with a 40 something teacher- actually her previous boyfriend’s father- who left his wife for her.
Technically legal, as the messing up of her education happened first, rather than subsequently, but I don’t think it’s any less dodgy for that. He’s still teaching there, at a girls’ school, last I heard.
One of the youngest teachers there (early 20s) also had a few flings with ex-students, but had the sense to only date18-19 year olds that had completed the school normally. I don’t think the age of the teachers has much to do with them being idiots.
An ex-girlfriend of mine went straight from getting her BS to being the solitary algebra teacher in a rural coastal county. As a young, busty ex-lifeguard, she often had trouble getting the students to concentrate on the math. She talked about it being uncomfortable with half the room staring at her rack while she was teaching.
And somehow, she never slept with any of them. So it’s not like it’s a temptation for every young teacher.
What a silly solution you’ve proposed. As if 40yr old men aren’t skirt chasing young women too! And hey, a couple of young teachers acted improperly so let’s put all young teachers out of work, that’ll show 'em!
How about, instead, we apply the law and charge them criminally for their inappropriate behaviour. It should end a teachers career, finished, done, find another field. In addition to whatever criminal penalties apply.
That way, the ones behaving badly take the hit, instead of the whole profession.
Or are you okay with the bad behaviour of a colleague altering your job prospects/earning potential, for a couple of decades?
You could increase the penalties for teachers having sex with underage students. That would address the actions of bad teachers w/o penalizing the good teachers.
Why? Sounds like everybody involved is having fun, and no harm is being done.
You might keep in mind the law of diminishing returns. Efforts to enforce zero tolerance might do a great deal more harm than allowing a few incidents to slip through the cracks.