Schools in the News

Has anyone noticed how many teacher/student stories are in the news lately? The latest one that I've heard where the teacher took off to Mexico with a student for several days is just one on a long list of surprising and disturbing stories taking place across the nation these days.

Now I have heard there is some talk of requiring teachers to take polygraph tests once a year to answer questions regarding illegal behavior. Others have suggested that teachers should be required to sign a "code of ethics" agreement as a part of the hiring process.

Whether these measures will be enacted is far from certain. However, many believe that teachers should be held to a higher standard by virtue of the fact that they work all day every day with young people. It looks to me like this is shaping up to be another issue where personal privacy may be shelved for the sake of the safety and well-being of others, in this case, school children. We are being confronted with these conflicting values of personal rights versus safety on so many fronts because of these dangerous times in which we live.

I have to say that for the most part, I'd like to err on the side of caution. I'd rather be scrutinized carefully at the airport, even if it lengthens my pre-boarding time, if it keeps us all a little safer. Perhaps the same holds true in regards to teachers. Why should I fear a polygraph test when I have nothing to hide. And if it means that some teachers who might be engaged in illegal activities on nights and weekends would be exposed, that would be a good thing.

In any case, I do believe that as each new case surfaces involving an inappropriate teacher/student relationship, we are inching closer to the time when all teachers will be scrutinized and monitored more closely. This may be necessary, but I also see how it dehumanizes us because essentially what that says is, "You can't trust anybody."

The simpler times are over. We enjoy the many advancements of the technology age, including the vast amounts of new information available to us. The downside is this: some of that information we may wish we had never heard.