If we are defining "personal life" as what someone does within the privacy of their own home or off campus (legally, of course), then I don't think a teacher's personal life should ever come into play. Public Intoxication can't be considered personal, hence the "Public" part. However, if a teacher chooses to drink within the confines of his or her own home, then that is their business and really shouldn't concern any of us. To me, the key in this scenario is the teacher is excellent in the classroom and that is who our children are seeing on a daily basis as their role model.

I want to pose another part to this question. Why is it usually acceptable and sometimes even admired when coaches are harsh on their players? By harsh, I mean using profanity and even making degrading comments when players (who are still kids) make mistakes on the playing field.

I have played sports my entire life and have played for several of these types of coaches and still hold the highest respect for most of them. I even understand how their competitiveness and frustrations when a game is on the line could lead them to unintentionally blow up at a player. However, when a coach is exhibiting this type of behavior while "on the clock" and directly to students, how can it be acceptable when teachers or administrators are scrutinized for their personal lives and for things they do within the privacy of their own homes?

I agree with you on the part about what they do in the confines of their own homes. I guess I was going more on how they present themselves in public situations.

Mom of 3:

Your point was precisely what I meant when I stated that I felt like women were much more scrutinized than the men! To me, it is absolutely not acceptable to belittle or humiliate a child. I have also seen it time and time again on the playing field and my jaw drops and I think "how on earth can they get away with that?" Let's have a teacher in a regular classroom say the same thing and those parents and administrators would have her job!

Bob poses an interesting point though. How can we gauge "personal" time? Who is to decide? I think that as long as my children are being treated fairly and are getting a good education I don't really care what the personal situation is unless it bleeds into my life and affects it negatively.

The reason I brought this up to begin with was because of a situation that occurred here in Baytown regarding a young teacher who was already a single mom but became pregnant with another child out of wedlock. Basically, as this teacher told me, the district ran her out of town. It made me so angry.

George, you're welcome. You weren't being treated fairly and it bugged me. Glad to see you back and hopefully you will behave yourself

To take it one step further, so long as the activity is legal (going to a bar was legal last time I checked, besides, your kids should not be in bars to see that anyways), it should not matter whether it is done in the confines of their own home, or out in public. a legal activity is a legal activity, no matter where it is performed. why should you confine a teacher to their house, just to keep the public from seeing them act like the rest of the public? This makes no sense.

Teachers are educators. So long as they provide a quality education, treat each student fairly, their personal lives should not matter. If they want to dress up like the village people, live a swinger lifestyle on the weekends, that is their business, so long as it does not have a negative effect on their ability to teach, and it is not a subject of conversation in the class between the teacher and the students. It is the responsibility of the parents to instill morals in their children. The parents who rely on the school system to teach their kids life lessons are doing a dis-service to their children.

and if a teacher wants to have 10 kids out of wedlock, that is none of the districts business. I hope she takes them to court, and wins, if that is the reason she was run off.

You may not like the answer, but, that is just part of sports. Look at sports at any level, and the coaching staff share a common trait. That trait is intensity. Intensity is a very important part of sporting competitions. Without intensity and mental toughness, you will lose. With a losing record, a coach will be run off because the district is not getting the value for dollar in what they are paying for. Same goes with military. I've never served, but everyone I have talked to that has has said the same thing about the drill instructors in basic. They are intense, they will get in your face, they will belittle you, they will make you want to quit. There are those that do quit, and they were never cut out for that lifestyle in the first place. there is a saying "what doesnt kill you makes you stronger". They may yell and cuss at the athletes. They are not doing it to be mean or hurtful. It is a great motivator.

Caymon,

My question was not why do they do it. Believe me, I completely understand why they do it. I have played sports my entire life and I now coach 2 of my 3 sons in basketball and one of them in baseball. My question is why is this acceptable and yet people complain if a teacher gets pregnant out of wedlock or drinks at a bar? It was somewhat of a rhetorical question to prove the double standards that exist in the public school system.

Also, I was not stating that a teacher should be confined to their home in order to drink a beer, I was just saying that if we were considering "personal" as what happened behind closed doors (hence getting pregnant) then it's definitley nobody's business.

I think we are both on the same page here, but I must not have made my thread real clear.

That's an easy one. That's because people are idiots. There is no reason for anyone to care that a person is pregnant out of wedlock, or has a few drinks. Only a self absorbed, "I'm better than you", fool would concern themselves with those activities which take place in another persons life.