It’s certainly been an interesting year for teacher-student “relations” in our area. In the just the past couple of months, we have had a Mishicot teacher and coach charged with having sexual contact with a student, a former Appleton West teacher charged with having sex with a student, a student teacher in Menasha accused of having inappropriate contact with a student, a Wisconsin Lutheran High School teacher charged with having sex with a student, Appleton Xavier’s principal being fired for inappropriate email and text exchanges with a student, and a Kaukauna private school teacher accused of trading child pornography on the internet. All of those cases were on top of a sentence being handed down for a former Kewaskum police resource officer that sent images of porn and bestiality to a student, and an appeal filed by a former Green Bay elementary school teacher sent to prison for molesting little girls.
If things were to keep up at this pace, even the Catholic Church would eventually say “Whoa, you got some problems going on there!”
While I reference the priest abuse scandal here, I’m not saying that our schools have replaced our churches as havens for pedophiles. But, while education systems are not making intentional efforts to hide teacher predation on children, they are continuing to foster an environment that allows it–and practically encourages it–to happen.
Because I post stories about education on social media, the algorithms think that I must work in that area. So I get videos and sponsored posts about schools and teachers all the time. And to be perfectly honest, the the “ick factor” is pretty high in some of them. For example, one video shows an elementary school teacher that greets her students at the classroom door with a sign featuring a waving hand, a hand giving a high-five, and two people hugging. Each child as they come to the door, points to one of the three as they way they want to be “greeted” by the teacher that day–with a wave, with a high five, or with a hug.
It’s a far cry from the way that I remember going to every class. Usually, the teacher was at his or her desk (or in the teachers’ lounge having a smoke) and there might be a brief “Hi, Mrs So-and-So” and a simple “Hello, Jonathan” as I made my way to my desk. The idea that I would want to hug my teacher every day would have given me the creeps back then–just as it does now.
The reason for this more “hands on” approach to education is explained in another video I’ve seen a few times about how teachers need to help “struggling” students by “creating an ‘inter-personal relationship’ with them”. Many a time have I heard teachers and administrators sit before school boards bragging about how they are making kids “feel loved” in their classrooms. Social media posts show posters about “love” (usually in rainbow colors) appearing in many classrooms. Those same teachers like to post about how they are a “safe person” for students to come to.
Which brings us to another issue: School districts that actively encourage their staff to undermine students’ relationships with their parents. Nearly every district in this area has a policy on the books that allows teachers to “keep secrets” about students. The arguments for these policies is that letting parents know about what their kids are doing at school would somehow “endanger them at home”. And once a teacher has gained the trust of a student to keep one “secret”, it becomes easier to convince that child to keep other “secrets”.
And let’s not under-estimate the effect of social media. Until the advent of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Shapchat, and the myriad other platforms that allow for secretive contact between people any time of the day or night, the only time a student would see a teacher would be during the school day. Now, instructors want their students to “friend” or “follow” them–encouraging them to “like” a photo or a video, or to “reach out to me” anytime–again in a format that parents likely are not aware of.
Given the increasing numbers of Millennials and Gen Z members entering the education workforce, the desire to “be liked” is much different than it was before. There is now a deep-seated desire to have as many followers as possible and to have every aspect of your life “elevated” by positive feedback from everyone on-line. In my day, the “cool teachers” let you have a soda in class once in a while. Now, the “cool” teachers post videos breaking down their sex lives and posting “thirst trap” photos.
The pressure to be popular extends to children as well. A child struggling to fit in with his or her peers would feel over the moon that an adult would find them extra attention and affection. It makes for a volatile situation involving one party that is dealing with all kinds of emotions and hormones, a general lack of control, and no understanding of the long-term consequences of some actions.
I have mentioned before in this space that children don’t need adult “friends”. They need adults to provide guidance and discipline–not to be secret confidants and to build emotional relationships. I doubt any parent of a teen would be comfortable with their kid’s boss asking if they want a hug from them upon arriving at the workplace. You wouldn’t want your pastor texting your child after their bedtime. And you likely wouldn’t want even their “favorite uncle” encouraging them to tell him stuff they don’t want you to know. So why would you want their teachers to do all of that?
