Rant of the Day

RANT OF THE DAY

October 21, 2008 - (Vancouver, BC) Vancouver Sun columnist Todd Douglas worries that campaigns to teach teachers how to establish boundaries with students, "are contributing to an atmosphere of wariness and even paranoia -- at both high schools and universities."

With heightened surveillance of teachers and post-secondary instructors in the past decade and more, many educators privately tell me they and their colleagues are taking the safest way out -- they're simply having less contact with their students.

It's easier. But both instructors and students are the losers. The kind of rich relationships I developed with a few devoted teachers and professors in the 1970s and early 1980s would now rarely, if ever, happen.

He claims: "Now, in the wary and litigious atmosphere at universities, unstable students can and do ruin instructors careers by falsely accusing them of harassment. It's happened in B.C. and across North America."

Read the whole thing.
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TT - Zero tolerance of boundary issues isn't because of a few harassment claims. It's due to teachers having sex with their students, something Douglas would know if he visited the College of Teacher sites in Canada where disciplinary records are online in every province.

The fear of "closed doors" is the mantra of the teachers' unions here and in Canada as taught in so-called ethics lectures before the start of every school year. Bizarrely -- because of their opposition to reform at any level -- this styrofoam-cup-and-donut lecture is conducted mostly by union reps. Not surprisingly, the focus is on "false accusations" and not on moral conduct.

It's like hearing a lecture from a criminal defense lawyer who specializes in defending the mob. He doesn't really care what the creep did: it's his job to defend him. However, the defense lawyer doesn't bother with the pretense that he cares about moral choices. He's in it for the money. The same can be said for teachers' unions.

Which is why any attempt to bring sanity to the classroom in order to bring a check on behaviors that result in statutory rape or result in fewer arrests and sentences for sex charges is doomed. It becomes an issue of "false charges" and "false accusations." This, despite the fact that in over 8,000 entries, we have yet to find a single case where a student recanted.

False accusations often occur when a student accuses a teacher of shoving him around. It's teenage belligerence. However, sex charges substantiated by police enough to warrant an arrest are not false or intended to humiliate or get back at a teacher. A teacher can be found not guilty of the charges, but the likelihood is slim. There are few instances where they are exhonerated.

But the damage - the real damage - of the "false accusation" shibboleth (defined as common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth) is that other teachers, constantly warned of the danger do not report their suspicions and become suspicious of all complaints of sexual exploitation. As Dr. Robert Shoop, writes, in his book, "Sexual Exploitation in Schools," "Perhaps because educators fear false complaints against themselves, they tend to give other school employees the benefit of the doubt." (p 64)

That might be putting it kindly. When the so-called "ethics" reminder is given at the beginning of the school year by the teachers' union representative, it's a none too gentle reminder that you better believe it's a false accusation. Because you, too, can be taken down if you report someone else.

Most school districts in this country have student handbooks that clearly delineate acceptable behavior. Some of the handbooks are hundreds of pages long. How hard is it to print a teacher's handbook that said: DON'T HAVE SEX WITH STUDENTS. YOU WILL BE FIRED. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR LICENSE. YOU WILL GO TO JAIL. AND WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO MAKE CERTAIN YOU DO.

The British Columbia College of Teachers presently has an online survey on -- Boundary Violations.

Don't miss reading their monthly magazine that has a whole article on "Steering Clear of Boundary Violations" on pg 14. They call wrong accusations "extremely rare." Be sure to read how teachers justify having students as friends on Facebook. Teacher disciplinary decisions can be found on pg.20.
Current Issue PDF (large file)

On his blog, Douglas was forced to defend his criticism of the BC College of Teacher DVD and attempt to educate teachers on boundaries.