Does my teacher have the right to know of my in-school goings on? I got in some trouble last week, where I was not at great fault. I have been told that this teacher plans to find out why I was in trouble. However, I would wish that he, as well as the rest of the school, not know of what happened. When a bit of information is released, exaggerated rumors fly.
I confronted him about this, and asked him to respect my wishes and not try to find out why I was in trouble. He replied that it was his duty to know. Why? Because, he said, I would have someone to talk to (?) and so if these issues came up in the class, he could be sensitive to them.
I know it’s not his duty to do this, but does he have the right to know what happens between me and the school disciplinarians?
I can’t tell you what the legal or moral stance on this is, but as a teacher’s kid I can tell you that if it happens in school, other teachers learn about it. That can work for you or against you. You can call it gossip or curiosity or an educator’s desire to know more about the whole of your school experience–they share information.
FWIW, this was also true (for me) in college and in grad school. Get used to it.
If you don’t want him to know, I don’t know if you can really dissuade him from probing the matter and getting the goods.
I can only suggest you take the teacher’s reasons for wanting to find out at face value.
While I can understand your feeling irked about this, we teachers do strive to get the “big picture” about our students. This often works in the student’s favor if there are extenuating circumstances that may explain a problem behavior.
I know I’m not nosy because I enjoy it. But I do strive to learn all I can about my students. Sorry, but you are a student, and therefore under a microscope of sorts. We are paid to teach you and rate you. We have to watch and learn to do that effectively.
Slinger: A little more information might be useful, such as what the trouble was and whether or not it is a repeat occurrence. For the moment I’ll assume that it was a one-time thing.
While it’s most likely that your teacher had good intentions, I believe he crossed a line by ignoring your wishes. This strikes me as a measure that would/should be taken after the issue ‘came up in class,’ not just ‘in case.’ You have a mind of your own - if you feel you need someone to confide in, you can take that step yourself.
Speaking from the point of view of a High School student, none of my teachers are people whom I would even remotely consider talking to about a problem. Most of them are genuinely good people, but they’re not my friends-they’re my teachers.
Your teacher has control of a certain chunk of your time. If the information about your ‘trouble’ were relevant to his chunk, he would have been informed by the Administration.
I am a high school teacher. He can probably find out why you were in trouble and there is probably not a lot you can do about it. I do think that if the trouble did not affect his class, or your performance in it, he should have honored your wishes.