Quote:
Originally Posted by GirlySports
Many men once in the profession say they quit because of worries that innocuous contact with students could be misconstrued, reports the NEA.
Saw this off of MSN. I know there are a few male teachers in this forum.
Are conditions really this bad? Do you have to be really careful when dealing with female students?
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I teach in a Junior High School and I say that I would think the issue would be more with students (for whichever reason) deciding that they don't like you and thus interpreting something as inappropriate, or choosing to interpret it that way, if that makes sense.
Even at this age level, where hormones are running rampant and nearly everything is hypersexualized, the students seem able to interpret innocent contact as exactly that. This being said, I know many of my male colleagues (of which there are six out of 28 staff) outright refuse to have any type of contact for any reason whatsoever with any student, male or female.
I have had students (female) ask for hugs from time to time and I always make sure that if such a thing occurs it happens in full view of several people and that it's a one-arm, as little contact as possible type thing.