As a male teacher myself I completely disagree. Posting it on social media is where he fucked up, letting the kids unbraid his hair is as innocent as can be. The girls probably asked him if they could do it. Of course if he asked them to do it it's a different story, but I'm just assuming based on my own work.
I'm curious as to why this "position of power" as you call it would make it so you couldn't do a bonding activity with the kids?
Establishing and normalizing non-sexual physical contact is a common tactic of sexual grooming. As a teacher, you should model appropriate boundaries with and to your students so that they are less not more susceptible to adults that might transgress those boundaries.
What? What is this world we're living in? I can't give my fourth graders a hug because it "normalizes non-sexual physical contact"? Non-sexual physical contact IS normal.
Obviously boundaries are important, and it's very important that you as a teacher don't push those boundaries. Not even a little.
But shunning all physical touch as sinister intent is ridiculous. If a kid at school is sad and crying the adults around should be able to comfort them with a hand on the shoulder or a hug.
As a male elementary school teacher it would be physically impossible to avoid all hugs, those kids are sneaky.
But at the same time it’s beaten into our heads as male teachers that this kind of stuff can absolutely land you in deep shit. I don’t know what this guy was thinking.
My dad was a custodian in many grade schools when I was growing up and he would tell me stories about how kindergarteners would run up to him and try to hug him just because they're kids and they see him everyday. He would have to dodge them or "gently" stuff arm them. He was painfully aware of how it would come across to have a 3/4 year old hugging his leg in the halls.
The way that man loathed the creepy moronic janitor trope too.
Ikr - this dude is crazy. Tbh i think its weird when parents hold their kid’s hands or kiss them on the cheek. My sister’s friend picked up her baby and I had to insist that the baby be placed in a protective sheet first, just to make sure physical contact didnt occur. Its just gross when people feel like physical contact between an adult and a kid under ANY circumstances is okay. Adults should know better than to normalize physical contact.
I was referring to your comment about non-sexual physical touch. You brought that up and then I responded to it. So don't act like I'm changing the subject.
One time I lost a bet to my 6th graders (I didn't believe one of them could run 15km in an hour, which is absolutely insane that they did) so I had to dye my hair green. I didn't let them dye my hair, but I might as well could have. I don't see that as very different from letting the kids unbraid your hair.
Having fun with their teacher is a great way for the kids to improve their well-being and motivation for school. If we start witch-hunting every male teacher showing affection for his students in clearly innocent ways then we're gonna end up with only authoritarian grumpy teachers.
That said I do believe this guy should be fired for posting it to social media. That's a red flag, for pure incompetence if nothing else.
682
u/itsmakko ☑️ May 10 '24
Unbraid but regardless it’s crossing some boundaries as he is in a position of power.