This is what we need to seek out and punish IMHO; dismissal of teachers not setting an example for youth is necessary and return the business of education to a true vocation. Far too many accounts of drug abuse and sex with students by teachers; a return to high standards in the classroom should be the goal and if random drug tests help they should be mandatory.
Out of curiosity, I wonder how many of you who object to this have kids in school? We're not talking about drug testing for people who bag groceries here.
Um......you know, a girl that's 25 going in the bushes at a house party rather than pissing her pants isn't really that big a deal. I don't think that makes her a "skanky ho". Just a girl who got drunk. Big deal.
Like when a teacher teaches algebra/government/physics/literature and does... what, exactly? The days of teachers sitting around telling students how to live their lives were done long before your time came. When they see it every day at home, it's kinda difficult to whine and preach about it to them at school anyhow, huh? Legalize weed and this whole dumb-assed pisstest issue becomes irrelevant. A coke/meth/crack/pillhead will suffer reduced job preformance and be fired on his or her own. Probably closer to a mathematical impossibility. Semper drooling
I have kids in school. And as far as I know, we're not talking about drug testing for people who a) aren't already under considerable scrutiny (Demosthenes is exactly right here: ) and b) have demonstrated a problem to warrant the expense and dangerous implications of this invasion of their privacy. And if we're talking about anecdotal evidence, I am married to a teacher and happen to have at least 6 longterm good friends who are teachers. They are all dedicated to their students (to the extent that they sometimes bore me to death talking about them when we get together) and active far above the norm in terms of community service: through church, Red Cross, Safe House, city government, and soup kitchens, to name a few specific examples.
My son's in 1st grade, and I don't give a crap if his teachers smoke a bowl in their off hours. It probably makes them better teachers, actually, much better than if they were pounding a 6-pack every night.
I think Danny made up the teacher ex girlfriend story too. No way is that true. It's about as legit as stanger's story about his brother-in-law shooting the lady with a baby-that-turned-out-to-be-a-bomb.
Yeah, you're right...I just made it up Jeez...it was her first year teaching, and she had just graduated from Cal Poly. Its not like thats completely unheard of. I also had a senior english teacher who was suspected of smoking weed by nearly every single student. Kids thought it was cool...because he was their english teacher and smoked weed...and he didnt care what people did for homework, everything was outstanding to him. Teachers get away with a lot of stuff where I live. Then again, I apparently have had a completely different education experience compared to everyone else here.
I don't think you made the story up; I think she did. Then again, if a professional teacher is dumb enough to date someone with obvious, irrational hatred of teachers... who knows what other dumb shit she's likely to get into. It's just incredibly implausible that her student would just happen to have a video camera ready at that exact moment. What's the point of the story anyway? You think it should be illegal for teachers to drink?
Huh. I know a LOT of teachers in their 20s who are, well, pretty big drinkers. I mean, they take happy hour VERY seriously. I have no problem with teachers who drink or smoke, unless it becomes a problem. In fact, I tend to think that people who have a lot of, I dunno, let's call them "life experiences" are better teachers than those who live a subdued, sterile life.
I don't hate teachers. I hate shitty teachers. I hate teachers that bring the system down, and most of all I hate administrators who enable them. And she very well could have lied to me, but I know first hand that when she is that drunk, she doesn't care where she pees, so the idea doesn't seem too far fetched to me. And I don't think its implausible to have a video camera ready....I have one in my pocket. Its called a camera phone. That being said, if teachers keep their private life completely out of view of students, and they don't show up to work drunk, stoned, or smelling like shit, then I have no problems with what teachers do in their own time. My problem is when kids see their teachers sloshed, or hear their stories of smoking weed, or anything of the like. I see that as a hell of a lot more detrimental than seeing a picture of Obama with a cigarette. And lets face it, teachers inevitably face ethical and civic issues with children, and they should be expected to be non-hypocritical and treat all issues in the same light. Can you imagine a teacher explaining the consequences when political officials break the law in corruption, and then post a picture of themselves smoking weed on facebook? It happens in college, I can't imagine it being that far away from a high school near you. Maybe random drug tests is a horrible way to prevent this from happening, especially since most teachers do a good job of keeping their private life private. In fact, it probably is. But the political environment that surrounds the internal discipline of teachers really does not allow punishment for teachers that fail to keep their private indiscretions private. Sometimes a shitty solution is better than nothing at all.
I don't know if things have changed, but growing up in southern California in the 80's once a teacher got tenure it was really hard to get rid of them for all but the most extreme reasons. Before tenure, no problem.
From the teachers I know, some of whom teach in what might be termed 'not so cushy assignments' in London - random drug, attitude and general worthiness to be in responsible for a child's upbringing testing for the parents would be a higher priority.
I don't know, I can think of one or two of my HS teachers who might have been able to pull something like that...
lol In NZ with the rugby culture - the coaches (with parents) are often involved in supervising that boozy scene on a saturday night....
At uni, the only kids that out-drank the education majors were the medicine majors. On that note, medicine majors are filthy pigs in every possible way. To think these louts eventually become responsible for our health...