Private Lives
In a world where almost anything we want to know is a mouse click away, are those who serve the public entitled to down time? Already we have everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, telling us how to do our jobs of educating children based on personal experiences and “common sense.” As educators we are in a position of power of so many, mainly the children we work with on a daily basis. I am personally afraid to express any real opinions about non-academic topics in my classroom for fear of influencing, or being perceived as influencing, my students one way or the other.
Recent events in the media regarding teacher behavior make me afraid to even post to this academic blog. A teacher in Arizona is fired for refusing to remove a bumper sticker, one of more than sixty that adorned her vehicle. Another is suspended for venting on a private blog about how her students where being lazy by not doing the assigned work. While neither case is black – and – white as far as appropriateness of the circumstances, those we serve need to remember that we are also human. We’ve been encouraged to delete our Facebook and Twitter profiles, avoid public forums, and basically always be the modest school marm of years past.
At what point does it become inappropriate for my students to search for my information? They know where I live because the sale of my house is public record. They know how many traffic tickets I have because that information can be bought. They have found what sorority I am a member of, what awards I won in college, and what I post on Facebook before it became as locked as it currently is. When will we all be punished for saying something or posting something that the wrong person sees? When will we be giving up the right to be something besides a teacher?
1 comment:
Teachers should always be cognizant of what information they are putting in front of their students because they should serve as role models to the students who are watching. Despite this, all great role models have lives outside of their careers that don't need to be the center of public attention. I think teachers should be able to speak what they feel, but the students' best interests need to be considered. There are privacy settings for Facebook pages and ways to represent yourself in a certain light to students.
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