Aug 03 2008
Back to School - First Year Teachers
It is summer time - and I do apologize for the lack of recent posts. However, as you know summer means vacation (mostly my children’s - not mine) and my children have plans that do not include my laptop.
Yet, as we enter this first full week of August, that back to school excitement is the air. Sure, here in CT, back to school is still one month away but once Walmart has glue sticks on sale you know the time is getting closer.
So, today, I was reading through the education news headlines and one headline caught my eye. The story from the Palm Beach Post was titled, “Teachers Close To Age In Students Lose Sight Of Line.” The story talks about young teachers. It focuses on the early twenty something teachers who are fresh out of college and working their first teaching job in high schools. It describes how some of these teachers are only a few years older than their students and how they blur the lines between making friends with their students and being their teacher. Once the line is blurred, a sexual relationship is possible.
I don’t disagree with the article. It is true that some young (and old) teachers blur the line and this is simply unacceptable. When there is a specific case of proven teacher misconduct it should be widely reported in order to discourage others from making the same mistakes.
However, I do disagree with the title, the timing and the tone of this article. In August, as first year teachers get ready for their first teaching jobs we should be focusing on the positive energy and excitement that they bring to the classroom. The school boards and colleges from which they graduated taught them (or should have taught them!) about their ethical requirements. If these teachers do something wrong, then we should know about it because any known abuse in our schools should be dealt with swiftly and harshly. Until then, let’s make sure that the colleges and school boards are doing their job in advising new teachers of their ethical and legal requirements and let’s support our new young teachers and wish them a good start to the school year.
2 Responses to “Back to School - First Year Teachers”
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I have somewhat bittersweet feelings about new teachers. One one hand, I want to support and trust them because I was a new teacher at one time and remember what it was like. But as a parent, whenever I hear ‘new teacher’ I want to run with my son in the opposite direction. His first teacher was a first year and it was a disaster. At any rate, I agree with you that we shouldn’t condemn them for any wrongdoing that hasn’t happened yet.
I do not disagree with this either. I think such young teachers, should be required to teach Elementary School only. I think sometimes they get alot of attention, when these relationships occur, and not good attention that we sometimes forget how close in age they really are. Yes they have been to college and we assume they are more mature, but some are not. I do not condone them starting relationships with their students, but avoiding it all together is probably the safest route to go.