Saturday, February 18, 2012

THE UNSEEN PRESSURES OF TEACHING « Teachers Fight Back

THE UNSEEN PRESSURES OF TEACHING « Teachers Fight Back:

THE UNSEEN PRESSURES OF TEACHING

The high school where my kids attended has just come up with a new policy as regards the dances held at the school. Apparently there has been a lot of problems with students dancing in an obscene manner,(imagine that). The new policy requires all students at the dance to wear a wrist band. If a student is dancing in a manner that “simulates a sex act”, the wrist band will be taken away. If the student has a second violation, they will be removed from the dance.

Imagine the pressure on the teachers who are supervising the dance. Those teachers must enforce a rule that might be very difficult to define. What if a teacher is too overzealous in enforcing the rule? They would risk alienating vast numbers of students, and no teacher wants to lose rapport with their students. What if a teacher is unsure of what constitutes “simulation of a sex act”, and rarely enforces the rule? That teacher could receive a reprimand from the administration. What if a teacher accuses a student of a violation and the student asks the