re: #203 Justanotherhuman

Yeah, her argument is a little odd in some respects. I get one of her points, that it’s possible in some cases that the student was a willful and willing participant in a teacher-student romance. Setting aside the question of the ethics of such an affair, I’ve known high school students who were pretty mature and were dating college guys because, well, high school boys are often really immature, if not complete dopes. Karasik doesn’t get into the ethical question at all, which bothers me more as a teacher than the sex question does. There is such a power disparity in teacher-student relationships that it makes good sense to set down limits on how close teachers and students can get emotionally as well as physically. Additionally, schools and teachers are acting in loco parentis legally, so any sort of sexy shenanigans is a clear violation of the school’s and teacher’s legal, moral and ethical standing. This is one big reason why people get so bent out of shape when teachers are caught bonking their students. The other big reason, which Karasik tries to present, is that American society would like to pretend that teenagers and teachers don’t ever think about sex and love at all, never, ever. A century ago, a married female teacher had to quit her teaching job once she got pregnant, because … I have no idea. Now, people freak out when decent teachers are discovered to have posed nude or done a porn flick when they were young and stupid. Teachers are supposed to be like monks and nuns, or saints.

I’ve taught for 30 years, and of course been a high school student. In all those 34 years, there were only a handful of clear-cut cases of teacher-student dalliances. In each case, the teacher in question was sacked, but I am not aware of any criminal charges being filed. And I am speaking only of pre-college students. College is a whole ‘nuther ball of wax.