I have so many thoughts about teachers concealing gender transition from parents, but most prominently: there is absolutely a type of slightly creepy high school teacher that is deeply over invested in the personal lives of students and that loves to see him/herself as championing students against their oppressive parents. There were at …
I have so many thoughts about teachers concealing gender transition from parents, but most prominently: there is absolutely a type of slightly creepy high school teacher that is deeply over invested in the personal lives of students and that loves to see him/herself as championing students against their oppressive parents. There were at least two at my high school in the 1990s; they had terrible boundaries and one of them ended up getting fired after dragging a couple of my friends into her yoga cult. The other one always wanted to talk about our sex lives, under the pretext of offering to help us get access to birth control. I feel like today both of those women would be manning the trans closet.
Yes. This is the vibe. I’m a high school teacher and I don’t get it. My job, as Katie rightly said, is to teach my academic subject, not be their friend or parent. But, even admin push this idea that we are teachers because we want to influence kids and change their lives. I don’t, actually. I want to be a cog in the machine that generates doctors, scientists, and engineers who will solve problems. That is as lofty as I get. The pressure to be the teacher hero in a Disney movie is really strong and this is the result. I think it’s another aspect of anti-intellectualism in the US. Just teaching is not valued; you have to be a personal and political savior.
Do you think it has always been this way, or do you think there has been a shift in how teachers view themselves, or how admins view teachers' purposes?
I don’t think it’s super recent, but I don’t think it’s always been this way. I’d probably say it’s the long shadow of the 1960s and the rise of youth culture. The idea that adults should envy, emulate, or want to befriend the young hasn’t been around forever. Pre-1960s, it was more common for kids to look yearningly up to adulthood than for adults to look yearningly downward to youth.
I find it strange that the push for inclusivity and anti racism coincides with intense disdain for "older" people, when historically one of the few universal traits was reverence for the elderly, be it urban Germany or rural Ethiopia.
I think the 1920s is when youth culture started. But since the 1960s, we as a culture have decided, like you said, that we learn from kids
I am just surprised that so many teachers feel like their job is to be the kids' saviors. Was it always like that and I didnt see it?
I have so many thoughts about teachers concealing gender transition from parents, but most prominently: there is absolutely a type of slightly creepy high school teacher that is deeply over invested in the personal lives of students and that loves to see him/herself as championing students against their oppressive parents. There were at least two at my high school in the 1990s; they had terrible boundaries and one of them ended up getting fired after dragging a couple of my friends into her yoga cult. The other one always wanted to talk about our sex lives, under the pretext of offering to help us get access to birth control. I feel like today both of those women would be manning the trans closet.
Yes. This is the vibe. I’m a high school teacher and I don’t get it. My job, as Katie rightly said, is to teach my academic subject, not be their friend or parent. But, even admin push this idea that we are teachers because we want to influence kids and change their lives. I don’t, actually. I want to be a cog in the machine that generates doctors, scientists, and engineers who will solve problems. That is as lofty as I get. The pressure to be the teacher hero in a Disney movie is really strong and this is the result. I think it’s another aspect of anti-intellectualism in the US. Just teaching is not valued; you have to be a personal and political savior.
Do you think it has always been this way, or do you think there has been a shift in how teachers view themselves, or how admins view teachers' purposes?
I don’t think it’s super recent, but I don’t think it’s always been this way. I’d probably say it’s the long shadow of the 1960s and the rise of youth culture. The idea that adults should envy, emulate, or want to befriend the young hasn’t been around forever. Pre-1960s, it was more common for kids to look yearningly up to adulthood than for adults to look yearningly downward to youth.
I find it strange that the push for inclusivity and anti racism coincides with intense disdain for "older" people, when historically one of the few universal traits was reverence for the elderly, be it urban Germany or rural Ethiopia.
I think the 1920s is when youth culture started. But since the 1960s, we as a culture have decided, like you said, that we learn from kids
I am just surprised that so many teachers feel like their job is to be the kids' saviors. Was it always like that and I didnt see it?
Isn't there a word for when adults tell children to keep secrets from their parents, especially when it has to do with the child's body and sexuality?
Out of fucking line.