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| Sarah Jones, teacher and cheerleader. |
1. I would have felt incredibly uncomfortable if I had a teacher in high school who was a cheerleader/dancer on the nights and weekends. I would have felt like she was a role model for me; someone put there by the school board to show me a good example of an adult. There definitely would have been a huge influence on my dressing and actions if I had known she was a dancer, because I would see showing 90% of my body and shaking my boobs and butt to thousands of people both at home and on national television as an acceptable thing to do. "If my teacher can do it, why can't I?" would have been a pretty logical leap for a teenage mind.
2. If I had a child who had a cheerleader/dancer as a teacher, I would be very upset. If I ever have a child, male or female, who has a teacher who moonlights as a slutty dancer in clothing the size of a postage stamp, I would question the school board's decision of hiring her.
In Kentucky, according to KRS 161.164, teachers are not allowed to be part of political campaigns because they don't want the teachers using their authoritative positions to influence students. I spent two hours this morning looking for where the KRS laws mention stripping or dancing while being a teacher and they don't exist, as far as I've found. So, the state doesn't want teachers influencing their students (most of whom cannot vote) politically, but it's fine to influence the students' (most of whom in middle and high school are starting to experiment with sex) sexual behavior . I really disagree with this.
I looked at three Kentucky county teacher contracts this morning: Jefferson, Boone, and Kenton. In all of them, there was some version of this sentence: "The private life of a teacher is not the concern of the School Board unless it affect's the teachers responsibility as set forth in KRS 161.120." In Section 1, Part c of this statute, it says, "Committing any act that constitutes...immoral conduct." Who decides "immoral"? I think dancing/cheering in extraordinarily revealing clothing on weekends is immoral. But obviously, the Board doesn't agree with that, because Sarah Jones was a teacher while she was a cheerleader.
Teachers have long been regarded as pillars of the community. I am a third generation teacher in my family and in my immediate family alone, there are 5 teachers. I see education and teaching as the noblest of professions because there would be no leaders, no engineers, no doctors, no lawyers, nothing, without teachers. It is my opinion that we need to restore the integrity to the teaching profession. Just like a politician's life is not their own (see Bill Clinton or anyone else who has done something in their personal life and gotten destroyed for it), neither is a teacher's life. When you enter the teaching profession, you become a role model for thousands of students. You are teaching the next generation about values, about academia, about social relations, and everything else. Overall, teachers see students more than parents do during the school year. I absolutely do not feel comfortable entrusting my children to people who sell their bodies on weekends (yes, nothing physical is happening, but you're baring your body to the world for entertainment). I don't care if it's "dancing" and some people consider it "athletic" and "not sexual" as I know some of you will respond. It is highly inappropriate for our students to be exposed to that mentality in a public school.
For the record, for those of you who know me and remember that I was a ballroom dancer for a few years and wore incredibly revealing costumes, I would not continue that sport as a teacher. I think that, too, is excessively revealing and too sexual to participate in publicly in competitions on my weekends as a teacher. I know that this is an amazingly conservative view, but the reason I have this opinion is that our children are exposed to so much sexual media all the time outside of school that I feel like school should be one place that is safe from that. Girls especially are so influenced by sex, "being sexy," and working to "look good." School should be a place for academia and not sex or having sex-related distractions, such as an entire class knowing their teacher bares (almost) all every weekend in front of a 50,000 person stadium.
Kids are impressionable. Let's work on giving them good impressions.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
If you have high school students attending strip clubs, then you've already got an issue. Professional cheerleading is an accepted profession and cheerleading is something that is quite prominent in high schools anyhow. Are you saying that those high school girls should feel ashamed to participate in that or what they choose to do is immoral?
ReplyDeleteYou also have to look at the actual case and the reason as to why the punishment was so light. The "victim" and his family did not help the prosecution and were actively trying to support the defendant. She lost her teaching job and likely will never teach again, not to mention all the public humiliation and ill-will towards her. The social sanctions will be intense for awhile. Would you have only been happy about the outcome had she been given a couple years of hard jail-time?
I don't think I mentioned students attending strip clubs at all.
DeleteWhile I understand that professional cheerleading IS an accepted position, so is political involvement, yet teachers cannot be involved in that. I'm just saying I really think our priorities here are skewed. I am aware that cheerleading happens in schools. The thing is, competitive high school cheerleading and what the BenGals do are two VERY different things. I think the gymnastics element of competitive cheerleading is admirable; do I like their outfits, no, but they're not as revealing as professional cheerleader outfits. Also, professional cheerleading really doesn't include a lot of gymnastics. It's "dance" and waving pompoms.
No, I'm not upset about this case because of the sentence she received. I'm upset about this case because, like you said, the victim wasn't helping the prosecution (which he will almost certainly regret in a few years) and I absolutely hate how a lot of people are responding to it, saying "good for him" and "wow I want some of that NFL a%% too." It is so pathetic that our society is just pretty okay with all of this!
The strip club comment was put in there because how else would students know their teacher was stripping unless some of them attended? Usually that's not something that's openly broadcast to society, "Hey I'm a stripper, oh and I happen to teach your kids." If she was bringing something like that up in class and telling the whole class her viewpoints on it and trying to get high school girls to become strippers, then it becomes an issue. Your comparison is like saying that a teacher can't have a political viewpoint in their private life. Is it wrong for them to bring it up in class or try to sway students, yes, and that's why there are rules against that. Does it stop teachers? Not always.
ReplyDeleteNot all high school cheerleading is competitive in nature. A lot of it will include gymnastic elements, lifts, holds, and coordinated cheers, but the number of competitive cheerleading teams is relatively small compared to the cheerleading groups that are the dancers and pompom wavers.
How do you know the student will be upset later on? I would say the majority of the problems he will have is due to the attention he is receiving because this all got out. You cannot predict the outcome of this situation and the fact that both the student and his family are supporting Ms. Jones means that the situation could be different than what you are assuming. If you don't know all the facts, you can't reasonably make predictions of the future.
As for the comments that you are pointing out, that is the nature of the internet and the plethora of trolls. Some of those comments might actually be meant as serious, but when I read those I see a bunch of people looking to get a rise out of people such as they have gotten out of you. You can see ridiculous comments similar to that when reading articles about the California teacher that ended up getting a student to live with him. People will always try to get a rise out of others on the internet so long as the internet is anonymous or has the illusion of anonymity.
If there was a teacher who was a stripper, the minute someone found out, it almost certainly WOULD be broadcast to society. I haven't seen a teacher campaigning for this election at all. I work on the campaign and my fiancé is adamant about not being part of it. He hasn't come to any events or helped make phone calls in any way. I'd be interested to hear of a teacher openly campaigning.
DeleteYou're right. I don't know the facts. But I have been through something eerily similar to this. I don't feel that anyone has the right to say what this student is feeling at all unless they've been where he is. I have. Have you?
Good point about the comments. I'm really not sure about the validity of the point, but I think it's a good perspective to put out there.
Going back to your original post, I believe I would also have a problem with a school board that would hire someone with such a "personal life." I am a teacher, and know for sure, my life beyond the school doors is not completely my own. I can choose to live how I want, but I will also take the consequences if how I choose to live if it is in contradiction to my teaching profession. My husband, in construction, can make these same bad choices and not be ridiculed for his actions. Why the difference? Because being a public employee puts you in a different light. We are shaping young lives and if you have children or if you don't shouldn't matter. We should be role models. I have children and it scares me to think that one of the "safe" places that I send them could potentially have an outcome like this.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! When you take a job as a public employee you're charged with the responsibility of being a role model. I appreciate that you read this and took the time to comment on it, both as a parent and as a teacher. Thank you!
DeleteA teacher could probably strip at a club without students knowing, at least for a while. The difference here, though, is that the teacher is being broadcast all over TV. If her students (or their families) are football fans, they will see their teacher up there with hardly any clothes on. They wouldn't have to seek it out, like they would going to a strip club.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that the rule about having "immoral conduct" is so vague. It would be hard to make it more detailed...where shoud the line be drawn? However, I work with kids and know how impressionable they can be. I remember wanting to be "just like" some of my teachers when I was younger, since I loved them and looked up to them. I would be very concerned if my child's teacher (especially middle or high) were on TV wearing hardly any clothes.
And on another note, I think that many high school dance teams and cheerleading teams are giving girls an excuse to be slutty, or even teaching them that it's okay. While I admire the gymnastics/dance part of it, I worry about the type of dancing that is taught in schools. I would not want my child bumping and grinding in front of an audience.
I love this comment! I completely agree. I loved dance when I did it for the dance technique; I won competitions because of how I looked. Lol I love the gymnastics part of cheerleading, but I don't understand why they have to be in itty bitty skirts. Thanks for your input!
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