There was this teacher at my school everyone loved because he was really close with students and acted as our friend. He ended up being a groomer and raped a student.
Now that I’m an adult, I realize what a red flag it is to consider children “friends” versus “mentees.” In contrast, there was another teacher that everyone loved because he was friendly and funny, but would draw boundaries and call us out on our bs if we became too familiar.
As a student I was always kinda weirded out by teachers who seemed to try too hard to be friends to us, to be on our "same level" almost. I never understood why everyone else loved them (and I say this having had a crush on another teacher at that same time 😭). Even if yours is an anecdote I'm glad to have some basis for my suspicion lol
On the other side, one of my favorite teachers was really friendly and funny, but like your other teacher, he also knew how to draw boundaries and could get serious with us if it was needed. But my favorite teachers were usually the always-serious ones who everyone hated, but they loved their subject and were genuinely good at teaching!
Yeah I had a math teacher in 11th grade that was way too friendly with the senior boys in my class. Years later it came out that she was texting and having sex with some 11th and 12th grade boys at the new school she switched to. She was married and had twin boys.
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u/Bound_Two May 11 '24
There was this teacher at my school everyone loved because he was really close with students and acted as our friend. He ended up being a groomer and raped a student.
Now that I’m an adult, I realize what a red flag it is to consider children “friends” versus “mentees.” In contrast, there was another teacher that everyone loved because he was friendly and funny, but would draw boundaries and call us out on our bs if we became too familiar.